One year after his death, the cause of Ray Liotta’s death has been disclosed.

On May 26, the actor known for his role in Goodfellas died at the age of 67. The cause of his death was acute heart failure and a condition called pulmonary edema, where fluid builds up in the lungs. He was also dealing with atherosclerosis, a medical condition where the arteries become narrow.

According to TMZ, doctors have stated that the person’s cause of death was natural and resulted from respiratory insufficiency, pulmonary edema, and acute heart failure, without any violent factors involved.

He died while sleeping at Casas del XVI in Zona Colonial Hotel in the Dominican Republic where he was shooting a new movie named Dangerous Waters. The announcement was made at that time.

Despite the arrival of an emergency service team, the person could not be saved. Their body was then transported to the forensic institute of Santo Domingo.

The actor is survived by his fiancée Jacy Nittolo, who was 46 years old at the time, and his 23-year-old daughter Karsen from his previous marriage to Michelle Grace.

In March 2022, the actor was seen in Los Angeles where bystanders observed that he was ‘noticeably pale’ and ‘needed help from the valet putting on his jacket’.

According to the source, he walked slowly and steadily, and Nittolo had to assist him by carrying his bags from the car to the hotel.

However, in the pictures captured at the beginning of May when he was walking with his fiancée in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, he appeared to be in better health.

In 2018, Liotta, who was a smoker, began featuring in commercials for Chantix, a brand owned by Pfizer, a well-known vaccine company. In one of the commercials advertising the product he said: ‘I tried to quit smoking for years on my own. I couldn’t do it. I needed help.’

Fans were shocked by his sudden death despite his recent career resurgence. He had been cast alongside Taron Egerton in Black Bird set for release in 2022.

In recent years, his acting career took off again and he was featured in The Many Saints of Newark, Marriage Story, and No Sudden Move.

His most famous role was as Henry Hill in Martin Scorsese’s 1990 gangster film Goodfellas, while Robert De Niro, who was 78 years old, played Jimmy Conway.

Ray’s co-stars and friends paid tribute to him quickly. Robert also wrote a tribute: ‘I was very saddened to learn of Ray’s passing. He is way too way young to have left us’

Lorraine Bracco, who played the wife of his character in the movie Goodfellas, said. ‘I’m utterly shattered to hear this terrible news about Ray’, while Josh Brolin said: ‘My buddy. My friend. How so soon? Why? I’ll miss you. I will think about seeing you at Gold’s’.

Before he passed away, the actor’s last Instagram post was about his new movie Cocaine Bear, which was already released last year.

He wrote: ‘Cocaine Bear follows an oddball group of cops, criminals, tourists, and teens converging in a Georgia forest where a 500-pound apex predator has ingested a staggering amount of the white powder and goes on a coke-fueled rampage seeking more blow — and blood.’

It seems that Liotta used to smoke until 2018 when he began featuring in Pfizer’s Chantix commercials. According to him, the drug aided him in quitting smoking.

In one commercial he says: ‘In the movies, a lot of times I tend to play the tough guy. But I wasn’t tough enough to quit on my own – not until I tried Chantix.’

According to a company spokesperson, the actor joined the cast of their commercials because he wanted to use his personal story to assist others.

Liotta was born in 1954 in New Jersey. However, he was abandoned by his mother and then adopted six months later from an orphanage.

After moving to live with a town clerk and an auto parts shop owner, he was told that he had never considered acting while he was growing up in Newark.

He worked as a bartender in New York City until he was offered a role in the soap opera Another World in 1980 after he had graduated.

In 1986, Liotta achieved stardom by portraying ex-convict Ray Sinclair in the black comedy Something Wild, and he was nominated for a Golden Globe award for his performance.

He became famous for his roles in multiple movies. In particular, he played Shoeless Joe Jackson in the 1989 film Field of Dreams and Henry Hill in Goodfellas, directed by Martin Scorsese and co-starring Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci.