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Sad News: James Gandolfini "Tony Soprano" Dead at 51

 
 
firefly
 
Reply Wed 19 Jun, 2013 06:12 pm
James Gandolfini died suddenly while in Italy. He may have had a heart attack.

http://www.tmz.com/2013/06/19/james-gandolfini-dead-dies-italy/
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Type: Discussion • Score: 1 • Views: 12,944 • Replies: 206

 
firefly
 
  2  
Reply Wed 19 Jun, 2013 06:35 pm
@firefly,
http://i2.blogs.indiewire.com/images/blogs/theplaylist/archives/james_gandolfini_bg_04.jpg

Such a versatile and fine character actor, with an impressive list of credits for his TV, stage, and film work.

Very sad that he has died at such a relatively young age.
farmerman
 
  1  
Reply Wed 19 Jun, 2013 06:42 pm
@firefly,
He was the perfect casting for Tony Soprano. His later roles never could remove the surface of a Mafia Don.
firefly
 
  1  
Reply Wed 19 Jun, 2013 07:08 pm
@farmerman,
That's funny, farmerman, because I was just thinking that he escaped being typecast as Tony Soprano. When I saw him in other roles, in film, I was able to accept him as another character. He worked continuously in films...

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001254/

And in 2009 he was on the Broadway stage, and I think on the stage in L.A. as well, in "God of Carnage". He was nominated for a Tony as Best Actor in a play for that turn on Broadway.

This is his obit in the NY Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/20/arts/television/james-gandolfini-sopranos-star-dies-at-51.html?hp

It is amazing that he made us care about this Mafia guy, Tony Soprano. He really brought the character to life, with a very nuanced sensitive performance. A really marvelous actor.

I am very saddened by the news of his passing.
edgarblythe
 
  1  
Reply Wed 19 Jun, 2013 07:51 pm
I don't have cable TV. I don't recall ever seeing him in anything.
Lustig Andrei
 
  1  
Reply Wed 19 Jun, 2013 07:54 pm
@edgarblythe,
And here I thought I'd be the only person on A2k who never saw a single episode of The Sopranos. Smile
firefly
 
  2  
Reply Wed 19 Jun, 2013 09:11 pm
@edgarblythe,
Quote:
I don't have cable TV

If it weren't for cable, I'm not sure I'd even want a TV. I mainly watch cable.
Quote:
I don't recall ever seeing him in anything.

I saw Gandolfini in the film, "The Last Castle", with Robert Redford. This is what Roger Ebert said about his performance:
Quote:
Redford and Gandolfini are two reasons the movie plays so well. Redford, because he does what's expected, as a calm, strong, unbreakable leader. Gandolfini, because he does what is not expected, and creates not simply a villain, but a portrait of a type that is so nuanced, so compelling, so instinctively right, that we are looking at the performance of a career. This actor, who can be so disarmingly genial (see his scene-stealing in "The Mexican"), who can play bad guys we enjoy (see "The Sopranos"), here transforms his face and posture to make himself into a middle-aged boy, a hulking schoolyard bully. He does a lot with his mouth, making the lips thin and hurt, as if he is getting back for a lifetime of wounds and disappointments. Col. Winter's childhood must have been hell.
http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-last-castle-2001
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edgarblythe
 
  1  
Reply Wed 19 Jun, 2013 09:40 pm
When I visit a relative with cable they always leave me alone with the TV. I surf looking for something to watch, then at last start looking up channels I watch on air TV.
0 Replies
 
spendius
 
  1  
Reply Thu 20 Jun, 2013 04:49 am
@edgarblythe,
Quote:
I don't recall ever seeing him in anything.


Neither do I. I had never heard of him before last night.

As Tom Bertram said about Dr Grant in Mansfield Park--"ply him with good things and he'll soon pop off".
0 Replies
 
farmerman
 
  1  
Reply Thu 20 Jun, 2013 05:24 am
@firefly,
I saw him in two other roles since the Sopranos and was underwhelmed by his character of "Tiny" in Pwnn Warrens life of Huey Long. I guess it was his New Jersey accent that never was eradicated.
I did see him in "Be Cool" a second installation fter "Get Shorty".

His role as Soprano was so much of a milestone on TV that , had Gndolfini done nothing else, his show would be the one by which ALL other cable series would have been compared anywy.
It was that much of a row breaker.

The AM news talking heads were eulogizing him this AM, saying that , while tv comedy would harken to "I Love Lucy" or "Seinfeld" as the beginnings of various genre, the SOPRANOS stands head and shoulder above any TV drama , either Network, Cable, foreign , or dometic

Edgar or Merry, you need to go to a video store (do they even have video stores any more) or Netflix download and rent the SOpranos and binge watch it. Ill bet you get hooked in two episodes
Lordyaswas
 
  2  
Reply Thu 20 Jun, 2013 05:28 am
@farmerman,
Totally agree. The very best TV to come out of the USA in a long time.


Here is a very small taster....

Mame
 
  1  
Reply Thu 20 Jun, 2013 08:02 am
@Lustig Andrei,
No, that makes three of us.
0 Replies
 
spendius
 
  1  
Reply Thu 20 Jun, 2013 08:41 am
@Lordyaswas,
Quote:
The very best TV to come out of the USA in a long time.


What about shuttle missions? They were real TV. Anything made for TV is not real TV. It's just a high-tech version of the strolling players.
Lordyaswas
 
  2  
Reply Thu 20 Jun, 2013 08:46 am
@spendius,
A bit anal, aren't you?

OK.....TV ENTERTAINMENT.

Deary me....
farmerman
 
  1  
Reply Thu 20 Jun, 2013 09:12 am
@Lordyaswas,
you cant beat orange marmalade with a stick
spendius
 
  0  
Reply Thu 20 Jun, 2013 09:53 am
@Lordyaswas,
How was it that the word "anal" sprung so readily into your mind? Is it your all-purpose riposte to anything you don't care for?

What does it mean in this context? Scripted ****, with re-takes to avoid mistakes, is nothing ****. You're starstruck you silly twat. What's entertaining about gangsters or pretend gangsters?
Lordyaswas
 
  3  
Reply Thu 20 Jun, 2013 10:02 am
@spendius,
Yes, you are utterly correct, spendius.

I most heartily apologise for upsetting you in any way by deeming to answer back, and promise to let you nit pick and split hairs re. my posts in future as your heart desires.




Lordyaswas
 
  1  
Reply Thu 20 Jun, 2013 10:03 am
@farmerman,
farmerman wrote:

you cant beat orange marmalade with a stick


I understand.
0 Replies
 
Frank Apisa
 
  1  
Reply Thu 20 Jun, 2013 10:25 am
@firefly,
Good Jersey guy. Sorry to see him go...I enjoyed all of his work. I thought the stuff he did in "Get Shorty" was terrific...and his Tony Soprano was dead on.

RIP, big guy.
spendius
 
  0  
Reply Thu 20 Jun, 2013 11:17 am
@Lordyaswas,
Quote:
Yes, you are utterly correct, spendius.


Thanks. The Sopranos is not the best thing that has come out of US TV. The golf at Merion wiped the floor with it as television.

The word means seeing at a distance.
 

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