Richard Romanus, Actor in ‘Mean Streets,’ Dies at 80

Richard Romanus, the tough-guy character actor

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Best known for his turn as Michael Longo.

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The Little Italy loan shark who gets into it

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With Robert De Niro’s Johnny Civello in Martin Scorsese’s Mean Streets, has died. He was 80.

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Romanus died Dec. 23 in a private hospital in Volos, Greece,

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His son, Robert Romanus, announced the news.

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The son of a dentist, Richard Joseph Romanus was born on Feb. 8, 1943, in Barre, Vermont.

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And raised in West Hartford, Connecticut.

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He graduated from Xavier University in Cincinnati in 1964 with a degree in philosophy

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And, spent a year in law school before studying acting with Lee Strasberg at Carnegie Hall.

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