In the crowded ranks of television’s supporting actors, few have burned themselves into our memories with the force of Vincent Pastore. For a handful of seasons on The Sopranos, he played Salvatore “Big Pussy” Bonpensiero with such lived-in authenticity that his character’s fate (*spoiler alert*) of sleeping with the fishes seared itself into our imaginations. And perhaps no television actor ever altered my perception of (and associations with) a novelty item forever in the way that Pastore did with the Big Mouth Billy Bass talking fish. What had been a gimmicky singing plaque became, after his turn in Tony Soprano’s fever dream sequence, an object freighted with menace, melancholy, and dark comedy. That is the peculiar power of a truly memorable supporting performance: It can rewire the associations of an entire culture.
Pastore was born Vincent Dominic Pastore on July 14, 1946, in the Bronx and raised in the Italian American neighborhood of New Rochelle, New York. After high school, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy, serving until his honorable discharge in 1967. For nearly three decades, he worked in the nightclub business as a bouncer, limousine driver, and eventually owner of the Crazy Horse in New Rochelle. The club’s patrons included the young actors Matt and Kevin Dillon. After watching Pastore perform in community theater, they urged him to pursue acting. For fans of both The Sopranos and Entourage like myself, it’s fascinating to learn that without Johnny “Drama” Chase (Kevin Dillon) of Entourage, we may have never had “Big Pussy” of The Sopranos.
Pastore was already in his 40s when he finally took the leap. The transition was gradual and grounded in the world he knew. His early credits were small but telling: a small role in Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas (1990), the “Copa Wiseguy” in Brian De Palma’s Carlito’s Way (1993), and several other somewhat typecast “tough-guy” parts. His bigger break came with The Jerky Boys: The Movie (1995) and the HBO film Gotti (1996), in which he played Angelo Ruggiero opposite future Sopranos colleagues Tony Sirico, Frank Vincent, and Dominic Chianese.
Then came The Sopranos. Cast as Tony’s longtime friend and crew member Salvatore Bonpensiero — nicknamed “Big Pussy” for his early days as a cat burglar — Pastore delivered a layered, unforgettable performance over the show’s first several seasons. He could radiate loyalty and menace in the same scene, then reveal the private agony of a man who had chosen to wear a wire for the FBI. The character’s arc culminated in the Season 2 finale, when Tony, Silvio, and Paulie execute him on a boat. In a preceding dream sequence, Pastore’s lips and voice animated a talking fish that confessed his betrayal. Sopranos fans never forgot it. At meet-and-greets, they would bring him the Big Mouth Billy Bass plaques to sign, the novelty having become inseparable from the man who had given the phrase “sleeping with the fishes” its most indelible television illustration.
Pastore’s career after The Sopranos showed range beyond the archetype that made him famous. He voiced the octopus Luca in the animated Shark Tale (2004), appeared in Guy Ritchie’s Revolver (2005), and acted on Broadway as well, first as Amos Hart in Chicago (2007) and later in Woody Allen’s Bullets Over Broadway (2014). He hosted The Wiseguy Show on SiriusXM (produced by fellow Sopranos cast member Steven Van Zandt), fronted the rock band known as the Gangster Squad, launched a tomato sauce brand, and taught acting while co-running a theater company with Maureen Van Zandt. His appearances on reality shows like Celebrity Fit Club and Celebrity Apprentice showed that the famous TV tough guy could also be charmingly gregarious, quick-witted, and playful. He continued acting into his later years, never fully escaping typecasting but rarely seeming to mind it. An early teacher at HB Studio had told him, “Vinnie, you’re always going to play wise guys, because that’s how the industry will see you.” To which Pastore wisely replied: “I don’t care.” Years later, he observed, with an accepting, humorous shrug, “I’ve been typecast ever since I woke up, but what are you going to do?”
What he did was turn that two-dimensional type into a multilayered, brilliantly multidimensional role. In interviews, he returned often to the human core of his most famous character. Sopranos creator David Chase, he said, had written Big Pussy “for an actor who could play a tough guy but also could be sensitive.” Pastore’s own interpretation was simpler but no less impactful: “I saw Big Pussy as a man with a big heart.”
That same heart — generous with fans, loyal to colleagues, quick with a laugh — defined the man behind the nickname. Whenever a Big Mouth Billy Bass flaps open its plastic jaws and sings, viewers from all generations will hear, beneath the novelty, the unmistakable voice of a character who taught us that even the most solid-looking members of the crew can end up sleeping with the fishes — and that the actor who played him could make the whole operation unforgettable.
Daniel Ross Goodman (@DanRossGoodman) is a Washington Examiner contributing writer and teaches theology and religious studies at St. John’s University. His next book, Dante’s Guide to Life: How The Divine Comedy Can Change Our Fortunes, Our World, and Ourselves, will be published this fall by Angelico Press.