James Gandolfini wasn’t always the big, balding mobster from The Sopranos.

Gandolfini was playful in his youth, decades before he played the enigmatic violent sociopath on The Sopranos.

The Sopranos’ charming Tony Soprano, the Mafia criminal boss and family patriarch, was played by James Gandolfini, born September 18, 1961.

Whether empathetic or psychotic, Gandolfini’s portrayal of the imperfect gangster won him honors and international recognition.

James Gandolfini told Vogue, “I am playing an Italian lunatic from New Jersey, and that’s basically what I am.”

In 2007, the successful six-season series ended, leaving viewers wondering if the blacked-out screen signified the antihero was alive or dead.

Roman tragedy
However, a heart attack killed the popular 51-year-old performer and the older Soprano on June 19, 2013.

The Jersey man died of a heart attack in the hotel with his 13-year-old son Michael while on vacation in Italy with his family.

His 2008 wife Deborah Lin, daughter Liliane (born 2012), and son Michael, with Marcy Wudarski, survived Gandolfini.

Nearly 10 years later, Michael played a teenage Tony Soprano in The Many Saints of Newark, his biggest role.

Michael told the New York Times in September 2021 about emulating his father’s effortless sophistication.

“I always said, ‘I want to make my dad proud. I want dad to be proud. The 22-year-old actor stated, “I was unaware of his legacy…”Just my dad.”

Despite the cliché, Michael is his dad. Like his father, the man had drowsy but appealing eyes, a threatening sneer, and a soothing voice with colorful vocabulary.

“The pressure is real,” he said of playing the mafia don as a kid. Not only was it my dad’s feeling—Tony Soprano is a f***ing hard character.”

‘Biggest flirt’
Before his three Emmys and Golden Globe, Gandolfini was a typical Italian American boy growing up in a modest Westwood, New Jersey house with his working-class family.

His mother was a high school lunch lady and his father was a Catholic school building maintenance chief. Childhood friend Pam Donlan, a Hollywood actor, called him a “happy, cute little boy.”

His height was little over 6 feet, and he was a popular senior at Park Ridge High School in New Jersey in 1979.

In high school, the Get Shorty star studied theatre and excelled academically and extracurricularly.

Gandolfini met John Travolta, whose father operated a store he frequented, during these years.

“My father sold tires to his father,” Travolta stated after Gandolfini died. “I was his inspiration to enter the business…”He aspired to be an actor after seeing movie posters of me.

In his senior year of high school, Gandolfini was voted “best looking” and “biggest flirt.” He then earned a Bachelor of Arts from Rutgers University.

Old photos of the young star and Donna Lange show them as “class flirts.” Park Ridge residents shared them on Facebook.

“I love this Jimmy and Donna photo…I always recall him this way…“happy kid with that killer smile,” writes an old buddy. “It’s a great picture of Jim and Donna,” says another.

Duff Lambros remembers his childhood friend as possessing “quiet confidence,” and “cool dignity.” He said girls loved him. Guys adored him.”

The friend says, “He smiled with his eyes as well as his teeth. I felt like the sun was shining.”

Travolta, who worked with Gandfolfini in multiple films, remembers him as a giant in his personal and professional life. “He was a people person first and then everything else,” Travolta remarked. “He was this beautiful man and I love him.”

Despite Tony Soprano’s dominance, Gandolfini was humble and dedicated. Despite his on-screen persona, he called himself a “260-pound Woody Allen,” stressing his modesty.

What are your favorite James Gandolfini recollections as Tony Soprano or elsewhere? Post your thoughts in the comments below and share this story so we can hear from others!