Sopranos actor Charley Scalies dead at age 84: The Wire vet dies following battle with Alzheimer's

Daily Mail​

06-05-2025

Beloved character actor Charley Scalies died Thursday at age 84 following a battle with Alzheimer's.
Scalies' daughter Anne Marie Scalies revealed to The Hollywood Reporter that her father died Thursday at a nursing facility in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania.
Scalies portrayed loyal stevedore Thomas 'Horseface' Pakusa on 12 episodes of The Wire during the show's second season in 2003.
The sophomore frame of the enduring series from creator David Simon closely examined the economic issues Baltimore dockworkers faced amid changing times.
Scalies also appeared in an episode of another iconic HBO series - The Sopranos - as he played Coach Molinaro, the high school football coach of Tony Soprano, played by late legend James Gandolfini.
The character appeared in an intense exchange in a dream scene in an episode titled The Test Dream.
Charley Scalies played Coach Molinaro, Tony Soprano's high school football coach, in a dream scene that showed the insecurities the troubled mob boss faced (and sought to deal with through therapy).
The discussion between the coach - who saw potential in a young Soprano - and the fully-grown Tony Soprano illustrated the psychological insecurities the fearsome New Jersey mob boss harbored, and sought to address through therapy.
The episode (which first aired May 16, 2004) was the show's 11th episode of its fifth season, directed by Allen Coulter and written by Matthew Weiner and Sopranos creator David Chase.
A Legacy obituary - which noted Scalies died 'peacefully' - emphasized the role family played in his life.
It noted he was 'best known first and foremost as a husband, father, grandfather, uncle, and friend,' adding that his 'favorite audience was always seated around the dinner table.'
The obit described Scalies, a native of South Philadelphia, as 'an American actor and former business executive whose life reflected a rich blend of professional achievement, creative passion, and a true joy for life.'
Season two of The Wire showed how the slow times at the docks led a few workers - including Pakusa - to earn extra cash smuggling in contraband. Amid the items unwittingly smuggled in by the Baltimore crew drugs and women tragically trafficked into the U.S. to be sex workers.
On The Wire, the Horseface character was second-in-command to union leader Frank Sobotka (played by Chris Bauer), who had gotten into a desperate situation trying to keep his union and workers afloat amid declining times for the longshoremen.
Sobotka, assisted by Horseface and his nephew Nick Sobotka (played by Pablo Schreiber) eventually resort to criminal smuggling to fund political efforts in a last-ditch effort to reinvigorate business at the docks.
Scalies posed with Gandolfini during the production of the popular HBO series
Soboktka's wayward son Ziggy (played by James Ransone, also gets involved peripherally, leading to tragic consequences down the line.
Dailymail.com has reached out to Simon, Bauer, Schreiber and Ransone, as well as their reps, for further comment on this story.
Scalies told Chesapeake Bay Magazine in 2019 about his work on the HBO series, saying that the only time he had ever been on the docks was when he filmed the show.
Scalies said that 'the only time I even met a stevedore was shortly after I was cast as Horseface.'
The role was a perfect fit, as shortly after landing the part, Scalies happened to chat with several real-life stevedores and union reps for the International Longeshoremen's Association, who all approved of his casting.
'I told them I had just been cast as a union 'checker' on a TV show,' he recalled. 'Their response was immediate and unanimous: "He looks like a checker."'
Scalies explained: 'As with all the other characters I've been blessed to portray, Horseface lives inside of me - I invite him out to play as needed.'
On Twitter, a number of fans of the show paid homage to the late actor in the role he played on The Wire, making inside references to scenes that involved his character.
A post from the Wire fan account Ziggy_Sobotka read: 'Heartbroken to report that Charlie Scalies, Horseface on The Wire and Coach Molinaro from The Sopranos has passed away.'
It concluded: 'Charles J. Scalies, Jr. 7/19/1940 – 5/1/2025.'
One fan commented, 'Great characters RIP to the legend.'
Another said, 'R. I. P. He's still on the clock.'
Referring to a scene illustrating Horseface's loyalty to the union, one fan wrote, 'Good luck to St Peter getting anything out of him at the pearly gates without an IBS lawyer present.'
One Twitter user aptly remarked, 'At what age does death not break your heart?'
According to the Legacy obit, Scalies is survived by 'the true love and joy of his life, his wife of 62 years, Angeline M. Scalies (née Cardamone); his five children: Charles (Chuck) Scalies III, Angeline Kogut (Steve Kogut), Anthony (Tony) Scalies, Christa Ann Scalise, and Anne Marie Scalies (Shawn Weaver); and grandchildren Charles IV, Christopher, Domenic and Amelia Scalies.'