VALE PAUL SORVINO
PAUL Sorvino – that massive, bear of an actor most famous for playing tough guy Paul Cicero in Goodfellas and Lips Manlis in Dick Tracey – cried like a baby the night his daughter, Mira, won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.
On stage Mira said: "When you give me this award, you honor my father, Paul Sorvino, who taught me everything I know about acting."
The cameras then cut dramatically to Sorvino, who has been in more than seventy-five films without a nomination, as he blubbered violently in his seat - and the world blubbered along with him.
Seven years after that fateful night, I ask him if it remains the proudest moment of his life. But the actor and opera singer is non-committal – he says it was just one among many.
“It’s as proud a moment as I’ve ever had,” says the father of three. “The other one that comes to mind right away was when Mira graduated from Harvard. And, of course, the night she was born – when all my children were born - they were very proud moments.”
And the crying?
“I was trying to hide,” he says. “I was desperately trying to become very small but I couldn’t do it. I’m 6 foot 3 (192cm) and I couldn’t get any smaller than that.
“Now, everybody thinks I’m a small guy but I’m not – I’m actually quite tall.”
Nobody thinks Sorvino is small. Least of all, former Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan, who found himself on the wrong side of the actor when he made a snide remark about Mira at the 1997 MTV Awards.
The story, now engrained in Hollywood mythology, has Corgan telling Sorvino that his daughter, Mira, was a “phony” and a “fake”. Sorvino apparently exploded, saying: “Don’t you fucking talk about my daughter like that, I’ll fucking kill you.” Donald Trump witnessed the argument from across the room and sent his bodyguard over to break it up. Although, no punches were thrown, Sorvino’s message was clear – no one disrespects his family