Beloved character actor Charley Scalies died Thursday at age 84 following a battle with Alzheimer’s.
Anne Marie Scalies, daughter of Scalies, shared with The Hollywood Reporter that her father passed away on Thursday at a nursing facility in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania.
Known for his role as stevedore Thomas ‘Horseface’ Pakusa, Scalies appeared in 12 episodes of The Wire during its second season. The series delved into the economic challenges faced by Baltimore dockworkers in a rapidly changing landscape.
In addition to his work on The Wire, Scalies made a memorable guest appearance on the acclaimed HBO series The Sopranos. In this role, he portrayed Coach Molinaro, the high school football coach of Tony Soprano, portrayed by the late James Gandolfini.
The character appeared in an intense exchange in a dream scene in an episode titled The Test Dream.
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.
A character actor who had a key role on The Sopranos has died. The cast pictured in 2024 in NYC at an anniversary event for the iconic HBO show
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 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.’
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.
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 resorted to criminal smuggling to fund political efforts in a last-ditch effort to reinvigorate business at the docks.
Amid the items unwittingly smuggled in by the Baltimore crew drugs and women tragically trafficked into the U.S. to be sex workers.
Scalies died at age 84 following a battle with Alzheimer’s, according to his family
He played Coach Molinaro, Tony Soprano’s high school football coach, in The Sopranos
He had a memorable exchange with a grown Tony Soprano (played by the late James Gandolfini) that revealed the insecurities the mob boss harbored
Scalies posed with Gandolfini during the production of the popular HBO series
‘The only time I have even been on the docks is when I worked on The Wire,’ Scalies told Chesapeake Bay Magazine in 2019.
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 the 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.
Scalies portrayed Thomas ‘Horseface’ Pakusa for 12 episodes of The Wire
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’
Fans made reference to the character’s best moments, including a key scene that showed Horseface caring for an injured colleague
One fan posted a GIF from a critical scene from the show involving the late Michael K. Williams, who played the character Omar
Another posted a meme of Nick Sobotka (played by Pablo Schreiber) – a key character in the season two storyline
‘R. I. P. He’s still on the clock,’ said one fan. Another added, ‘Great characters RIP to the legend.’
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.’
A post from the Wire fan account Ziggy_Sobotka, named after another dockworker on the series, 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 Twitter user aptly remarked, ‘At what age does death not break your heart?’
