On June 19th, 2013, James Gandolfini passed away due to a heart attack while in Italy. He was 51 years old.
The actor, most notoriously known for his role as Tony Soprano on the hit TV show “The Sopranos” started acting around the late 80’s, but didn’t catch his first big break until 1993 when he played Virgil in Tony Scott’s “True Romance”.
Throughout his career, Gandolfini played a multitude of roles, all in which felt the same (what can I say? He had a very intimidating on screen presence) and yet were completely different.
In my honest opinion, my favorite role of his was being the voice of Carol in “Where The Wild Things Are”. Granted you never saw James act as a person, but his voice work is so natural, so personal, he literally could scare the crap out of you and make you learn something at the same time.
That was the beauty of him. When researching his career, I came across some of his favorite quotes. I’d like to share a few with you.
“I love hearing people laugh. Especially in New York, and especially now. To hear somebody out there just belly-laughing.”
“I just don’t think I’m that interesting. I don’t think what I have to say is that interesting. To hear me go, ‘Blah, blah, blah, blah“. – on why he rarely does interviews
[on the final episode of “The Sopranos” (1999)] When I first saw the ending, I said, “What the fuck?” I mean, after all I went through, all this death, and then it’s over like that? But after I had a day to sleep, I just sat there and said, “That’s perfect.”
James was most recently seen in “Zero Dark Thirty”, and “The Incredible Burt Wonderstone”.
Chris Albrecht (greenlit THE SOPRANOS) stated “Absolutely stunned. I got the word from Lorraine Bracco and just got off with Brad Grey who had just heard from David Chase. We had all became a family. This is a tremendous loss.”
Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Gandolini family at this difficult time.