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R.I.P. James Gandolfini

By Jeralyn, Section Media
Posted on Wed Jun 19, 2013 at 10:34:18 PM EST
Tags: James Gandolfini, Sopranos (all tags)
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James Gandolfini, forever loved as Tony Soprano, died today at age 51 while on vacation in Rome. The cause of death has not been released, but the LA Times reports he may have suffered a heart attack or a stroke. [Added: The Daily News reports he suffered a massive heart attack.)

What a shock, and how sad. Our condolences to his family and friends.

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    R.I.P. James Gandolfini | 16 comments (16 topical)

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    Way too young (5.00 / 1) (#1)
    by MKS on Wed Jun 19, 2013 at 10:35:09 PM EST


    I (none / 0) (#2)
    by lentinel on Thu Jun 20, 2013 at 09:29:43 AM EST
    just watched a film, "Pelham 123" in which Gandolfini played the Mayor of New York.

    It was such a sympathetic portrayal. The kind of mayor I would have liked to have voted for.

    So I was thinking about him as a actor... and then this happened.

    Really sad.

    RIP Mr. G (none / 0) (#3)
    by Dadler on Thu Jun 20, 2013 at 10:19:45 AM EST
    While I was one of the few people who genuinely found The Sopranos to be awful (I am prejudiced against mafia stories, it seems), I always found him to be sort of teddy-bearish and endearing. So sad for his little children.

    12 angry men (none / 0) (#4)
    by nyjets on Thu Jun 20, 2013 at 10:40:46 AM EST
    I also hate all Mafia shows like the Sopranos. But he was a good actor. I though he was great in 12 angry men.

    Parent
    Good call (none / 0) (#5)
    by Dadler on Thu Jun 20, 2013 at 11:33:18 AM EST
    I'd forgotten about that production. He really was stellar. Surprised me, he really did.

    Parent
    More Mafia... (none / 0) (#6)
    by kdog on Thu Jun 20, 2013 at 11:51:00 AM EST
    so maybe you won't dig it, but I thought he killed his small role as the sadistic muscle for Christopher Walken in "True Romance".  I f*ckin' love that movie.

     

    Parent

    Wasn't a str8 mafia pick (none / 0) (#7)
    by Dadler on Thu Jun 20, 2013 at 11:59:15 AM EST
    I dug that one, as I recall. But I'm just getting to the age where every movie that doesn't absolutely blow me away sort of blurs into one.

    Can't believe it's already a year since we were out in NYC and saw you. I'm hoping for a late summer trip this year, but it's all money, baby. Always money.

    Peace out, my good mang.

    Parent

    True... (none / 0) (#11)
    by kdog on Thu Jun 20, 2013 at 02:03:50 PM EST
    the movie is an epic love story with a mafia sub-plot, but Gandolfini's role was straight up mafia.

    I hear ya on travel funds man...hope ya can swing it and we can get together again!

    Parent

    You mean the Sopranos wasn't a workplace drama? (none / 0) (#10)
    by ruffian on Thu Jun 20, 2013 at 12:53:10 PM EST
    Minus the murder, I could totally relate to a lot of it.

    Will miss him in other roles as well. Way too young - a good reminder to all of us to live every day.

    Parent

    A great talent gone too soon (none / 0) (#8)
    by Militarytracy on Thu Jun 20, 2013 at 12:14:03 PM EST
    I looked specifically for him in newer films coming out when we chose what we would spend theater cash on.  I don't want him to be gone so it is difficult to wish him Godspeed.

    I really liked "In the Loop" (none / 0) (#9)
    by shoephone on Thu Jun 20, 2013 at 12:26:02 PM EST
    a little movie in which Gandolfini plays a four-star general trying to stop the U.S and U.K. from waging a war of choice in the Middle East.

    I grew up in NJ, my surname ends in an i (none / 0) (#12)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Thu Jun 20, 2013 at 02:35:41 PM EST
    so that part I liked about the show.

    The show's setting was a little too realistic for me though, the homes outside and inside were exactly what I fled when I moved out of state in the mid 80's.

    When I go back home and see my friend's parent's houses they look exactly like they did when I left. They give me the heebie jeebies for some reason, they brings back my physically visceral need to go somewhere far away from my hometown from 30 years ago.

    James, however, was masterful. The episode where he takes his HS Sr. daughter to visit colleges and ends up whacking a guy who informed on him years before that he happens to stumble upon near one of the schools, I'll never forget.

    Gandolfini took his teenaged son Michael ... (none / 0) (#13)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Thu Jun 20, 2013 at 03:21:46 PM EST
    ... to Italy as a present for his 8th grade graduation, and he was scheduled to attend a film festival in Sicily. The boy found him stricken in the bathroom at their hotel in Rome and called for help, but his father later died at the hospital from full cardiac arrest.

    Marcy Wudarski, Michael's mother and Gandolfini's first wife, has arrived in Rome to take care of her son and to arrange for the transport of her former husband's body back to the U.S. His current wife Deborah Lin is currently back home with their 8-month-old daughter.

    Oh, that poor kid... (none / 0) (#14)
    by Anne on Thu Jun 20, 2013 at 03:35:27 PM EST
    a wonderful, father/son celebratory trip ends far from home in about the worst way possible.

    [and having handled the estate of a woman who died in Hong Kong after a fall at her hotel, I can tell you that the logistics of arranging to transport a body back to the US can be daunting - made all the worse by having to deal with grief at the same time.]


    Parent

    We will have to see (none / 0) (#16)
    by jbindc on Thu Jun 20, 2013 at 05:12:19 PM EST
    If he died of a heart attack or cardiac arrest.  While they are used interchangeably, they actually are not the same thing.

    And actually, EVERYONE dies of cardiac arrest. It's when your heart stops beating.

    Parent

    A well-done tribute to his work (none / 0) (#15)
    by ruffian on Thu Jun 20, 2013 at 03:56:07 PM EST
    at Slate.

    R.I.P. James Gandolfini | 16 comments (16 topical)

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