Intl. Notebook | Jun 20 2013 |
Above, a promo photo of American actor James Gandolfini, who starred for six seasons on the HBO mafia drama The Sopranos, a television show that thanks to his performances and some very good writing is considered by many to be the best ever aired. We don’t know about best. Best is hard to quantify and has to do with taste. Perhaps it’s fairer to say that The Sopranos opened new realms of possibility in television and through its success helped lead to many of the great shows on the air today. Gandolfini died in Rome yesterday of an apparent heart attack.
Hollywoodland | Dec 27 2008 |
In Brooklyn, New York, authorities have found actor John Costelloe dead from a self-inflicted gunshot to the head. Costelloe, who played the character Johnny Cakes on television’s Sopranos was found yesterday in his basement bedroom, but died days earlier. He had been appearing off-Broadway in playwright Jim Neu’s Gang of Seven, and was due on the big screen in Doubt opposite Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Neu said he had noticed a change in Costelloe’s mood of late, and had queried the actor what was bothering him, but without success. “He didn’t seem like the kind of guy who would reach out,” Neu said. “There couldn’t have been a more supportive and friendly group. If he wanted to reach out to people, we were right in front of him. I wish he did.”