June 5, 2007
David Proval previously starred in many films but was distinctly known as Richie Aprile on the mob drama The Sopranos. In the The Sopranos, he played the older brother of acting DiMeo Crime Family boss Jackie Aprile, Sr. He was considered as a capo in the family prior to being sent to prison for ten years. After the death of Jackie, Richie came back to a different mob family with Tony Soprano in charge. Although Richie and Tony had gotten along in the past, tension between the two developed throughout season two. Richie tries to seek approval from other bosses such as Uncle Junior and Ally Boy but his efforts to take over, as boss of the family did not succeed. Richie met his end when he and his fiancée Janice, Tony’s sister, entered into an argument, which led Janice to shoot him twice.
June 5, 2007
Drea De Matteo was popularly known as Adriana La Cerva on the HBO series, The Sopranos. Known as the long-time girlfriend turned fiancée of Christopher Moltisanti, Tony Soprano’s nephew and right-hand man, she grew up exposed to the mafia lifestyle. Initially, she portrayed a shallow and materialistic character but eventually became ambitious, business minded and concerned about Christopher’s best interests. Although she was relatively loyal to the mob, she became an easy target for the FBI. She tried to avoid giving up any serious information about the mob family but her deception eventually caught up with her after the FBI discovered her involvement in a murder. Later, she confessed everything to Christopher, but Christopher’s loyalty to his family turned out to be greater than his love for her. In the episode entitled “Long Term Parking,” Tony had Silvio Dante put her to death. After her death in 2004, she appeared on several episodes in the form of dream sequences.
May 28, 2007
Lorraine Bracco, cast member on The Sopranos, guest starred in The Oprah Winfrey Show on Thursday, May 24, supposedly to promote Bracco Wines, a line of eight Italian wines in partnership with the 52-year old actress. Additionally, she candidly spoke about her infidelity on husband Harvey Keitel and her years of denial on her depression.
Bracco was first married to Daniel Guerard but after a brief period married actor Harvey Keitel, popularly known for movies like Pulp Fiction, The Piano and Reservoir Dogs, and had a daughter with him named Stella Keitel. Despite the long-term relationship, the marriage went down the drain due to Bracco’s cheating on him with actor Edward James Olmos, known for playing Admiral William Adama on Battlestar Galactica. This resulted in a five-year legal battle over the custody of their child Stella, in which she was forced to file for bankruptcy. Bracco and Olmos got married but eventually filed for divorce.
April 19, 2007
Are you a Sopranos’ fan? If you are, you might as well put your Soprano knowledge into good use. Who knows, you might even win $5,000. In line with the near closing of the long-running mob drama, The Sopranos, a contest emerges to satisfy countless Soprano fans in the U.S. The game, which promises to give $5,000 to the winner, comes in the form of a sweepstakes scavenger hunt.
The Sopranos Ultimate Hits is an interactive scavenger hunt that tests the fans’ familiarity and understanding of The Sopranos. The game challenges ComCast users to compete against the clock and explore through a city dump engulfed with symbolic clues that relate back to the popular and notable hits from the action-packed series. All players must be able to find and correctly identify clues that represent the killer, weapon, location and victim from 8 distinctly recognizable hits.
April 11, 2007
James Gandolfini, star of the long-running mob drama The Sopranos, is popularly known for his role as the mafia boss Tony Soprano. But while most people associate him with his domineering and heavy-handed character, he asserts that he is nothing like Tony. He explained, "I'm playing an Italian lunatic from New Jersey, and that's basically what I am.” Other than that, the similarity ends as he describes himself as a "a 260-pound Woody Allen."
March 29, 2007
In line with the upcoming series finale of The Sopranos, several cast members reunited with David Chase, the series creator, Wednesday night at the Museum of Television and Radio in New York. The gathering consisted of Steve Buscemi, Drea de Matteo, Vincent Pastore, David Proval, and Annabella Sciorra.
While the actors are deeply saddened by their killing-off on The Sopranos, they don’t harbor any abhorrence towards Chase. In fact, they all understood the need of their character’s death for the betterment of the show. "What are you going to do, put him in witness protection? That's NBC," said Pastore, who played Salvatore "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero.
March 28, 2007
Joe Pantoliano, former cast member on the HBO’s long-running mafia series The Sopranos, is disappointed with the show’s creator, David Chase. In fact, he lashes out his devastation with a letter addressed to the series inventor.
The said letter expressed his grief over his absence and non-inclusion to The Sopranos’ photo shoot in the April issue of Vanity Fair. He also rants about Chase using a prop body double as a substitute for his character, Ralph Cifaretto, on The Sopranos. He claims that the shoot was “in poor taste, despicable, wrong and diabolical”. He also adds that the “methods used to create the image were without his input or permission.”
March 27, 2007
HBO's long-running mafia series, The Sopranos, is about to air its final episodes in April. But while avid fans await for the highly anticipated culmination, cast members of The Sopranos hints on a few details on their most memorable experiences on the show with an interview with DISH Entertainment Magazine.
The Sopranos, a mob drama series broadcast on the HBO network, centers on a fictional Italian-American mafia family residing in Northern New Jersey. The series, which premiered in January of 1999, will be concluding its sixth season. It features James Gandolfini, Lorraine Bracco, Edie Falco, Michael Imperioli, Tony Sirico, Jamie-Lynn Sigler, and Robert Iler among others.