Before becoming the massive, balding guy that the world came to adore as a merciless but tender mob boss on The Sopranos, there was another James Gandolfini.
Decades before he portrayed the mysterious violent sociopath on The Sopranos, Gandolfini was just as flamboyant in his youth. He is best known for his role of the philandering Tony Soprano, who had greater luck remaining faithful to his crime family than his own family.
James Gandolfini was born on September 18, 1961, and gained notoriety for his role as the amiable Tony Soprano, the head of the Mafia, and the father figure in the HBO series The Sopranos.
Gandolfini received critical acclaim and multiple prizes for his groundbreaking portrayal of the damaged gangster, who was at times empathetic and at other times psychotic.
James Gandolfini said to Vogue, “I am playing an Italian lunatic from New Jersey, and that’s basically what I am,” in reference to the endearing but vicious Tony Soprano.
After a tremendously popular six-season run, the series concluded in 2007, leaving viewers wondering if the blacked-out screen in the finale suggested the antihero is alive, or dead.
Rome’s Tragic Event
But on June 19, 2013, the beloved 51-year-old celebrity passed away from a heart attack, and the great actor also passed away.
The dad, who was born in Jersey, was traveling with his family in Italy when he suffered a heart attack and passed away in the hotel alongside his 13-year-old son Michael.Gandolfini departed from this life with his 2008 wife Deborah Lin, daughter Liliane (born in 2012), and son Michael, whom he shared with his previous wife, Marcy Wudarski.
After nearly a decade, Michael finally secured the most significant job of his career, assuming the part of a youthful Tony Soprano in The Many Saints of Newark.
