James Gandolfini was the Laurence Olivier of the New Jersey shore
Tony Soprano was not a pantomime villain but a man of real
flesh and blood. And that was down to James Gandolfini
Rex
James
Gandolfini, who has died at the tragically early age of 51, was the
star of the greatest TV series of all time – The Sopranos.
We had
never seen a screen gangster like Tony Soprano.
He was not a
pantomime villain but a man of real flesh and blood. And that was down
to James Gandolfini.
There are plenty of people saying that this
was the greatest performance that any actor ever gave in any TV show.
I
can think of no other contender.
Gandolfini played Tony Soprano
as a great brooding bear of a man – capable of volcanic eruptions of
violence but also moments of surprising tenderness.
The Sopranos
had magnificent scripts but Gandolfini (in reality a shy and gentle man)
was unforgettable for the world that he found between the lines.
There
was Tony’s slow, shark-like smirk of cunning.
The sudden frown
heralding a rising rage.
The dreamy, wistful look he would get
when touched by moments of beauty, which he might find anywhere from a
family of ducks resting on his swimming pool to a stripper’s pretty face
in the back room of the Bada Bing.
Gandolfini’s Tony Soprano was
capo di tutti capi, boss of bosses, yet also a father, husband, son,
friend and an endlessly fallible man.
He lived and breathed. You
cared about him.
Whatever his crimes, you hoped that Tony Soprano
would get away with it.
The golden age of TV begins with The
Sopranos.
Everything that came later never came close to matching
the intensity and intelligence of this show.
The Sopranos is the
TV series to which every other TV series aspires.
That was largely
down to the genius of James Gandolfini, who will be greatly missed,
deeply mourned and never forgotten.
He was a true American master,
an actor of genius, the Laurence Olivier of the New Jersey shore.
View gallery
"
"
"
"
"
"
"
"
"
"
No comments :
Post a Comment