Gandolfini's portrayel of Tony Soprano gripped us all in the 8 years the series ran, picking up 3 Emmy Awards along the way as well as the countless awards the show won.
What made this role so popular though? He was portraying a career criminal who cheated on his wife and killed people that got in his way. For me it was seeing behind the Gangster mask and seeing how someone in that 'line of work' would deal with everything they have done and try to raise a family.
Being a fan of The Godfather films (1&2) Goodfellas, Scarface, Casino and countless other films that see the main characters in such roles it was interesting to see it on TV. In a film you only have a certain amount of time to get the character across while telling a story, TV allows you to analyse the character, something The Sopranos did literally as he underwent therapy.
In recent years TV series like The Sopranos, The Shield, Sons of Anarchy etc have been getting more and more popular, attracting actors and directors out of Hollywood and you can see why. The Sopranos is, for me, one of the best examples of how to build a character and let the audience really understand what they are feeling.
The passing of Gandolfini will leave fans with that feeling they had when The Sopranos came to an end, a sense of disbelieving. For us we will pick ourselves up and watch something else and read about other celebrity lives. It is for the family of James Gandolfini that my thoughts go out, losing this talented man, Father and Husband at the age of 51 will always be difficult to come to terms with and I just hope they can take some comfort in the respect that so many people had for him.
Legends live forever!
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