Tragedy in Rome
Sadly, both the legendary actor and the character of Tony Soprano passed away in 2013. Gandolfini died of a heart attack on June 19, 2013, while on a trip to Italy with his family. He was just 51 years old. Gandolfini was at a hotel with his then 13-year-old son, Michael, when he collapsed. The sudden loss left the world mourning the beloved star. Gandolfini left behind his wife, Deborah Lin, whom he married in 2008, his daughter Liliane (born in 2012), and Michael, his son from his first marriage to Marcy Wudarski.
Carrying on His Legacy
Almost a decade after his death, Michael Gandolfini landed the most significant role of his career, playing a young Tony Soprano in The Many Saints of Newark, a prequel to The Sopranos. In September 2021, Michael opened up to The New York Times about the immense pressure of capturing the complexity of the character his father so effortlessly played. “I was always like, ‘I want to make my dad proud. I want to make my dad proud,’” he said. “I truly wasn’t aware of the legacy of him…My dad was just my dad.”
Many people who have seen Michael can’t help but notice how he inherited his father’s distinctive features—his sleepy yet inviting eyes, a menacing smirk, and that soft voice peppered with colorful language. “The pressure is real,” he said of playing the young mafia don. “Not only was it the feeling of my dad—it was like, Tony Soprano is a f***ing hard character.”
