Some really sad news to finish tonight’s proceedings Soprano’s star James Gandolfini has died aged 51. The 3 time Emmy and SAG winner best known for his role of patriarch Tony Soprano according to reports died of possible massive heart attack whilst on holiday in Italy with his family.
According to TMZ website the New Jersey born actor was in Italy to attend a film festival in Sicily but was in the Italian capital Rome when he suffered the heart attack.
Born in 1961 to Italian parents, where he would graduate with a degree in communications from New Jersey’s Rutgers University. What followed where several jobs including bartender, bouncer, and club manager but it was when he met his friend Roger Bart is when he caught the acting bug. His screen debut came in 1987 in a small role in Shock! Shock! Shock!, The Last Boy Scout, Sidney Lumet’s A Stranger Among Us but it was 1992 appearing in Tarantino’s True Romance kicked off the start of the bigger roles.
Seven years later it was HBO’s iconic The Sopranos (now regarded as the greatest tv programme ever made) playing angst driven mobster anti hero Tony Soprano. It was a series which would run from 1999 until 2007 inspiring everything from The Wire, Mad Men, Breaking Bad.
He played a Gay scene stealing hit man in The Mexican, luckily staying clear of typecasted roles but after several films he headed back to Broadway winning plaudits once again in the Tony nominated God Of Carnage. He headed back to big screen in the likes of Where The Wild Things Are, In The Loop, more recently an alcoholic hitman in Killing Them Softly then more recently a government head in Zero Dark Thirty and in USA he has a role in Violet &Daisy and he just finished his last role with Noomi Rapace, Tom Hardy in Animal Rescue (estimated 2014 release).
2008 Gandolfini remarried ex Hawaiian model Deborah Lin his second marriage the first been Marcy Wudarski whom he has a son by called Michael.
From everyone at The People’s Movies, Cinehouse and all our readers we like to pass our condolences to all of Mr Gandolfini’s family and relations, R.I.P.
