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Actor Richard Romanus, known for playing loan shark Michael Longo in Mean Streets among many other roles, has died.

Per THR, Romanus died on Dec. 23 at a private hospital in Greece with his son, Robert Romanus, confirming the news. No other specific details were shared about the actor's passing. He was 80 years old.

Romanus' role as Michael in Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets was memorable, with the actor starring alongside Robert De Niro and Harvey Keitel. He is also known for his voiceover work, as he voiced the cab driver Harry Canyon in the animated sci-fi fantasy film Heavy Metal. Romanus also did voices for Ralph Bakshi's animated movies Wizards and Hey Good Lookin'.

The actor would appear in a variety of features films and television shows throughout the decades. He's also appeared in movies like Sitting Ducks, Pandemonium, Murphy's Law, Oscar, Cops & Robbersons, Nailed, and The Young Black Stallion.

Actor Richard Romanus, who is known for his roles in ‘The Sopranos’ and ‘Mean Streets’, no more. He was 80. He died on December 23 in a hospital in Volos, Greece, his son, Robert Romanus, reports People magazine.

No cause of death was given. Romanus was known for his tough-guy roles including Michael Longo in 1973’s ‘Mean Streets’. In the Martin Scorsese-directed crime drama, Romanus played a loan shark who gets into a memorable confrontation with Johnny Civello (Robert De Niro).

Scorsese, 81, recalled the iconic bar scene in Andy Dougan’s Untouchable: Robert De Niro, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “Something had happened between Bobby and Richard because the animosity between them in that scene is real, and I played on it. They had gotten on each other’s nerves to the point where I think they really wanted to kill each other,” the writer-director recalled in the 2011 biography.

“I kept...

It’s sad to say, but death seems to be working overtime as we close out 2023. Following the news that beloved character actor Tom Wilkinson has passed away, come the passing of two more well-loved supporting players in TV and film. Richard Romanus, who played the role of loan shark Michael Longo in Mean Streets, passed away at the age of 80 on December 23rd. Meanwhile, Maurice Hines, the brother of Gregory Hines, has also passed away, also at 80.

Although Richard Romanus had a lengthy career that went back to the early ‘70s, it was his turn in Martin Scorsese’s Mean Streets that remained his most memorable performance. It was his character who, after a run-in with Robert De Niro’s Johnny Boy (who owed Michael money), manned the car that drove up alongside Johnny Boy and Harvey Keitel’s Charlie, leading to the shooting of the loose cannon.

Richard...

Richard Romanus, who built his character acting career with a tough guy persona in film and television, has died at 80 at a hospital in Volos, Greece. No cause was given by his son, Robert.

Romanus had a string of memorable roles during his long career. He was Harry Canyon, the cab driver from Heavy Metal, and Richard Lapenna, the husband of Dr. Melfi, in “The Sopranos.” He was loanshark Michael Longo in Mean Streets.

His TV résumé includes Mission: Impossible, Starsky and Hutch, Hawaii Five-0, The Rockford Files, Kojak, Strike Force, and more across the ’70s.

In films, Romanus appeared in Sitting Ducks (1980), Protocol (1984), The Couch Trip (1988), Oscar (1991), Point of No Return (1993), Cops and Robbersons (1994), Nailed (2001) and The Young Black Stallion (2003).

In his later years, Romanus and his wife moved to the Greek town of Skiathos, and he wrote about the experience in Act III: A Small Island in the Aegean,...

Richard Romanus, the tough-guy character actor best known for his turn as Michael Longo, the Little Italy loan shark who gets into it with Robert De Niro’s Johnny Civello in Martin Scorsese’s Mean Streets, has died. He was 80.

Romanus died Dec. 23 in a private hospital in Volos, Greece, his son, Robert Romanus, told The Hollywood Reporter.

Romanus handled prominent voice roles for Ralph Bakshi in 1977’s Wizards (as the elf warrior Weehawk) and 1982’s Hey Good Lookin’ (as the leader of a 1950s greaser gang), and in between, he played the cab driver Harry Canyon in another animated film, Heavy Metal (1981).

He also appeared on four episodes of The Sopranos as Richard Lapenna, the on-again, off-again husband of Lorraine Bracco’s Jennifer Melfi, from 1999-2002.

In Mean Streets (1973), Romanus’ character is famously disrespected by Johnny when he leans on him for his money.

“You know, Michael, you make me laugh,...