It’s devastating to report that James Gandolfini, best known for his award-winning role in HBO’s The Sopranos, has shockingly passed away at the age of 51. Deadline reported that Gandolfini has passed away due to a suspected heart attack while visiting Rome for the Taormina Film Festival.
He made his screen debut in 1987’s Shock! Shock! Shock! Followed by small roles in Tony Scott‘s The Last Boy Scout, Sidney Lumet‘s A Stranger Among Us and Scott and Quentin Tarantino‘s True Romance. Following True Romance, he has appeared in a handful of films such as Get Shorty, Crimson Tide, and A Civil Action.
It was in 1999 when the actor got the part that will define his career as the complicated mobster in David Chase’s HBO series The Sopranos. The series, which ran from 1999 to 2007, earned Gandolfini three Primetime Emmy Awards for Best Actor in a Drama Series and 2 Golden Globe Awards. It’s this chilling role that drove the series to iconic status and a phenomena of a series that transformed HBO into the outstanding cable network that it is.
The role as Tony Soprano led Gandolfini to earn more diverse roles in films such The Mexican opposite Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts and the Coen Brothers’ film The Man Who Wasn’t There. Perhaps his most endearing performances on the big screen were his performances in Spike Jonze’s 2009 adaptation Where The Wild Things Are and the criminally underrated 2010 drama Welcome To The Rileys. In a perfect world, he would’ve earned an Oscar nomination for his performances in both films.
Most recently, he recently appeared in Andrew Dominik’s crime pic Killing Them Softly, Kathryn Bigelow’s Zero Dark Thirty, and the magician comedy The Incredible Burt Wonderstone. His last credited film will be Animal Rescue, which is currently in post-production and slated for a release next year.
Gandolfini was quite an impressive talent on screen, big and small. He will surely be missed but never forgotten. Posted below are all five parts of Gandolfini’s insightful appearance on Inside The Actor’s Studio.
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