James Gandolfini, Jr.

James Joseph Gandolfini, Jr. (September 18, 1961 – June 19, 2013) was an American actor, best known for his role as Tony Soprano in The Sopranos, about a troubled crime boss struggling to balance his family life and career in the Mafia. Gandolfini garnered enormous praise for this role, 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. His mother, Santa, a high school lunch lady, was born in the USA, of Italian ancestry, and was raised in Naples, Italy. His father, James Joseph Gandolfini, Sr., a native of Borgotaro, Italy, was a bricklayer, cement mason, and later the head custodian at Paramus Catholic High School, in Paramus, New Jersey. James, Sr., also earned a Purple Heart in World War II. His parents were devout Roman Catholics and spoke Italian at home. Due to such influence, Gandolfini had a strong sense of being Italian, and regularly visited Italy.

Gandolfini grew up in Park Ridge and graduated from Park Ridge High School in 1979, where he played basketball and acted in school plays. He was awarded the title "Class Flirt" in his senior yearbook. He held a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication Studies from Rutgers University, where he worked as a bouncer at an on-campus pub. Gandolfini also worked as a bartender and club manager prior to embarking on an acting career. Gandolfini was introduced to acting as a young man living in New York City, when he accompanied a friend, actor Roger Bart, to a Meisner technique acting class.

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 Sopranos, which debuted in 1999. He won threeEmmys for "Best Actor in a Drama" for his depiction of Soprano, who constantly questions his identity and purpose. Gandolfini eventually earned $1,000,000 per episode in the series, and Entertainment Weekly listed him as the 42nd Greatest TV Icon of All Time.

 

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. 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. 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. 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 Sopranosand 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 in Broadway's God of Carnage with Marcia Gay Harden, Hope Davis and Jeff Daniels.

In June 2010, it was announced that Gandolfini would be executive producing an HBO film about Ernest Hemingway and his relationship with Martha Gellhorn, titled Hemingway & Gellhorn and starring Clive Owen and Nicole Kidman. Philip Kaufman directed the film, which was written by Barbara Turner and Jerry Stahl, and began shooting in 2011. 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 film debut.

Alive Day: Home from Iraq

Gandolfini and Tony Sirico visit with a member of the U.S. Air Force during a USO visit to Southwest Asia, March 31, 2010

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 with Rose McGowan in Kuwait, March 31, 2010

Gandolfini maintained ties with his Park Ridge, New Jersey 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 in New York City, and owned a lot on the Lake Manitoba Narrows. In 2009, he purchased a home in the hills of Tewksbury Township, New Jersey.

On August 30, 2008, after two years of dating, Gandolfini married former model Deborah Lin in her hometown of Honolulu, Hawaii. Their daughter, Liliana Ruth Gandolfini, was born October 10, 2012 in Los Angeles, California. Gandolfini also had a son, Michael, with his ex-wife, Marcy Wudarski, from whom he was divorced in December 2002.

His sister, Johanna Antonacci, is the manager of the Family Division of the New Jersey Superior Court in Hackensack, New Jersey.

A fan of motorcycles, Gandolfini owned a Harley-Davidson; and also 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

On June 19, 2013, Gandolfini died suddenly while vacationing in Rome. Early reports suggest the cause of death was either an acute myocardial infarction or a stroke. Gandolfini was on his way toward Sicily, where he had been scheduled to participate in an onstage conversation with Italian director Gabriele Muccino at the Taormina Film Fest on June 22. The Sopranos creator David Chase called Gandolfini "a genius" and "his partner and brother". New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said he was "a New Jersey treasure".

Filmography

Film Year Film Role Notes 1987 Shock! Shock! Shock! Orderly  

1992 A Stranger Among Us Tony Baldessari  

1993 Italian Movie Angelo  

1993 Money for Nothing Billy Coyle  

1993 True Romance Virgil  

1993 Mr. Wonderful Mike  

1994 Angie Vinnie  

1994 Terminal Velocity Ben Pinkwater  

1995 Le Nouveau monde Will Caberra  

1995 Crimson Tide Lt. Bobby Dougherty  

1995 Get Shorty Bear  

1996 The Juror Eddie  

1997 Night Falls on Manhattan Joey Allegretto  

1997 She's So Lovely Kiefer  

1997 Perdita Durango Willie "Woody" Dumas  

1997 12 Angry Men Juror #6  

1997 Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil Diner cook Uncredited

1998 Fallen Lou  

1998 The Mighty Kenny Kane  

1998 A Civil Action Al Love  

1999 A Whole New Day Vincent Short film, included in Stories of Lost Souls

1999 8mm Eddie Poole  

2001 The Mexican Winston Baldry L.A. Outfest Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role

2001 The Man Who Wasn't There Big Dave Brewster  

2001 The Last Castle Colonel Winter  

2004 Surviving Christmas Tom Valco  

2006 Romance & Cigarettes Nick Murder  

2006 Lonely Hearts Det. Charles Hilderbrandt  

2006 All the King's Men Tiny Duffy  

2006 Club Soda The man Short film, included in Stories USA

2008 American Breakdown Himself archive footage

2009 In the Loop Lt. Gen. George Miller Chlotrudis Award for Best Cast

2009 The Taking of Pelham 123 Mayor of New York  

2009 Where the Wild Things Are Carol Voice

2010 Welcome to the Rileys Doug Riley  

2010 Mint Julep Mr. G  

2011 Down the Shore Bailey  

2011 Violet & Daisy Michael  

2011 Cinema Verite Craig Gilbert  

2012 Killing Them Softly Mickey  

2012 Zero Dark Thirty C.I.A. Director Nominated – Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Ensemble

2012 Not Fade Away Pat  

2013 The Incredible Burt Wonderstone Doug Munny  

2013 Nicky Deuce Bobby Eggs   2014 Animal Rescue   In post-production
 

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By Season 4 of The Sopranos, Gandolfini was earning $400,000 per episode. HBO wanted Season 5 on the fast track, and the offer was staggering: roughly $1 million per episode across 13 episodes. Agents celebrated. Lawyers drafted. But something stopped him cold. His co-stars were earning a fraction of what he made. Edie Falco, the woman who carried every scene as Carmela Soprano, wasn't close. The supporting cast earned even less. Gandolfini looked at his contract and saw something executives didn't want him to see — a gap that felt deeply unfair. So he did something that shocked Hollywood. He walked away. Production stalled in early 2003. HBO filed a lawsuit seeking around $100 million in damages. Headlines called him difficult. Columnists called him unstable. "They think I'm a wild animal," he reportedly told a friend that spring. The easy move would have been to sign, cash the check, and disappear into Tony Soprano's shadow — the character who made him a household name and quietly trapped him inside it. Instead, Gandolfini made a different choice. He eventually returned to the negotiating table and signed the deal. But what he did next became legend. Gandolfini reached into his own pocket and personally gave approximately $33,000 to each of 16 supporting cast members — roughly $500,000 of his own money — as a thank-you for standing by him during the shutdown. No press release. No cameras. No announcement. Just quiet envelopes handed out privately. Crew members remembered other moments too. Gandolfini would show up early at Silvercup Studios in Queens, sit in a folding chair, chain-smoke, and ask grips and lighting technicians about their kids by name. He remembered birthdays. He remembered losses. When a crew member's family member fell ill, he quietly helped with expenses. When writers pulled all-nighters rewriting scenes, he fought to protect their words on screen. The turning point wasn't the signing. It was the pause — the refusal that cost him his reputation, invited a massive lawsuit, and risked killing the biggest show on television. He bet everything on a principle most people would have quietly swallowed. Season 5 aired in 2004. Ratings climbed. Awards followed. Critics called it one of the greatest seasons of television ever made. But behind the numbers was a quieter truth: James Gandolfini used his leverage not just to lift himself — but to lift everyone standing beside him. He played a man who ruled through fear on screen. Off screen, he led through loyalty. When he died suddenly in 2013 at age 51, cast and crew members told the same stories over and over — not about his Emmy wins or his iconic performance, but about the envelopes, the folding chair, the questions about their kids. A legacy built not on what he earned, but on what he shared. Power doesn't always roar. Sometimes it whispers through a quiet envelope, handed over with no cameras watching.