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NYPD: 'Sopranos' Actor 'Johnny Cakes' Kills Self

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Dec 25, 2008 10:56 am US/Pacific

NYPD: 'Sopranos' Actor 'Johnny Cakes' Kills Self

NEW YORK (AP) ―

Click to enlarge 1 of 1: Actor John Costelloe (right) played "Johnny Cakes" on four episodes of "The Sopranos."
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A 47-year-old actor who starred as the gay firefighter-lover of a closeted mobster on the hit show "The Sopranos" was found dead of an apparent suicide after family members were unable to reach him, according to police.

John Costelloe, who played the hunky short-order cook Johnny Cakes on four episodes of the HBO show, was discovered with a self-inflicted gunshot wound inside his Sunset Park, Brooklyn, home on Dec. 18, said police spokesman Lt. John Grimpel.

Costelloe gained a measure of fame in 2006 when he was cast as Jim "Johnny Cakes" Witowski opposite his longtime friend, actor Joseph Gannascoli, who played gay mob capo Vito Spatafore.

"I was shocked when I heard, and it still hasn't really sunk in," Gannascoli told the New York Post. "I never detected anything troubling about him. I enjoyed all the time I ever spent with him."

In the series, Gannascoli's character meets "Johnny Cakes" -- whose specialty was the cornmeal pancake Johnny cakes -- after he flees New Jersey for New Hampshire because he has been outed as gay.

Costelloe, who spent more than a decade as a New York Fire Department fireman, finds the muscular Witowski in his white apron appealing after learning he is a volunteer firefighter.

The death left those who knew Costelloe shocked. His father, Michael Costelloe, 77, told the Post the death was "too much for me to handle right now."

Firefighter friend Matt Dwyer said Costelloe seemed in good spirits when he visited his old firehouse in Brooklyn three weeks ago. "Everyone's completely in shock," he said.

"Sopranos" actors who attended a wake and funeral for Costelloe included Gannascoli and Steve Buscemi.

The death came as Costelloe was performing as a fast-talking hustler in an off-off-Broadway production of "Gang of Seven."

Playwright Jim Neu said he noticed Costelloe's timing was off in his final shows but the actor rejected gentle queries about what might be troubling him.

"If he wanted to reach out to people, we were right in front of him. I wish he did," Neu told the Post.

The imdb.com also lists the movie "Doubt" as one of Costelloe's recent credits. He played Warren Hurley in the film.