European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 10, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 16 stars and stripes tuesday april 102007 faces Gandolfini looks past Soprano actor returns for the final season As a mob Boss with major issues by Jake Coyle the associated press new York not Long after the sopranos began airing James Gandolfini remembers someone banging on the door of his Manhattan apart ment late at night so i opened the door and the Guy just turns White Gandolfini said in a recent Magazine interview All of a sudden i real ize of he thinks in Tony any blurring of the line Between actor Gandolfini and troubled mob Boss Soprano is understandable Given the towering achievement of Gandolfini performance Hob resumed airing new episodes on Sun Day the 45yearold actor has portrayed the iconic criminal for eight years now passionately changeling his similarities into the character in playing an italian Lunatic from new Jersey and that s basically what i am Gandolfini has said the actor and character differ in Many ways of course including their attitudes to Ward homicide while Tony Soprano is larg Ertha life Gandolfini is exceptionally modest and obsessive he has described himself As a 260pound Woody Allen he didst begin acting until his mid20s then became a Little known character actor before the sopranos made him one of the most recognizable faces in television history Gandolfini is notoriously press shy and declines nearly All interview clouding those from the associated press for this article his usual response is that there Are so Many other actors More inter Esting than him but the Man behind the mobster is far from Boring Gandolfini grew up in Park Ridge no his father was a building maintenance chief at a Catholic school and his Mother was the cafeteria chief at another school after Gandolfini graduated from rut Gers University with a degree in communications he moved to new York where he worked As a bartender bouncer and night club manager when he was 25 he joined a Friend of a Friend in an acting class which he continued for several years Gandolfini big break was a Broadway production of a Streetcar named desire where he played Steve one of Stanley Kow a skis poker buddies his film debut was in Sidney Linnet a stranger among us the role that perhaps most hinted at Gan do Finis Talent for fusing violence with Cha Risma which he would perfect in Tony Soprano was the Tough he played in 1993s True Romance Gandolfini continued with supporting roles in get shorty 1995 and a civil action but it was True Romance that piqued the interest of sopranos creator David Chase the sopranos premiered in 1999 to immediate adulation much of which praised Gandolfini relatable performance As a mob Boss who struggles with average prob lems by its second season the sopranos was a breakout hit that would change the Cable to landscape and make Hob a revered bastion of creativity before production was to begin on sea son five in 2003 the actor threatened to leave if Hob didst raise his salary the network counter sued Gandolfini for nillion the lawsuits were eventually dropped and Gandolfini approximately doubled his salary of per episode Gandolfini personal life also started to appear in the tabloids two months after the sopranos premiered in 1999 he mar ried Public relations executive Marcella Wudarski they had a son Michael in May of that year and moved out of Manhattan into a five acre new Jersey Home in 2001 but in March 2002 Gandolfini filed for divorce the proceedings dredged up allegations from Wudarski of cocaine and Alco hol abuse by Gandolfini in 2004 he be came engaged to writer Lora Somoza but the couple split in Early 2005 the Many Breaks in the sopranos schedule have allowed Gandolfini to appear in a number of movies including com Edies mexican surviving Christ Mas Romance an action movie last the Coen Broth ers the Man who want there and last years award seeking Flop All the Kings men this month his latest movie lonely hearts will be released starring with Salma Hayek and his Friend John Travolta Gandolfini switches to the other Side of the the Soprano family played by Edie Faico left James Gandolfini seated Robert her and Jamielynn Sigler posed for a family portrait the Hob show the sopranos has just started airing the final season of the show Law for the period crime drama Gandolfini has a three year Deal with Hob to create original programming and his company is currently producing a documentary called occupation Iraq about us troops in the War Gandolfini has visited troops in the persian Gulf the actors biggest project is a film about Ernest Hemingway in which he plays the writer Gandolfini is clearly look ing Forward to shedding the Burden that has been Tony Soprano if s been a great Opportunity but i dont have much trepidation about it ending he told vanity fair if s More than time part of the fun of acting is the research finding out about other people As much As Ive explored this Guy i dont know what else to really do with him Ive been in one place for 10 years that enough Conroy Book int a Laugher the Prince of tides author Pat Conroy says Hes finishing his first novel in More than a decade and it will Mark a return to the same dysfunction Al characters Hes known for convoys last Book was a Cookbook published in 2004 i loved writing that Book now of course everybody in this new Book is dying and driving them selves off cuffs he told the Atlanta Jour Nal Constitution so Imback to Normal Conroy the new novel is set in Charleston so and is already nearly 700 pages Conroy said it drives me nuts but Long winded Ness theres nothing you can do about it i wanted to write a 250page novel but i re Alize i cant even write a prologue that s 250 pages Conroy 62 said his wife Cassandra King author of Queen of broken hearts is a much happier writer Conroy has not published a novel since 1995s Beach music actress not ugly or Toad Ike Oscar nominee Imelda Staunton want exactly flattered when a Friend first suggested shed be perfect for the part of Harry potters first female Nemesis do Lores Ambridge i read the Book and Ambridge is de scribed As a Short ugly Toad Ike woman Staunton told Newsweek i thought of thanks very much but Staunton ended up playing the Vil lainess As an Appl cheeked schoo marm drenched in Pink Angora the Magazine says in Harry Potter and the order of the Phoenix the fifth movie based on the Wjk Rowling series Ambridge is a new teacher at Hogwarts school of witchcraft and Wiz Ardry Bent on restricting free thought there cant be any mess or individuality Staunton said but of course that leads to brainwashed people Staunton who was nominated for a bes actress Academy award for playing Vera Drake in the eponymous 2004 movie says the Potter role is no joke you May think that Staunton if s just a Bunch of hand waving but theres a lot of proper acting going on she said Harry Potter and the order of the Phoe Nix is to be released july 13 firms cite education loophole film editors were Back in the cutting room just a few months after a Federal appeals judge ruled last year that they could no longer edit movies to make them accept Able family fare thanks to what they say is a loophole in copyright Law that allows cuts for educational purposes some of the companies that were ordered to turn Over their inventory to Hollywood studios instead Are scrubbing More movies and other firms Are getting into the Market film editors say the education clause can be used to get around the july 2006 Riding by judge Richard p Matsch that sanitizing movies on did or vhf tape violates Feder Al copyright Laws the ruling was thought to have marked the end of a three year Legal Battle Between several film editing companies and 16 Hollywood directors started by a Colorado clean flicks store stories and photos from the associated press