We’ve unfortunately lost another celebrity this week. Veteran character actor Dennis Farnia, notable for playing both grizzled cops and charismatic crooks in countless movies and TV shows, passed away on Monday after suffering a blood clot in his lung.

Farina knew a thing or two about police work. He started his career as a real cop in the Chicago Police Department. His life changed in a big way after director Michael Mann hired him as a consultant and cast him in a small role in his 1981 crime thriller ‘Thief’. That led to a number of TV walk-on roles for Farina in ’80s cop shows like ‘Hunter’, ‘Hardcastle and McCormick’ and Mann’s ‘Miami Vice’. Mann gave Farina a much bigger part in his feature ‘Manhunter‘ (the first Hannibal Lecter movie), and developed the short-lived but highly-regarded TV series ‘Crime Story’ around him. More recently, the two reunited for the HBO horse-racing drama ‘Luck‘.

Other memorable appearances for the actor included ‘Midnight Run’, ‘Get Shorty‘, ‘Out of Sight‘, ‘Saving Private Ryan‘ and ‘Snatch‘. Farina took over the lead in NBC’s ‘Law & Order’ for a couple seasons after star Jerry Orbach died, and had a recurring role on the hit Fox sitcom ‘New Girl’.

Dennis Farina was 69.

[Source: USA Today]