This morning I was shocked when I read the news that James Gandolfini had died at the age of 51. I always enjoyed watching his work. The Sopranos is one of my favorite TV shows ever and he had many roles I really loved (The Mexican, In the Loop and Killing Them Softly immediately jump to mind).
James Gandolfini was born on September 18, 1961 in Westwood, New Jersey. He grew up in Park Ridge in an Italian speaking home. In 1979 he graduated from Park Ridge High School where he was in school plays. He went to Rutgers University and got a Bachelor of Arts degree in communication studies. He started pursuing an acting career and his first movie was in Shock! Shock! Shock! as an orderly in 1987. He appeared in movies like True Romance, Terminal Velocity, Crimson Tide, Get Shorty and The Juror before he became a star when he starred in the TV series The Sopranos as Tony Soprano. The show would run for 6 seasons and received a lot of awards, including Screen Actors Guild Awards for Gandolfini. After the show ended he acted in various movies. He died on June 19, 2013 while visiting Italy.
From left to right: Shock! Shock! Shock!, Money for Nothing, True Romance, Terminal Velocity, Le nouveau monde, Crimson Tide, Get Shorty, The Juror, Night Falls on Manhattan, She’s So Lovely, 12 Angry Men, Perdita Durango, Fallen, The Mighty, A Civil Action, A Whole New Day, 8MM, The Mexican, The Man Who Wasn’t There, The Last Castle, Surviving Christmas, Romance & Cigarettes, Lonely Hearts, All the King’s Men, Club Soda, Sopranos, In the Loop, The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, Where the Wild Things Are, Welcome to the Rileys, Mint Julep, Down the Shore, Cinema Verite, Violet & Daisy, Killing Them Softly, Not Fade Away, Zero Dark Thirty, The Incredible Burt Wonderstone
What’s your favorite James Gandolfini role?
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I’m still in shock and still feeling like crying about this. My favorite Gandolfini performance is from The Sopranos, but his work in Where the Wild Things Are is my favorite of his film work and speaks volumes to his range as an actor. What he did in The Mexican and Killing them Softly and In the Loop only proved that range time and time again. This is a terrible loss indeed!
Yeah, it is unbelievable. Of course Sopranos is that one that stands out also because you really got to know his character. Excellent choices Andrew.
Nicely done Nostra. A truly great screen presence and a real favourite of mine. The Sopranos will go down it tv history as one the first shows to truly break a mould and that was thanks, in large, to Gandolfini’s towering performance. I loved his acting approach and he seemed like a truly humble human being. Sadly missed already.
Thanks Mark, Sopranos definitely changed the scene.
Great tribute to television’s greatest actor. The Sopranos is my favorite TV show and his performance as Tony Soprano remains one of the best I’ve seen.
Thanks. Really should be rewatching Sopranos again…
You forget how many great character roles he was in before he really made it with “The Sopranos”. I forgot he was in “True Romance” until the memory clicked from your photo, as well as “The Mexican”
Thanks for making this so quickly. I know these posts take time.
Exactly, making it really made me go wow at some of the movies he was in.
I just had to put the time in and pay tribute…
As you know, #1 for me is always going to be The Sopranos. Nice post Nostra
Of course. Thanks Tyson!
Was so sad to hear about this. He is absolutely fantastic in The Sopranos. Making Tony Soprano a sympathetic character wasn’t an easy task and he did it perfectly.
Have heard he was an incredibly down to earth sort of guy, really great in interviews too. Such a sad loss. Didn’t realise how young he was either.
Yeah, he was indeed. You really cared for Soprano, despite him not being a likeable man!
Never read any interviews with him, but I am not surprised to hear that. 51 is very young indeed.
For all of his gifts as an actor, I wish James Gandolfini’s Hollywood career had been just a bit more robust than it ended up being. I guess it must have been hard, as he confessed several times, to be the kind of guy he was and still be on demand in a town that is mostly about looks and youth.
He will be missed.
I think he had a solid career and did some amazing work in movies as well. He will be missed indeed!
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