[attach id=261516 size="medium"]James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano in The Sopranos. Photo: HBO/Reuters[/attach]
James Gandolfini, the burly actor best known for his Emmy-winning portrayal of a conflicted New Jersey mob boss in the groundbreaking cable TV series The Sopranos, died on Wednesday while vacationing in Italy. He was 51.
Gandolfini, whose role as Tony Soprano made him a household name while transforming the HBO network and ushering in a new era of drama on American television, had been scheduled to attend the closing of the Taormina Film Festival in Sicily on Saturday. He died of a possible heart attack in Rome, HBO spokeswoman Mara Mikialian said.
Since The Sopranos ended its six-season run in June 2007, Gandolfini appeared in a number of big-screen roles, including Zero Dark Thirty, a film about the hunt for Osama bin Laden, and crime drama Killing Them Softly.
“We’re all in shock and feeling immeasurable sadness at the loss of a beloved member of our family,” the network said in a statement. “He was a 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.”
A great deal of that genius resided in those sad eyes- Sopranos creator David Chase
Gandolfini began his career as a stage actor in New York and went on to earn a Tony nomination for his role in the original 2009 Broadway cast of the black comedy God of Carnage. But he gained fame and broke ground with his signature portrait of the title character in The Sopranos, playing the head of a fictional New Jersey mob family.
Although he shared the character’s Italian-American heritage and New Jersey roots, the actor was known for a reserved demeanour off-camera and generally shied away from publicity.
As Tony Soprano, Gandolfini created a gangster different from any previously seen in American television or film. He was capable of killing enemies with his own hands but was prone to panic attacks.
He loved his wife, Carmela, played by Edie Falco, and was a doting father, but he carried on a string of extramarital affairs.
He regularly saw a therapist, portrayed by Lorraine Bracco, to work out his anxiety problems and issues with his mother.
By the start of the show’s final season, Gandolfini suggested he was ready to move on to more gentle roles once his TV mobster days were over: “I’m too tired to be a tough guy or any of that stuff anymore,” he said. “We pretty much used all that up in this show.”
The programme, which earned Gandolfini three Emmy Awards as best lead actor in a drama series, was considered by many critics at the time the finest drama to have aired on US television.
The show won the Emmy as best drama series in 2004 and again in 2007 after its final season. The series concluded with a final episode that strongly suggested Tony was about to be murdered before abruptly ending mid-scene, cutting from a shot of Gandolfini’s face to a blank screen.
His role also paved the way for a parade of popular prime-time shows built around profoundly flawed characters and anti-heroes, from Dexter and Breaking Bad to Mad Men and Nurse Jackie.
David Chase, creator of The Sopranos, paid tribute to his former star in a statement remembering him as “a genius” and “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,” Chase recounted.
Actress Marcia Gay Harden, his co-star in God of Carnage, saluted Gandolfini as a “great partner, masterful actor and a loving, generous human being”. Susan Sarandon, who played his wife in the 2005 romantic comedy Romance and Cigarettes, remembered him in a Twitter posting as “one of the sweetest, funniest, most generous actors I’ve ever worked with”.
At the time of his death, he had been working on an upcoming HBO series Criminal Justice. Gandolfini is due to appear on the big screen next year, playing the love interest of comic actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus in the film Enough Said and a role in a New York crime drama called Animal Rescue.
Gandolfini preceded his career as a performer by working as a truck driver, bouncer and nightclub manager in New York City before he went to an acting class with a friend and got hooked.