James Joseph Gandolfini, Jr. was an American actor best known for his role in The Sopranos as Tony Soprano, a troubled crime boss struggling to balance his family life and career in the Mafia. Gandolfini garnered enormous praise for this portrayal, winning both the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series and Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series three times. Gandolfini’s other roles include the woman-beating Mob henchman Virgil in True Romance, enforcer/stuntman Bear in Get Shorty, and the impulsive Wild Thing Carol in Where the Wild Things Are.
Gandolfini produced the 2007 documentary Alive Day Memories: Home from Iraq, in which he interviewed 10 injured Iraq War veterans. His second documentary was released in 2010; Wartorn: 1861–2010 analyzes posttraumatic stress disorder and its impact on soldiers and families through several wars in American history, from 1861 to 2010. TV Guide ranked him 28 on its “50 Sexiest Stars of All Time” list in 2005.
Early life
Gandolfini was born in Westwood, New Jersey.[2] His mother, Santa, a high school lunch lady, was born in the United States of Italian ancestry and raised in Naples, Italy.[3] His father, James Joseph Gandolfini, Sr., a native of Borgotaro, Italy, was a bricklayerand cement mason and was later the head custodian at Paramus Catholic High School in New Jersey.[3][4][5][dead link] James, Sr. earned a Purple Heart in World War II.[6] Gandolfini’s parents were devout Roman Catholics and spoke Italian at home. Due to the influence of his parents, he developed a strong sense of being Italian and visited Italy regularly.[4][7]
He grew up in Park Ridge, New Jersey and graduated from Park Ridge High School in 1979, where he played basketball, acted in school plays,[8] and was awarded the title “Class Flirt” in his senior yearbook. He attained a Bachelor of Arts degree in communication studies from Rutgers University in 1982, where he worked as a bouncer at an on-campus pub.[9] He also worked as a bartender and club manager prior to his acting career.[9] He was introduced to acting as a young man living in New York City, when he accompanied friend Roger Bart to a Meisner technique acting class.[10]
Career
The Sopranos
Gandolfini’s most acclaimed role was that of Tony Soprano, a New Jersey Mafia boss and family man who was the lead character in the HBO drama The Sopranos, which debuted in 1999 and ran through 2007. He won three Emmys for “Best Actor in a Drama” for his depiction of Soprano, who constantly questions his identity and purpose. Entertainment Weekly listed him as the 42nd Greatest TV Icon of All Time.[11]
Film and stage work
Gandolfini performed in a 1992 Broadway production of On the Waterfront for six weeks. One of his best-known film roles was that of Virgil, a brutal woman-beating mob enforcer, in the 1993 romantic thriller True Romance.[3] Gandolfini said that one of his major inspirations for the role of Virgil, in True Romance, was an old friend of his who was a hitman.[3] In the 1994 film Terminal Velocity, Gandolfini played Ben Pinkwater, a seemingly mild-mannered insurance man who turns out to be a violent Russian mobster. In Get Shorty (1995), he appeared as a bearded ex-stuntman with a Southern accent, and in The Juror (1996), he played a mob enforcer with a conscience.[3] He played the Mayor of New York in the 2009 remake of The Taking of Pelham 123.
Gandolfini returned to HBO in 2007 as the executive producer of the Emmy-nominated documentary special, Alive Day Memories: Home From Iraq, his first project after The Sopranos and the first production for his company Attaboy Films, which was opened in 2006 with producing partner Alexandra Ryan. He returned to the stage in 2009, appearing inBroadway‘s God of Carnage with Marcia Gay Harden, Hope Davis and Jeff Daniels.[12]
He was executive producer of the 2012 HBO film about Ernest Hemingway and his relationship with Martha Gellhorn, titled Hemingway & Gellhorn, starring Clive Owen and Nicole Kidman.[13] Gandolfini reunited with Sopranos creator David Chase for Not Fade Away (2012), a music-driven production set in 1960s New Jersey, and the latter’s feature filmdebut.[14]
Alive Day: Home from Iraq
In 2007, Gandolfini produced a documentary with HBO focused on injured Iraq War veterans and their devotion to America, while surveying the physical and emotional costs of war. Ten surviving soldiers were interviewed by Gandolfini, who revealed their thoughts on the challenges they face integrating back into society and family life. They also reflected on the memories of the day when they narrowly escaped death, and what life may have been like in other circumstances.
Wartorn: 1861–2010
In 2010, Gandolfini produced another documentary with HBO, which analyzed the effects of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) throughout American history, from 1861 to 2010. It featured interviews with American military officials on their views of PTSD and how they are trying to help soldiers affected by it. Letters from soldiers of the American Civil War and World War I who were affected by PTSD are examined, along with interviews with soldiers affected by PTSD and their families.
Personal life
Gandolfini maintained ties with his Park Ridge hometown by supporting its The Octoberwoman Foundation for Breast Cancer Research. He appeared at its annual October banquet and often brought other Sopranos cast members to help draw larger crowds. He resided inNew York City, and owned a lot on the Lake Manitoba Narrows.[15] In 2009, he purchased a home in the hills of Tewksbury Township, New Jersey, U.S.[16]
Gandolfini and his first wife, Marcy Wudarski, divorced in December 2002. They have a teenaged son named Michael.[17]
August 30, 2008, after two years of dating, Gandolfini married former model Deborah Lin, who was 40 years old at the time, in her hometown of Honolulu, Hawaii.[18] Their daughter, Liliana Ruth Gandolfini, was born in Los Angeles, California, on October 10, 2012.[19]
A fan of motorcycles, Gandolfini owned a Harley-Davidson and a Vespa scooter. On May 4, 2006, he was riding the Vespa in New York City traffic when it was hit by a taxi cab, resulting in knee surgery which postponed for three months the filming of the final Sopranos episodes.
Death and reaction
Gandolfini died on June 19, 2013, during a brief vacation in Rome, Italy. He was expected to travel to Sicily on June 22 to receive an award at the Taormina Film Fest. Following a day of sightseeing in Rome in sweltering heat, Gandolfini’s 13-year-old son Michael discovered him around 10 pm local time on the bathroom floor at the Boscolo Exedra Hotel in Rome’s Piazza della Repubblica. Michael called hotel reception, who in turn called emergency paramedics.[17] Ambulance staff arrived around 10:40 pm and attempted to resuscitate Gandolfini, who was reportedly still alive at the hotel but subsequently died en route to the hospital.[20] An autopsy on Gandolfini confirmed that he had died of a heart attack.[21]
Word of his death spread among Gandolfini’s friends, former co-stars, and fans. Politicians such as John McCain and Chris Christie took to the Internet to respond to his death.[22][23][24] Christie ordered all New Jersey State buildings to fly flags at half staff on June 24, to honor Gandolfini when his remains return to the United States.[25] The people of Gandolfini’s hometown, Park Ridge, New Jersey started a Facebook page to discuss plans to honor him, including naming a street after him and renaming the Little Theater at Park Ridge High School, where he did his first performances, after him.[26]
The day following Gandolfini’s death, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, which features Gandolfini’s Sopranos co-star Steven Van Zandt on guitar, gave a full album performance of their 1975 classic Born to Run and dedicated it to Gandolfini.[27]
Gandolfini’s body was returned to the United States on June 23. Gandolfini family spokesman Michael Kobold thanked Italian and American authorities for expediting the repatriation process, which normally takes 7 full days.[28] Broadway dimmed theater marquee lights on the night of Wednesday, June 26 in Gandolfini’s honor.[29] His funeral service was held on June 27, 2013 at the Episcopal Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in Morningside Heights, New York City.[30][31]
Recording of 100-Day Countdown Teleconference