Tony Sirico/Paulie Walnuts Tribute

Last week, Tony Sirico, known for playing Paulie Walnuts on the Sopranos, passed away. It’s only the latest tragedy, following the deaths of other well known celebrities like Ray Liotta, James Caan, and many many others. But Tony’s death hits particularly hard, given his iconic role in the Sopranos, a show that is so precious to me.

So to honor the man’s legacy, I wanted to make this video. After all, many people consider Paulie their favorite character. And it’s not hard to see why. He’s the funniest character on the show by far, and his personality quirks and iconic appearance make him one of the most memorable as well.

So this video is dedicated to both character and actor. Here’s to Tony Sirico and Paulie Walnuts, gone but never forgotten.

“When my time comes, tell me. Will I stand up?”

- Paulie

Peter Paul Gualtieri was born to Dottie Gualtieri and a US soldier named Russ. There’s a theory that this Russ is Dr. Russ Fegoli from Season 5, but we don’t have a definitive answer. Since Dottie was training to become a nun, her sister Nucci took Paulie and raised him as her son, never telling him the truth about his mother. He also had two siblings, an unnamed brother who's a doctor, and a sister named Rose. The only thing we know about his adopted father is the fact that he was run over by a trolley.

“You’re father was run over by a trolley, right?”

- Carmine Lupertazzi

Paulie was a troubled youth. He quit school in the 9th grade, and spent time in and out of juvie. He later spent 4 years in the Army signal corp, before being discharged by Section 8, being judged mentally unfit for service.

He eventually became an enforcer for Johnny Boy Soprano, a captain in the Dimeo crime family. When Tony eventually took over his father’s crew, Paulie continued to follow him, and would develop a very strong attachment to the man. He would be one of Tony’s closest associates in the family, and later when Tony became the boss, Paulie took over as captain of the crew.

Paulie is one of the more colorful characters on the show. He’s known for his cheap personality, his sensitivity to mockery while continuing to mock everyone else, his intense germophobia, and his suspersition.

In Season 2 when Christopher is clinically dead, he experiences a vision of hell. In the vision, Mickey Palmice gives a warning to Tony and Paulie about “3 oclock”. This causes Paulie to have nightmares, and believe that he is carrying around evil spirits. He eventually goes to a psychic, who makes him believe that the ghosts of the men he has killed are haunting him.

Throughout the show, Paulie has a love-hate relationship with Christopher. After Christopher gets made, he works underneath Paulie. This causes friction between the two, as Christopher feels belittled by Paulie, and Paulie feels Christopher unfairly got to where he is because he is Tony’s nephew.

“Always playing that blood relation card. Tony’s little favorite.”

- Paulie

This conflict comes to a head in the episode “Pine Barrens”, one of the most popular episodes of the show. After Paulie starts a fight with the Russian Valery for no reason, they believe that they accidentally kill him. They then take him out to the Jersey Pine Barrens to bury him. However it turns out that the guy isn’t dead, and he eventually escapes them. While searching for him, the two become lost, and have to spend a night freezing in the forest. Eventually Tony and Bobby come and rescue the two.

This incident puts a strain on Paulie and Tony’s relationship in the fourth season. Tony begins to shun Paulie, believing him to be a screw up. This causes resentment in Paulie, resentment that Johnny Sack uses to manipulate him. Johnny implies that the Lupertazzi family cares about Paulie, and uses the situation to get information out of him. However, when Paulie discovers that Johnny was lying to him the whole time, he ends up robbing and killing an old lady, in order to get money to give to Tony to get back on his good side.

Throughout the show, Paulie is known as something of a mommas boy. He dotes on his mother Nucci, spending a lot of money to get her into the Green Grove retirement community. When Ralph prank calls Nucci and gives her nervous bowel syndrome, Paulie threatens to kill him. When some of the girls at Green Grove are mean to her, Paulie beats up one of their sons to make them be nice to her.

In Season 6 though, Paulie learns the truth about his mother. Feeling betrayed, he yells at Nucci, and ends up cutting her out of his life. This makes Tony angry at Paulie’s self-pity, as unlike his own mother, Nucci really cared about Paulie and took care of him. However when Paulie gets diagnosed with prostate cancer, he ends up reuniting with his mother for comfort. She later dies, and Paulie is upset that Christopher’s funeral is overshadowing hers.

Paulie is also known as a cheapskate, and it’s understood by Tony that he never kicks up the full amount of money he should. This is seen in the sixth season, when Paulie and Vito refuse to give Carmela the hundred thousand dollars they each owe her, in case Tony ends up dying. However when he wakes up from his coma, they scramble to get the money to her, lest Tony know that they had no intention of taking care of his wife.

Throughout the show, Paulie has an interesting relationship with Tony. On the surface, he’s utterly devoted to the man. He lives for Tony’s praise, in part because he has no family apart from his mob one. He even saves a painting of Tony as a general and hangs it in his living room to memorialize the man.

“He loves you Tone. You’re all he’s got. You, the guys, and his image.”

- Paulie

However despite this apparent love, he is also willing to betray Tony. He of course gave information to Johnny Sack, and also hinted that he wanted to be put in charge in the event that Tony was whacked by New York.

“I’ve only tried to bring good relations between the families. As I always do, and always will. No matter what happens or who’s in charge. If it’s me, god forbid, or whoever.”

- Paulie

Paulie and Tony’s relationship almost comes to an end in the episode “Remember When”, when they have to flee to Florida after Tony’s first murder is uncovered. While there, Tony begins to suspect that Paulie was the one that was relaying information to Johnny Sack, and also grows very irritated at his constant chatter. He contemplates killing him while they are out on the ocean, but ultimately decides against it.

At the end of the series, Tony offers Paulie the captainship of the Aprile crew. Paulie hesitates, believing the crew to be cursed, but ultimately accepts. However when he leaves, he has an odd expression. Some fans think that he was behind Tony getting wacked in the final shot, perhaps because he realized how close Tony came to killing him.

Overall, Paulie is one of if not the most iconic characters from the show. His trademark wing hairstyle and hand gestures are incredibly memorable, which lends itself to parody easily. Paulie was also featured in a number of other works, such as The Simpsons, Family Guy, and too many commercials to count.

But the most interesting story here really isn’t even about Paulie. After all, while being one of the most funny and iconic characters, he isn’t the most dynamic. He has some storylines and some quirks, but overall he doesn’t grow much as a character. He himself even says this when discussing character arcs with Christopher.

“I got no arc either. I was born, grew up. Spent a few years in the army, a few more in the can. And here I am, a half a wiseguy. So what?

- Paulie

No, the more interesting journey is of the actor Tony Sirico himself. Tony did not start out intending to be an actor. He was actually a real mob guy in his youth, and got into some trouble. He was convicted of extortion, coercion, and felony weapons possession, for which he served time in prison. While there he became interested in acting after being visited by an acting troupe composed of ex-convicts.

His first role in film was in the documentary The Big Bang by James Toback, in which he recounts his life and criminal past. He would later play gangsters in a number of films, including Crazy Joe, Gotti, and even Goodfellas, obviously drawing on his own experience.

His big break would of course be the Sopranos though. Originally auditioning for the role of Uncle Junior, David Chase instead offered him the role of Paulie. He agreed, on the condition that his character never became a rat.

Tony grew tremendously as an actor on the show. In the early seasons, his character is pretty basic, just being the usual semi serious gangster he always plays. However as the show went on, Tony’s range as an actor grew. He became more comfortable being the comic relief of the show, which allowed him to step into more and more of the story. By the end, he was definitely one of the main characters of the show.

David Chase himself discussed Tony’s development as an actor on Talking Sopranos.

“It was really a pleasure for me when I think back, of seeing him develop over that time as an actor… and by the end of the show he was one of the real features.”

- David Chase

So here’s to you Tony. Buonanima. I’ll see you in 6000 years my friend.

“Ride the painted pony, let the spinning wheel glide.”

- Paulie