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James Gandolfini dies; brought swagger, genius to 'The Sopranos'
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Matthew Kruk
Jun 19, 2013, 11:51:08 PM6/19/13
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http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/showtracker/la-et-st-sopranos-star-james-gandolfini-dead-at-51-20130619,0,3922779.story
James Gandolfini dies; brought swagger, genius to 'The Sopranos'
By Scott Collins
7:15 PM PDT, June 19, 2013
James Gandolfini, 51, who swaggered his way to fame as the murderous, clinically
depressed mob boss on HBO's groundbreaking drama "The Sopranos," died Wednesday
on vacation in Rome, Italy.
The cause of death was not immediately known but was initially attributed to
either a heart attack or stroke.
On "The Sopranos," which was created by writer David Chase and ran on HBO from
1999 to 2007, Gandolfini played the barrel-chested New Jersey organized crime
capo-turned-boss Tony Soprano, who alternated acts of mayhem, infidelity and
family loyalty between anguished visits to his psychiatrist, Dr. Melfi (Lorraine
Bracco). His regular haunt was the Bada Bing, a strip club where he often ran
his underworld enterprise.
PHOTOS: James Gandolfini | 1961-2013
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/showtracker/la-james-gandolfini-obit-20130619-pictures,0,4944928.photogallery
In Gandolfini's hands, a potentially unsympathetic and unrelatable character
became a kind of post-modern Everyman, even down to his troubled relationship
with wife Carmella (Edie Falco). He won three Emmy Awards for the role, now
considered one of the hallmark characters of television drama.
"He was a genius," Chase said in a statement. "Anyone who saw him even in the
smallest of his performances knows that. He is one of the greatest actors of
this or any time."
"A great deal of that genius resided in those sad eyes. I remember telling him
many times, 'You don't get it. You're like Mozart.' There would be silence at
the other end of the phone. For [his wife Deborah Lin] and [children] Michael
and Liliana this is crushing. And it's bad for the rest of the world. He wasn't
easy sometimes. But he was my partner, he was my brother in ways I can't explain
and never will be able to explain."
Gandolfini was born in Westwood, N.J., on Sept. 18, 1961. His mother, Joann, was
a school cafeteria worker, and his father, Michael, was a janitor, bricklayer
and cement mason.
His Italian immigrant parents spoke Italian at home but Gandolfini, one of three
children, never learned the language although, he later told interviewers, he
always understood when they were angry with him.
PHOTOS: Gandolfini's career highlights
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/showtracker/la-et-st-james-gandolfini-career-highlights-pictures,0,2236003.photogallery
After attending public schools in Westwood, he entered Rutgers University, where
he earned a bachelor's degree in communications in 1983. He worked a variety of
jobs over the next several years, including stints as a bouncer, bartender and
truck driver. He especially enjoyed bartending until, he told Newsweek in 2001,
"the waitresses got together and compared notes."
Acting didn't cross his mind until he was 25 and a friend took him to a class at
the illustrious Actors Studio in New York. It terrified him but he was
intrigued. "I'd never been around actors before," he told an interviewer. "I
said to myself, 'These people are nuts; this is kind of interesting.'"
By the early 1990s he was landing parts, one of the earliest the role of Steve
Hubbell in a Broadway revival of "A Streetcar Named Desire" and later joined its
European tour.
He landed his first movie role in 1992 in director Sidney Lumet's "A Stranger
Among Us." His bulky physique and heavy-lidded eyes tended to earn him parts
playing thugs, as in "True Romance" (1993), a crime thriller that starred
Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette.
In that movie, directed by Tony Scott and written by Quentin Tarantino,
Gandolfini throws a bloodied Arquette through a glass shower door. That
performance brought him to the attention of David Chase, who was searching for
an unknown or barely known Italian actor to play Tony Soprano.
When Gandolfini read the script, he told Vanity Fair in 2007, "I laughed my ass
off. I was like, This is really different and good, and odd. I thought, I've
never been the lead before. They're gonna hire somebody else. But I knew I could
do it. I have small amounts of Mr. Soprano in me. I was 35, a lunatic, a
madman."
"We're all in shock and feeling immeasurable sadness at the loss of a beloved
member of our family," said a statement from HBO Wednesday. "He was special man,
a great talent, but more importantly a gentle and loving person who treated
everyone no matter their title or position with equal respect. He touched so
many of us over the years with his humor, his warmth and his humility. Our
hearts go out to his wife and children during this terrible time. He will be
deeply missed by all of us. "
Though best-known for his Tony Soprano character, Gandolfini also had a raft of
character parts in films, including a blustery general in the political satire
"In the Loop" in 2009 and as Leon Panetta in "Zero Dark Thirty," both last year.
He also, eerily, had a supporting role opposite Saiorse Ronan in the recent
quirky indie "Violet & Daisy," playing a depressive on the verge of suicide.
Gandolfini shot at least two movies in the past year, "Enough Said," a romantic
comedy in which he played the love interest of Julia Louis-Drefyus' character,
and "Animal Rescue," in which he played a hard-bitten bar proprietor.
The first movie in particular represented a new direction for the actor; he
starred as Albert, a television archivist who is lovable and sweet. Both films
were produced by Fox Searchlight. And while neither film has been dated, both
are expected to come out in 2014.
PHOTOS: James Gandolfini | 1961-2013
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/showtracker/la-james-gandolfini-obit-20130619-pictures,0,4944928.photogallery
The studio released a statement Wednesday saying "everyone at Fox Searchlight is
honored to have had the opportunity to work with Jim. We are stunned and
devastated by the loss of this very talented actor and warm, wonderful man."
In a 2012 interview with The Times, Gandolfini spoke about his role in the
coming-of-age film "Not Fade Away" on which he collaborated once again with
"Sopranos" creator David Chase. In the film about rebellious rock 'n'
roll-minded teenager growing up in New Jersey in the 1960s, Gandolfini plays
Pat, a father, husband and WWII vet who provides a secure home life to an
ungrateful wife, son and daughter.
"This was an hommage to my old man," said the actor. "My father wasn't as
antagonistic [as his character] but he was old school - Brooklyn, cement mason,
bricklayer. He didn't understand me or my generation. He took care of his
family, took care of his children."
"What we as children didn't realize is our father was a man who had dreams,
aspirations and maybe there were things he wanted to do and places he wanted to
go and he couldn't because he had a family," he continued. "When I realized that
as a kid, I wished I was a better son."
Gandolfini understood the role as soon as Chase presented it to him, during a
lunch a few years ago. But the actor was still reticent about collaborating with
the writer-director for fear that the film would suffer from unfair comparisons
to the HBO series that has defined both men's careers.
"I said maybe you should get somebody else to make your life easier," recalled
Gandolfini.
PHOTOS: Gandolfini's career highlights
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/showtracker/la-et-st-james-gandolfini-career-highlights-pictures,0,2236003.photogallery
But Chase was adamant that Gandolfini play the part. In fact, Chase was close to
abandoning his first draft of the screenplay when he pictured his previous
leading man in the role of the father.
"You would think it would have occurred to me sooner but it didn't," said Chase,
who based the music-infused drama on his childhood in suburban New Jersey. "Once
I did, it all made sense and I could see the film very clearly."
For Gandolfini, the part was one in a long list of many smaller,
character-driven roles he's played in the last few years that have helped define
his post-"Sopranos" film career.
Following the end of "The Sopranos," Gandolfini returned to his roots as a stage
and character actor, taking supporting roles in such films as Armando Iannucci's
"In the Loop," Tony Scott's "The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3," even the voice of a
Wild Thing in Spike Jonze's whimsical adaptation of "Where the Wild Things Are."
But it was probably his role in the stage play "God of Carnage" that gave him
the most pleasure.
"I was an actor before ['Sopranos'] in movies but somehow I felt like an actor
again [with 'Carnage']," he said. "Being on stage fulfills you in a different
way. I loved watching some 80-year-old woman in the front laughing so hard she
can't catch her breath."
PHOTOS: Celebrities react on Twitter
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/showtracker/la-et-st-james-gandolfini-dies-celebrities-twitter-photos-20130619,0,2031157.photogallery
CAREER: James Gandolfini was more than just Tony Soprano
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/showtracker/la-et-st-james-gandolfini-career-highlights-20130619,0,6119436.story
PROFILE: Gandolfini's 'Not Fade Away' performance honors late father
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/moviesnow/la-et-mn-james-gandolfini-not-fade-away-20121222,0,3491105.story
Copyright � 2013, Los Angeles Times
James Gandolfini dies; brought swagger, genius to 'The Sopranos'
By Scott Collins
7:15 PM PDT, June 19, 2013
James Gandolfini, 51, who swaggered his way to fame as the murderous, clinically
depressed mob boss on HBO's groundbreaking drama "The Sopranos," died Wednesday
on vacation in Rome, Italy.
The cause of death was not immediately known but was initially attributed to
either a heart attack or stroke.
On "The Sopranos," which was created by writer David Chase and ran on HBO from
1999 to 2007, Gandolfini played the barrel-chested New Jersey organized crime
capo-turned-boss Tony Soprano, who alternated acts of mayhem, infidelity and
family loyalty between anguished visits to his psychiatrist, Dr. Melfi (Lorraine
Bracco). His regular haunt was the Bada Bing, a strip club where he often ran
his underworld enterprise.
PHOTOS: James Gandolfini | 1961-2013
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/showtracker/la-james-gandolfini-obit-20130619-pictures,0,4944928.photogallery
In Gandolfini's hands, a potentially unsympathetic and unrelatable character
became a kind of post-modern Everyman, even down to his troubled relationship
with wife Carmella (Edie Falco). He won three Emmy Awards for the role, now
considered one of the hallmark characters of television drama.
"He was a genius," Chase said in a statement. "Anyone who saw him even in the
smallest of his performances knows that. He is one of the greatest actors of
this or any time."
"A great deal of that genius resided in those sad eyes. I remember telling him
many times, 'You don't get it. You're like Mozart.' There would be silence at
the other end of the phone. For [his wife Deborah Lin] and [children] Michael
and Liliana this is crushing. And it's bad for the rest of the world. He wasn't
easy sometimes. But he was my partner, he was my brother in ways I can't explain
and never will be able to explain."
Gandolfini was born in Westwood, N.J., on Sept. 18, 1961. His mother, Joann, was
a school cafeteria worker, and his father, Michael, was a janitor, bricklayer
and cement mason.
His Italian immigrant parents spoke Italian at home but Gandolfini, one of three
children, never learned the language although, he later told interviewers, he
always understood when they were angry with him.
PHOTOS: Gandolfini's career highlights
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/showtracker/la-et-st-james-gandolfini-career-highlights-pictures,0,2236003.photogallery
After attending public schools in Westwood, he entered Rutgers University, where
he earned a bachelor's degree in communications in 1983. He worked a variety of
jobs over the next several years, including stints as a bouncer, bartender and
truck driver. He especially enjoyed bartending until, he told Newsweek in 2001,
"the waitresses got together and compared notes."
Acting didn't cross his mind until he was 25 and a friend took him to a class at
the illustrious Actors Studio in New York. It terrified him but he was
intrigued. "I'd never been around actors before," he told an interviewer. "I
said to myself, 'These people are nuts; this is kind of interesting.'"
By the early 1990s he was landing parts, one of the earliest the role of Steve
Hubbell in a Broadway revival of "A Streetcar Named Desire" and later joined its
European tour.
He landed his first movie role in 1992 in director Sidney Lumet's "A Stranger
Among Us." His bulky physique and heavy-lidded eyes tended to earn him parts
playing thugs, as in "True Romance" (1993), a crime thriller that starred
Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette.
In that movie, directed by Tony Scott and written by Quentin Tarantino,
Gandolfini throws a bloodied Arquette through a glass shower door. That
performance brought him to the attention of David Chase, who was searching for
an unknown or barely known Italian actor to play Tony Soprano.
When Gandolfini read the script, he told Vanity Fair in 2007, "I laughed my ass
off. I was like, This is really different and good, and odd. I thought, I've
never been the lead before. They're gonna hire somebody else. But I knew I could
do it. I have small amounts of Mr. Soprano in me. I was 35, a lunatic, a
madman."
"We're all in shock and feeling immeasurable sadness at the loss of a beloved
member of our family," said a statement from HBO Wednesday. "He was special man,
a great talent, but more importantly a gentle and loving person who treated
everyone no matter their title or position with equal respect. He touched so
many of us over the years with his humor, his warmth and his humility. Our
hearts go out to his wife and children during this terrible time. He will be
deeply missed by all of us. "
Though best-known for his Tony Soprano character, Gandolfini also had a raft of
character parts in films, including a blustery general in the political satire
"In the Loop" in 2009 and as Leon Panetta in "Zero Dark Thirty," both last year.
He also, eerily, had a supporting role opposite Saiorse Ronan in the recent
quirky indie "Violet & Daisy," playing a depressive on the verge of suicide.
Gandolfini shot at least two movies in the past year, "Enough Said," a romantic
comedy in which he played the love interest of Julia Louis-Drefyus' character,
and "Animal Rescue," in which he played a hard-bitten bar proprietor.
The first movie in particular represented a new direction for the actor; he
starred as Albert, a television archivist who is lovable and sweet. Both films
were produced by Fox Searchlight. And while neither film has been dated, both
are expected to come out in 2014.
PHOTOS: James Gandolfini | 1961-2013
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/showtracker/la-james-gandolfini-obit-20130619-pictures,0,4944928.photogallery
The studio released a statement Wednesday saying "everyone at Fox Searchlight is
honored to have had the opportunity to work with Jim. We are stunned and
devastated by the loss of this very talented actor and warm, wonderful man."
In a 2012 interview with The Times, Gandolfini spoke about his role in the
coming-of-age film "Not Fade Away" on which he collaborated once again with
"Sopranos" creator David Chase. In the film about rebellious rock 'n'
roll-minded teenager growing up in New Jersey in the 1960s, Gandolfini plays
Pat, a father, husband and WWII vet who provides a secure home life to an
ungrateful wife, son and daughter.
"This was an hommage to my old man," said the actor. "My father wasn't as
antagonistic [as his character] but he was old school - Brooklyn, cement mason,
bricklayer. He didn't understand me or my generation. He took care of his
family, took care of his children."
"What we as children didn't realize is our father was a man who had dreams,
aspirations and maybe there were things he wanted to do and places he wanted to
go and he couldn't because he had a family," he continued. "When I realized that
as a kid, I wished I was a better son."
Gandolfini understood the role as soon as Chase presented it to him, during a
lunch a few years ago. But the actor was still reticent about collaborating with
the writer-director for fear that the film would suffer from unfair comparisons
to the HBO series that has defined both men's careers.
"I said maybe you should get somebody else to make your life easier," recalled
Gandolfini.
PHOTOS: Gandolfini's career highlights
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/showtracker/la-et-st-james-gandolfini-career-highlights-pictures,0,2236003.photogallery
But Chase was adamant that Gandolfini play the part. In fact, Chase was close to
abandoning his first draft of the screenplay when he pictured his previous
leading man in the role of the father.
"You would think it would have occurred to me sooner but it didn't," said Chase,
who based the music-infused drama on his childhood in suburban New Jersey. "Once
I did, it all made sense and I could see the film very clearly."
For Gandolfini, the part was one in a long list of many smaller,
character-driven roles he's played in the last few years that have helped define
his post-"Sopranos" film career.
Following the end of "The Sopranos," Gandolfini returned to his roots as a stage
and character actor, taking supporting roles in such films as Armando Iannucci's
"In the Loop," Tony Scott's "The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3," even the voice of a
Wild Thing in Spike Jonze's whimsical adaptation of "Where the Wild Things Are."
But it was probably his role in the stage play "God of Carnage" that gave him
the most pleasure.
"I was an actor before ['Sopranos'] in movies but somehow I felt like an actor
again [with 'Carnage']," he said. "Being on stage fulfills you in a different
way. I loved watching some 80-year-old woman in the front laughing so hard she
can't catch her breath."
PHOTOS: Celebrities react on Twitter
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/showtracker/la-et-st-james-gandolfini-dies-celebrities-twitter-photos-20130619,0,2031157.photogallery
CAREER: James Gandolfini was more than just Tony Soprano
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/showtracker/la-et-st-james-gandolfini-career-highlights-20130619,0,6119436.story
PROFILE: Gandolfini's 'Not Fade Away' performance honors late father
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/moviesnow/la-et-mn-james-gandolfini-not-fade-away-20121222,0,3491105.story
Copyright � 2013, Los Angeles Times
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