Sopranos Actor Paul Herman Goodfellas

Over a four-decade career, he was perhaps best known for his role on “The Sopranos.” But he also had dozens of film credits, including “Goodfellas” and “The ...

Mr. Mottola said Mr. Herman had been on a “first name basis with every superstar actor and musician in the world.” “But with Woody, well, you just don’t do that with him because he has ideas he’s working out. With Mr. Scorsese and Mr. Coppola, “you can give them your ideas on a scene,” he said. Offscreen, he was known for being friendly and well connected. “The only one who ever gave me the chance to play a saint is Marty,” Mr. Herman told The New York Times in 1989, referring to his role as Philip the Apostle in Mr. Scorsese’s 1988 film, “ The Last Temptation of Christ.” Over a four-decade career, Mr. Herman was perhaps best known for his role on “The Sopranos” as Peter Gaeta, known as Beansie, the owner of pizza parlors who gets in trouble with a mobster — his travails include being hit on the head with a pot of hot coffee — but who manages to re-establish himself.