How James Gandolfini Generously Thanked His Sopranos Co-Star
Actor James Gandolfini began his career in films like “True Romance” and “She’s So Lovely.” However, when Gandolfini was cast as gangster Tony Soprano on HBO’s “The Sopranos,” he became a household name. While the show aired from 1999 to 2007, however, Gandolfini struggled to be recognized as an individual actor, being typecast or asked by fans to play Tony off-screen.
In one instance, Gandolfini’s interaction with a fan’s mother actually made him cry. “She asked him to sign her Bible. He signed it ‘Jim Gandolfini.’ She said, ‘No, not him.’ Now he signs his name as ‘Tony Soprano.’ He would do anything for this kid and his mother. We walk out of the room, and he rushes through the door that says laundry room ahead of me. When I get there, he’s buried in his laundry and crying like a baby,” Sheila Nevins, the show’s executive producer, told Vulture. Although Gandolfini passed away in 2013 after suffering a heart attack, his legacy lives on through those who remember how he helped them. In particular, the actor leaned on his “Sopranos” co-stars in a special way that they still talk about to this day. In his new book, “Tinderbox: HBO’s Ruthless Pursuit of New Frontiers,” author James Andrew Miller reveals that “The Sopranos” actor James Gandolfini showed his gratitude to his co-stars by helping them out financially. Despite “The Sopranos” being critically acclaimed, many of the actors struggled to get salaries that reflected said success, with Gandolfini and HBO both suing each other. However, if the legal battles continued, production on the show would have to be halted and his co-stars would have to be laid off. With that in mind, Gandolfini agreed to take a $13 million salary from the network and write several $33,000 checks to his “Sopranos” co-stars.
“As good an actor as he was, he was a better person. A generous person. He gave us each $33,000 — 16 people,” Steve Schirripa, who played Bobby Baccalieri, told WFAN in 2013, the same year Gandolfini died. “In Season 4, he called all the regulars and gave us a check. He said, ‘Thanks for being with me.’ It was like buying 16 people a car.”
