R.I.P. Suzanne Shepherd, actor from The Sopranos and Goodfellas

Suzanne Shepherd, an actor, theatrical director, and acting coach best known for memorable roles in a pair of iconic mob-themed stories (Goodfellas and The Sopranos), has died. A cause of death was not given publicly, but Variety says that her agent confirmed that she died on Friday morning at her home in New York. Shepherd was 89.

Born in 1934, Shepherd’s first movie appearance was in 1988’s Mystic Pizza, followed by similarly beloved ‘80s movies Working Girl and Uncle Buck. In 1990, she appeared in Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas as the mother of Lorraine Bracco’s Karen Hill, a role that she paid homage to with a recurring appearance on HBO’s The Sopranos as Mary DeAngelis, the mother of Edie Falco’s Carmela Soprano (which also happened to be pretty pitch-perfect casting, not to mention Shepherd’s very dialed-in performance when viewed alongside her TV daugher).

In between those roles, she appeared on Law & Order and in Palookaville, Trees Lounge, Adrian Lyne’s 1997 Lolita adaptation, and Requiem For A Dream. She was also featured in Ed, A Dirty Shame, Choke, suicide comedy series Gravity, and in a recurring role on Blue Bloods as the mother of Sopranos co-star Steve Schirripa character. Sopranos co-star Ray Abruzzo remembered Shepherd on Instagram, saying he was sad to hear of her death and calling her a “force of nature.”

Variety notes that she also worked as a theatrical director throughout the United States and had her own acting studio in New York for “over four decades.” A documentary about her life and her work as an acting teacher, called A Gift Of Fire, is apparently in the works as well. Shepherd is survived by her daughter, artist Kate Shepherd.