- Foronjy was arrested more than 20 times and spent more than eight years in prison before turning to acting, according to The Hollywood Reporter
- He made his film debut in the 1973 film Serpico playing a cop killer for director Sidney Lumet
Richard Foronjy, who appeared in films such as Midnight Run, Repo Man and Carlito’s Way, died on Sunday at age 86.
Foronjy was arrested more than 20 times and spent more than eight years in prison before turning to acting, according to an article on Tuesday by The Hollywood Reporter.
The Brooklyn native after his lone conviction served 8 1/2 years in Sing Sing and Attica prisons in New York before being released at age 32.
Foronjy specialized in playing both bad guys and police officers.
He made his film debut in the 1973 film Serpico playing a cop killer for director Sidney Lumet.
Richard Foronjy, who appeared in films such as Midnight Run, Repo Man and Carlito’s Way, died on Sunday at age 86
Foronjy had a starring role as a police officer in Lumet’s 1981 epic crime drama Prince Of The City and also played a police sergeant in Lumet’s 1986 psychological thriller The Morning After.
‘I was especially good at playing cops, no doubt because I got to know them so well when they were busting me every other week,’ Foronjy told UPI in 1986 while promoting The Morning After.
Foronjy played mobster Tony Darvo in the 1988 film Midnight Run and mobster Peter Amadesso in the 1993 film Carlito’s Way.
He also played both sides as a corrupt cop in Italian director Sergio Leon’s 1984 crime epic Once Upon A Time In America.
Foronjy in the 1984 film Repo Man starring Emilio Estevez and Harry Dean Stanton played rent-a-cop Arnold Plettschner and had a memorable speech.
‘You’re f***in’ right I’m Plettschner! Arnold Plettschner! Three times decorated in two world wars! I was killing people while you were still swimming around in your father’s balls! You little scumbag! I worked five years in a slaughterhouse, and ten years as a prison guard in Attica!,’ Plettschner ranted in Repo Man.
His other roles included parts in The Gambler, The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh, The Jerk and Ghostbusters II.
Foronjy also had numerous TV credits including: Who’s the Boss, Murphy’s Law, Silver Spoons, The Jeffersons, Cagney & Lacy and Hill St. Blues.
The late actor is shown in a scene from the 1988 film Midnight Run with Dennis Farina and Robert Miranda
Foronjy had a starring role as a police officer in director Sidney Lumet’s 1981 epic crime drama Prince Of The City and is shown in a scene with Jerry Orbach
His memoir From The Mob To The Movies was published in 2020.
Forojny is survived by significant other Wendy Odell Chiaro; children Charles, Susan, Christine and Richard; brothers, Charles, Frank and William; along with 17 grandchildren.
‘His journey as a father was marked by challenges and complexities,’ his family noted in an obituary on Legacy.com.
Forojny died peacefully but his cause of death was not revealed.
