Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: RIP: James Gandolfini (Tony Soprano) 51

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Posted by Rick Raskin (Member # 1561) on 06-19-2013, 07:14 PM:

Terrible news for TV fans: James Gandolfini, who played mobster Tony Soprano on HBO's seminal drama "The Sopranos," died suddenly today at the age of 51, Variety is reporting.

Gandolfini was traveling in Italy on vacation when he fell ill; various reports have him suffering a heart attack and a stroke. He is survived by his wife, Deborah Lin, and a son, Michael, from a previous marriage.

He won three Emmys and one Golden Globe for his performance as Tony Soprano on the HBO drama, a conflicted, sometimes villainous role that launched the current wave of TV antiheroes. "The Sopranos" remains HBO's highest-rated series ever, with 13.4 million viewers tuning in for the Season 4 premiere in 2002.

In addition to "The Sopranos," Gandolfini appeared in dozens of movies, including memorable supporting turns in "True Romance," "Get Shorty," and last year's "Zero Dark Thirty."

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 06-20-2013, 12:54 PM:

I remember the first time I saw James Gandolfini in a movie, 20 years ago playing a hit man named Virgil in True Romance. He showed up to beat the living hell out of Patricia Arquette's character and then goofed up and got killed. I remember the scene being particularly brutal.

Tony Scott brought back Gandolfini 2 years later for Crimson Tide.

I think those two small roles helped set the stage for Gandolfini to win the role of Tony Soprano.

It's pretty shocking for an actor as successful as James Gandolfini to die at such a relatively young age. Granted, people die of heart attacks all the time and in a widening range of age groups. My cousin Tammy's first husband died of a heart attack at age 29. But he was a really overweight guy with a variety of health problems. Gandolfini was fairly overweight too, but given he was probably very well off financially and able to afford seeing a doctor on a regular basis, I'm surprised his death wasn't prevented. Pretty sad. His passing makes me think of friends and family members with considerable health risks, obesity being the most common one.

Well, so much for any hope of a Sopranos reunion on HBO.
[Frown]

Posted by Mike Heenan (Member # 392) on 06-20-2013, 07:58 PM:

He also had a history of drug and alcohol abuse, but seems to have been clean in recent times. TMZ had a pic of him which supposedly is his last pic, and he seems really bloated compared to another picture of him taken a few weeks ago at a tattoo parlor.