Only a couple of weeks ago the actor James Gandolfini was put to rest at the young age of 51. His wife, son, and friends including his fellow actors mourned his loss at a moving personal funeral service.
For the rest of us, we mourned the loss of the fictional character he played—Tony Soprano. Gandolfini owned his role in a way few actors ever have in television history. He’s right up there with Jackie Gleason in the “Honeymooners”, Tony Shalhoub in “Monk,” or Caroll O’Connor in “All in the Family.”
In my first column for the Patch, I wrote that I was deep Jersey and that neither Bruce Springsteen nor Tony Soprano had anything on me. Tony Soprano was quintessential New Jersey, from the way he walked, talked and ate. He was tough, unsophisticated, blunt, ethnic, and yet underneath it all vulnerable.
Even though he killed relatives, enemies, co-workers, and his daughter’s boyfriend, somehow we couldn’t help but like him. A dear friend of mine in Malibu once told me his son-in-law was moving to the Midwest taking with him my friend’s daughter and grandchild. I jokingly suggested to my friend that I could have his son-in-law “bumped off.”
Of course, this is exactly what Tony Soprano would have done. His behavior was so outrageous, we were horrified by it, and yet laughed at the same time. Tony Soprano could not have been from Georgia, Indiana, or California.
Tony possessed no southern charm, droll sense of humor, or sunny disposition. He was so New Jersey that New Jersey’s Governor Christie attended Gandolfini’s funeral even though the actor was best known for playing a mobster from New Jersey.. The Governor even ordered all government flags in New Jersey to be lowered to half staff. Had Mother Theresa lived and died in New Jersey (she most assuredly did not), I suspect the flags would not have been lowered an inch. And if you are from New Jersey like I am, that almost makes sense.
