Speaking of HBO series, James Gandolfini, who was simply amazing as Tony Soprano, has died of a heart attack in Italy at the age of 51.
Every time I listened to him breathe, I wondered if he had sleep apnea.
Big loss.
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Bobby Thomson
Holy crap. Way too young. Playing Tony Soprano literally killed him. (He was beefy in his True Romance days, but he really packed it on while he was playing Tony.)
Too bad, too. He was a lot more than that but now no one will know it.
Mike in NC
RIP, you big goomba.
YellowJournalism
“The Mexican” wasn’t that great of a movie, but his performance as a gay hit man was pretty great and made the movie better than it would have been. He had more chemistry with Julia Roberts than she and Brad Pitt did!
Gone too soon.
Ms. D. Ranged in AZ
OMG, that’s really sad. He was a damn fine actor.
Bobby Thomson
@YellowJournalism: I think it was supposed to be a very different movie before Brad and Julia got involved.
Emerald
Incredibly versatile actor. We can’t afford to lose actors like him.
So sad. One of the best.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Damn. I’d guess as an actor he had the role of a lifetime, and an HBO series was the perfect place to play a role like that.
Violet
So young. Wife just had a baby last year. RIP.
bill d
Nooooooo!
Violet
Sleep issues can definitely affect your health and shorten your lifespan. Anyone who thinks they might have sleep apnea owes it to themselves and people who love them to get checked out and take steps to deal with it.
YellowJournalism
@Bobby Thomson: I figured as much, but somehow I think even that modified version would have worked if Julia Roberts hasn’t been involved.
Violet
@YellowJournalism: He was great in that role. Film notsomuch. But he was great.
Southern Beale
Memphis, TN cat bleg! Mewtopia cat shelter has lost its lease, needs to be out by July 31. Help the kittehs!
Southern Beale
Sorry, no disresepect intended to James Gandolfini. He was a cat lover, right?
Comrade Mary
WTF. He was just barely younger than me. Oh, man.
terraformer
Damn, and me and the missus are watching the series again on DVD right now! We’re halfway through season 2. What a great actor, especially in this role.
mellowjohn
he was great in “in the loop.”
JWL
Near the end of the Soprano run, a reporter asked him if he was anything like Tony. He laughed, and said something along the lines of, “I’m more like a 260 pound Woody Allen”.
He was also great in The Mexican, one of those gems of a movie that are somehow overlooked until they’re not. RIP.
Betty Cracker
God, that sucks. :-(
@Violet: My husband swears I have sleep apnea. I didn’t realize it was so serious.
Botsplainer, fka Todd
Fuck, fuck, fuckity.
He’s exactly my age.
Melissa
If you haven’t seen In the Loop, find a way to do so. Good film, great role for him.
mouse tolliver
This has been a bad month for great TV actors. First Edith. Now Tony.
Guess I’ll have to watch Zero Dark 30 now. Shit.
Chat Noir
@terraformer: Same here. I re-watched the series on DVD back in April/May. Caught stuff and loads of humor on second viewing. Gandolfini and Edie Falco were so awesome in their respective roles. Totally shocked and saddened by the news.
Violet
@Betty Cracker: If you have sleep apnea, you are not getting good, solid deep sleep. Lack of sleep affects everything in your body and can cause all sorts of things to go haywire. It’s a lot bigger problem than people think.
Obviously there’s a lot of good info about it online so you can read up on it. For a different take, search Andrew Sullivan’s site. Say what you will about him, he did run a really interesting series on it several years ago. Readers wrote in with their stories and there’s a lot of interesting info and ideas in those posts. Of course, typical Sullivan style, he’s got sleep apnea and that’s why he wrote about it. Doesn’t mean there’s not some good info there. And good for him for publicizing his experience with it and giving it some attention. It’s a much bigger problem than people think.
Daniel Middleton
Big bummer.
But I did hear from my paranoid neighbors Ted and Helen (notorious hoarders of tinfoil) that the CIA induced this “heart attack” to distract from their hit on the Rolling Stone reporter who hit a tree while driving at a high rate of speed.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Southern Beale: he preferred ducks and horses
Nicole
@Betty Cracker:
My best friend’s dad had sleep apnea and slept with a cpap machine. He had weight-loss surgery, and a few months later, perhaps overly optimistic about his improving health, lay down for a nap without the machine and never woke up. It’s well worth your time to get checked.
Comrade Mary
@Betty Cracker: I was officially diagnosed with a “mild” case, that goes to “moderate” during certain stages of sleep. I have been playing the “I’ll lose some weight and it will disappear” game because I did NOT want a CPAP, and anyway, it’s mostly “mild”.
My dentist gently nagged me about this a couple of week ago. She said that it could really affect my life in a lot of ways, including cardiac issues, but still, I am active, have fantastic blood values and blood pressure, and I’m just not going to die.
Right.
There’s at least one non-CPAP option (something that would also protect my teeth from night clenching.) I guess I’m budgeting for that this year.
Betty, get yourself to a sleep study, OK?
Chat Noir
@Betty Cracker: Yes. My dad had it, wouldn’t use his CPAP and died last year of complications from a heart attack (he was 83). My husband was diagnosed with sleep apnea last year but uses his CPAP every night. No more snoring and we both sleep much better.
Elie
@Violet:
I second and third that.
Sleep is a huge part of mental health wellbeing as well…
MaryJane
Aw, shit. This one really saddens and shocks me and my heart goes out to those who loved him. He had so much more to give. RIP, James.
JWL
@Betty Cracker: Now might be a good time to remind your husband that cops and crime labs can tell if a person has died of natural causes, or been smothered.
RobertDSC-iPhone 4
He was in Crimson Tide, one of my favorite Denzel films.
Elie
On the specifics, went to a lecture on new therapies for mental illness (bi-polar and depression). A key takeaway for managing and stabilizing mood swings was having enough sleep. Many exacerbations of Type I and II Bi-polar are attributed to poor sleep and the Doc we listened to spent some time talking about “sleep hygiene”– or the importance of setting up your situation to get good sleep.
jamick6000
oh my gosh, this is horrible
Elie
Back to James… May you rest in peace. You left behind the insights people get from damned good acting. You left us a gift and not everyone gets to do that. Wish you were here with us longer. My deepest sympathies to your family and immediate loved ones. You will be missed
YellowJournalism
@Betty Cracker: My dad had a machine on him one night to test his oxygen levels as he slept. Blood tests ruled out serious disease, but the doctor thinks he has sleep apnea. He’s going in next month for a sleep test. Going to cost over 1500 dollars and is not covered by his health insurance, unfortunately. My parents are able to swing it, but that’s terrible for those who can’t.
I’m afraid my youngest has tendencies toward sleep apnea from the way he snores when he’s really sick.
trollhattan
Terrible news. I really, really liked his work.
One last time with the cannoli, Tone.
eemom
Jeez, he was my age.
CaseyL
Shocking and sad news. One hell of an actor; he brought an extra layer of authority to every role.
Damnit.
John Cole
@Betty Cracker: I have had sleep apnea for ten years (diagnosed). I think I have had it my whole life, because I remember being in undergrad and waking up in the morning in my girlfriend’s sorority house and she was on the floor with pillows over her head because I snored so loud. It was a running joke while I was in the military that it was a good thing I was on tanks because I would get everyone killed in a foxhole sleeping because they would know right where I was.
Get a sleep study. Get a machine. You will wake up after the first night on it and say to yourself- “jesus, does everyone always feel this refreshed after a night’s sleep?”
And it is related to all sorts of metabolic issues- heart disease, strokes, diabetes, so on.
Didn’t everyone learn their lesson with Reggie White? Go. Now.
And again, this is not something that should have a stigma. I had it when I was 200 lbs, on active duty, and in the best shape of my life, running every day and benching and just generally in amazing shape.
Comrade Mary
I feel a bit guilty about my responses here (being a contemporary of Gandolfini and worrying about the potential role of sleep apnea in his death). I don’t want to skate pass his incredible talent or the pain his friends and family must be feeling.
But if John’s suspicion about sleep apnea is righ, or even if it’s wrong, at least a few of us are taking the condition much, much more seriously than we did before. I hate that we lost Gandolfini, but his death may inspire a few people to take better care of themselves (finances permitting, of course).
This response from Metafilter is dead on about his talent:
dance around in your bones
51 is just way too young. Of course, 33 is way too young as well.
Hell, I think dying just sucks, no matter what age you are. Inevitable as it is.
Poopyman
I’m a huge snorer, and it disrupts my sleep. A number of years ago I started wearing a Silent Nite mouthguard and it has made a HUGE difference. In the meantime my BIL underwent palate surgery for his apnea, and its effectiveness wore off after a year or so. The mouthguard is a fairly cheap, non-permanent, and fairly non-invasive solution. If it doesn’t do the job, you’re not out a lot of dough and can escalate from there.
ETA: Silent Nite is only one of a number of anti-snoring mouthguards. Talk to your dentist.
Jstuddle
Loved The Sopranos and had the privilege of watching him perform live at the Ahmanson Theatre in l.a. In a play called God of Carnage. Great actor. I feel sad.
dedc79
About 10-12 years ago I was sitting outside on a saturday at around 4 am getting a drink in the west village in NYC when a limo pulls up and out steps Tony Soprano. His face was flushed and he had a girl on each arm, and I remember thinking “Glad to see he’s having a good time. This is not someone who’s gonna be living to a ripe old age.” For all I know, he had settled down a bunch since then, but regardless, at least the had a good time while he was here.
MattR
@JWL:
A buddy from HS had an uncredited part in Pelham 1-2-3. He used to rave about what a nice guy Gandolfini was. My condolences to all his family and friends.
Comrade Mary
@John Cole: You don’t necessarily have to be a florid snorer to have apnea, either.
Le Guy says that I snore “just a little”, even though I have pressed him on this and he’s usually pretty honest with me. The first hint to me that I could really snore was finding myself trying to fight off dropping to sleep at work (when I really was not getting enough sleep with multiple projects) and waking myself with a sudden, loud snort. This is very embarrassing if you are working in a cubicle that day.
If you always feel tired, if you have ADHD, if you grind or clench your teeth, if your bed-sharer says that you kick them a lot: you might have apnea. Please get checked out.
Poopyman
@John Cole: Yeah, I’m a ways below my lifetime high weight of 155, and I’m 5’10”. Weight and fitness – or lack of – have nothing to do with the matter. (A deviated septum, OTOH …)
Tom Q
I’d say The Sopranos would have been a hell of a show anyway, but finding as great an actor as Gandolfini to play Tony pushed it to another level. And the obverse is also true: Gandolfini was a very talented man, but he was incredibly fortunate to find a great leading role so suited to him (few actors of his type could claim the same). As perfect a meeting of role and actor as Brando/Stanley Kowalski.
Sad to be missing out on decades more of fine work from him.
LAC
@Comrade Mary: I got a sleep study and had moderate sleep apnea despite not being particularly overweight. I have the machine – it was that or palate surgery (50 50 proposition at best). The machine works for me. I sleep deep and as a result can get up and focus.
Jaysus, RIP James gandolfini.
Mnemosyne
I wouldn’t be surprised if he had a family history of cardiac problems — my best friend’s husband does, which is why he had to go all Dean Ornish with his diet this year. Still, ugh, so sad for his friends and family to lose someone so young.
LAC
@YellowJournalism: gosh ii am sorry! is it really not covered by insurance? Mine was and I do not understand what kind of insurance would not cover at least some of this.
Karen in GA (who really needs a better name)
The hubby was diagnosed with severe sleep apnea. He hated the CPAP machine, until a couple of weeks ago when he said hell with it and went to sleep without it. He woke up the next morning absolutely miserable — he’d had no idea what a difference it was making. He stopped complaining, and wears the mask religiously now. I’m a very relieved wife.
But a very sad James Gandolfini fan. RIP.
Elizabelle
What a shame. And a tiny daughter, Liliana, born in 2012, who won’t get to grow up to know him.
I am still shocked about Michael Hastings.
Sad week.
David Koch
CIA got him. He just knew too much after his role in zero dark thirty
Keith
Hopefully everyone throws away any capicola they have sitting in their fridge.
Cacti
Was he droned?
Shortstop
The third baseman just now: “His funeral will be weird, because all these whacked individuals will be there, like they’ve been resurrected or something. Adriana, Christafuh, Pussy, Tony B., Jackie…”
ruemara
This is very sad, particularly where he has a brand new daughter. And a little scary because I now want a sleep study. But I must admit I sleep like a rock except for the night bladder thing.
Mystical Chick
I am really, really bummed about this – coming from an Italian family, The Sopranos felt like ‘home’ to me (in the good ways, not the ‘let me strangle you with wire’ ways) and I got very attached to that show. Always liked Gandolfini in whatever he was in.
Just damn.
That is all I have to say – just damn.
dewzke
I haven’t read the comments, but this is truly sad. Way too young.
dewzke
@Cacti: Go away with your bad “humor.” ….or attempt.
dewzke
five foot ten and 175…used to be 220….no pops/soda for 7 years and no sweets. It does make a quick difference.
koalaholik
@Betty Cracker: Betty – have a sleep study. Sleep apnea puts a terrible strain on your heart. When I had my sleep study they said I stopped breathing about 60 times an hour. I don’t wake up with head aches anymore, I feel more energized and I am a little less of a bitch then before. Please get a sleep study done.
burnspbesq
@RobertDSC-iPhone 4:
That was an amazing ensemble cast, top to bottom. First time I ever saw Viggo Mortensen.
Jinx
Hey, I know it’s late in the thread and a little OT. But does anyone have a link to the thread from a few years ago about something like “best decision I’ve ever made” that involved quitting drinking?
I hate to derail sincerely but am facing some issues with my family and remember the post as being pretty inspiring wrt to “life (good life!) after. This should really be in an open thread (again I apologize) but things have come to a head. I never comment but read always : ). Thanks if any can help.
Jinx
Hey, I know it’s late in the thread and a little OT. But does anyone have a link to the thread from a few years ago about something like “best decision I’ve ever made” that involved quitting drinking?
I hate to derail sincerely but am facing some issues with my family and remember the post as being pretty inspiring wrt to “life (good life!) after. This should really be in an open thread (again I apologize) but things have come to a head. I never comment but read always : ). Thanks if any can help.
YellowJournalism
@LAC: it wasn’t covered by his policy. It covered the other tests, at least. The policy isn’t bad other than that, thank goodness.
Dr. Squid
I think the first thing I saw him in was as Bear in Get Shorty. He made us care about a low level leg breaker in the local mob.
51? Damn. He always seemed to be perpetually middle aged, even in the mid ’90’s.
Forum Transmitted Disease
Maybe he should have a couple of thousand bucks out of all that money he made and gotten a cardiac CAT scan, big guy like that, he was a heart attack waiting to happen.
If they catch it before it kills you a doctor can actually do something about it. Not so much afterwards.
dance around in your bones
@Jinx: Perhaps this thread?
There are a number of folks on this site that have long experience with sobriety. Good luck :)
P.S. You can hit Crtl + F and type in quitting drinking to go to the relevant comments.
Radio One
The Sopranos single-handedly introduced the idea that highly serialized tv shows would not only be watched in the United States, but be loved and anticipated on a weekly basis for more than a season.
xian
@Violet: even his character was diagnosed with apnea, but is a mob boss (or movie star) going to sleep with a CPAP?
apnea puts a terrible strain on the body, including heart.
xian
when does he come back as Gandolfini the White?
xian
@Betty Cracker: get a sleep study! I did and the treatment for apnea changed my life. didn’t realize how damn tired I was, even when I had 12 hours in bed before getting up on a Sunday.
xian
@Comrade Mary: CPAP’s not as bad as it seems, especially given the benefits. Totally not helpful for sexytime though.
xian
@John Cole: this.
one caveat. The first week or so on my CPAP I felt drowsy and *more* tired than usual, I think because I was finally catching up on my sleep and my body was adjusting its expectations and allowing me to notice the huge built-up fatique more by contrast.
but it was like a power anti-depressant too!
I lost around 50 lbs and my apnea went from “pickwickian” to mild, but did not disappear. I also have a deviated nasal septum (thanks, genes!), and my docs think I will probably always have some apnea. :\
lojasmo
@Betty Cracker:
Quite. S.A. is likely the largest contributor to atrial fibrillation/flutter. It also contributes to obesity, mitral valve disorders, and sleep disorders.
I’m immensely grateful to my wife who hectored me into getting tested. I now wear a mandibular enhancement device, and, while I used to think I had terminal insomnia, waking about 4 every morning, I now sleep blissfully through the night.
lojasmo
@Comrade Mary:
I didn’t tolerate CPAP (knew in advance I wouldn’t) so I got an appointment to be fitted for a SUAD device.
I sleep like a baby, and so does the missus. They’re expensive, but well worth it.
Steeplejack
@Jinx:
I see Dance Around mentioned one thread. The other one I found was this one from 2010.
Comrade Mary
@lojasmo: Thanks! That’s what I’m investigating with my dentist. I’ve just called for an estimate: they’re getting back to me.
Comrade Mary
@xian: Brilliant! I think I’m going with a mouth device first (I do have clenching / grinding issues that need to be addressed) and hopefully it will work for mild / moderate me, but yeah, if all else fails, I’ll have to move to CPAP.
(Oh, and I love your web site — bookmarked!)
rollSound
@xian:
Seth Green is going to so kick himself for not thinking of that one.