
On January 10th 1999, the world watched as Tony Soprano sat in the waiting room of Dr. Jennifer Melfi for the very first time, and watched on for 8 years until the series cut to black, leaving them in awe and confusion even to this day.
Of course, I still haven’t made it that far. Due to me being younger, there’s still a lot for me to catch up on, and as I’m sure you’re aware, people of the internet just assume that because something is popular everyone has seen it. So I’ve had many a spoiler thrown my way. See, I’m just at the end of Season 3 at the moment, and I’m happy that way. Cause honestly, I never want to see that cut to black. Ever. I love the show so much, it’s my favourite but when it cuts to black.....That’s it. No more Tony. No more compelling Drama, that’s just it. So I consider myself much luckier than everyone else, ‘cause I still have so much to see. I’m sure there are many people who wish they could relive the show as if it were for the first time. It really is something remarkable, and I think a big part is due to the star, Mr. James Gandolfini.

With such an amazing character to his name, it’s easy to forget that Gandolfini had such an excellent body of work behind him; he came to prominence in 1993 with Tony Scott’s True Romance. He played Virgil, a hitman who brutally attacks Patricia Arquette’s Alabama. It’s arguably the best scene of the film, and the first time the world learnt that Gandolfini was something else. A few years later, he starred in Get Shorty, his first collaboration with John Travolta. It wasn’t a huge part, but it made for some great comic relief. Following that came all sorts of roles, including The Mexican, The Man Who Wasn’t There, Romance and Cigarettes, his hilarious turn in In The Loop and Where the Wild Things Are. But if there was ever a time to appreciate him, it was in last year’s Killing Them Softly, where he played a hitman called in by Brad Pitt’s character to perform a hit, but finds that his old friend is now a depressed alcoholic.
This year’s Best Supporting Actor winner at the Oscars was Chrisoph Waltz for Django Unchained, and whilst he was excellent, it makes me sick to my stomach that Gandolfini wasn’t even nominated. Three scenes. Gandolfini appears in three scenes of Killing Them Softly and still manages to perform the same amount of excellence that Waltz does in two and a half hours. James’ was layered in prostitutes and never without a glass in his hand. The stories he tells, and the emotion he does it with, was quite charming. We felt sorry for the character, and once again, it was those sad eyes.

Everyone will die. It’s one of the only truths of life. But really, we never know how we’ll react when it happens. No one could’ve predicted that James would die. Therefore, we had no reason to be scared or worried. We thought everything would be fine. But the truth is, Tom Cruise could die tomorrow. Brad Pitt could die next week. And as much as I love them both, I can’t say I’ll be nearly as upset. Everyone knows them, there’s no mistaking it, and everyone will be shocked at their death. But they are celebrities. When James died, myself and a lot of people felt like we had lost a close friend. He acted with a talent that was hard to parallel, and it made us feel closer to him. I guess what I’m trying to say is that Cruise and the like act and nothing more, but Gandolfini made things personal. He drew us in closer than any other actor could, and that’s what makes his death all the more heartbreaking. He was one of my idols.
Below I’ve included a clip of The Sopranos. To be honest, it was hard to choose. I wanted a piece with some of his amazing acting, and a lot of scenes came to mind. But instead, I’ve chosen the last scene of Season 2. It’s a montage of a party at the Soprano house, played to Thru and Thru by the Rolling Stones. No acting, no dialogue... But that last shot of Tony. That was how I said goodbye. Listen to the music, look at the image and remember this man won’t be on our screen again. And then tell me you didn’t get emotional in some way.