James Gandolfini: He let his characters star

National News

FILE - In this Nov. 8, 2007 file photo, actor James Gandolfini poses during a photo shoot in New York. Gandolfini, whose portrayal of a brutal, emotionally delicate mob boss in HBO's "The Sopranos" helped create one of TV's greatest drama series and turned the mobster stereotype on its head, died Wednesday, June 19, 2013 in Italy. He was 51. (AP Photo/Stephen Chernin, File)

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James Gandolfini... FILE - In this Nov. 8, 2007 file photo, actor James Gandolfini poses during a photo shoot in New York. Gandolfini, whose portrayal of a brutal, emotionally delicate mob boss in HBO's "The Sopranos" helped create one of TV's greatest drama series and turned the mobster stereotype on its head, died Wednesday, June 19, 2013 in Italy. He was 51. (AP Photo/Stephen Chernin, File)
Compromise among... People shout out against the Strengthen and Fortify Enforcement Act in the hall outside the House Judiciary Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, June 18, 2013. The committee in the Republican-led House is preparing to cast its first votes on immigration this year, on a tough enforcement-focused measure that Democrats and immigrant groups are protesting loudly. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
New Colo. wildfi... A military C-130 drops a load of fire retardant on a wildfire near Pine, Colo., on Wednesday, June 19, 2013. A new wildfire in the foothills southwest of Denver forced the evacuation of dozens of homes Wednesday as hot and windy conditions in much of Colorado and elsewhere in the West made it easy for fires to start and spread. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)
Former TWA Fligh... FILE - In this Nov. 19, 1997 file photo, FBI agents and New York state police guard the reconstruction of TWA Flight 800 in Calverton, N.Y. Flight 800 exploded and crashed July 17, 1996 while flying from New York to Paris, killing all 230 people aboard. Former investigators on Wednesday, June 19, 2013 called on the National Transportation Safety Board to re-examine the cause, saying new evidence points to the often-discounted theory that a missile strike may have downed the jumbo jet. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)
Wooden beam coul... In this June 16, 2013 file photo provided by Great Lakes Exploration Group, diver Jim Nowka of Great Lakes Exploration Group inspects a wooden beam extending from the floor of Lake Michigan that experts believe may be part of the Griffin, a ship that sank in 1679. A wooden beam that has long been the focus of the search for a 17th century shipwreck in northern Lake Michigan was not attached to a buried vessel as searchers had suspected, but still may have come from the elusive Griffin or some other ship, archaeologists said Wednesday, June 19, 2013 (AP Photo/Great Lakes Exploration Group, David J. Ruck, File)
Mueller: FBI use... FBI Director Robert Mueller testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, June 19, 2013, before the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on national security matters. As Mueller nears the end of his 12 years as head of the law enforcement agency, lawmakers questioned him about the IRS, surveillance activities, and the Boston Marathon bombing. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Obama making pla... President Barack Obama speaks in front of the iconic Brandenburg Gate in Berlin Germany, Wednesday, June 19, 2013. Obama is planning a major push using executive powers to tackle the pollution blamed for global warming in an effort to make good on promises he made at the start of his second term. "We know we have to do more — and we will do more," Obama said in Berlin. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
Men's Wearhouse ... FILE - In this Thursday, May 6, 1999 file photo, George Zimmer, second from left, gestures to Andy Dolich prior to a meeting, in Oakland, Calif. Men's Wearhouse Inc. says it has dismissed Zimmer, its founder and executive chairman. In a terse release issued Wednesday, June 19, 2013, the company didn't give a reason for the abrupt firing of Zimmer, who built Men's Wearhouse from one small Texas store using a cigar box as a cash register to one of the nation's largest specialty retailers in men's clothing, with 1,143 locations. (AP Photo/Ben Margot, File)
Russia could sta... President Barack Obama, accompanied by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, waves before throwing his jacket over his shoulder as he arrives to speak at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Wednesday, June 19, 2013. Obama called to reduce the world's nuclear stockpiles, including a proposed one-third reduction in U.S. and Russian arsenals, a senior administration official said. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
HPV vaccine cut ... FILE - A child health nurse holds up a vial and box for the HPV vaccine, brand name Gardasil, at a clinic in Kinston, N.C. on Monday March 5, 2012. A vaccine against a cervical cancer virus has cut infections in teen girls by half, according to a study released Wednesday, June 19, 2013. The study confirms research done before the HPV vaccine came on the market in 2006. But this is the first evidence of how well it works now that it is in general use. (AP Photo/Daily Free Press, Charles Buchanan)
Cops: Disabled P... CORRECTS TO CLARIFY CHARGES Susan Gensiak, 59, of Taylor, Pa., is lead by a police officer to arraignment, Wednesday, June 19, 2013 in Scranton, Pa. Gensiak and her two daughters have been charged with third-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter and neglect of care for a dependent person. (AP Photo/Scranton Times & Tribune, Michael J. Mullen) WILKES BARRE TIMES-LEADER OUT; MANDATORY CREDIT
FBI ends Michiga... Investigators stand at the scene in Oakland Township, Mich., Wednesday, June 19, 2013 where officials attempt to restore the field to its natural condition after the FBI stopped the search for Jimmy Hoffa's remains. The FBI had been digging and searching for three days for the remains of Teamsters union president Hoffa who disappeared from a Detroit-area restaurant in 1975. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
IRS draws new cr... FILE - This March 22, 2013 file photo shows the exterior of the Internal Revenue Service building in Washington. The Internal Revenue Service is about to pay $70 million in employee bonuses despite an Obama administration directive to cancel discretionary bonuses because of automatic spending cuts enacted this year, according to a GOP senator. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
As fires rage, f... FILE - In this Sept. 8, 2009, file photo District Ranger Bill Gamble points out a telltale hole indicating pine beetles have attacked a tree in the Umpqua National Forest in Diamond Lake, Ore. Overwhelmed by a combination of government austerity and the sheer cost of firefighting, key federal agencies are spending less money clearing brush or removing deadwood killed by parasites, that could prevent further wildfires in the future. (AP Photo/Jeff Barnard, File)
Uncertain future... A U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agent and K-9 security dog keep watch at a checkpoint station, on Feb. 22, 2013, in Falfurrias, Texas. Some drug smugglers caught at the highway checkpoint about an hour north of the Texas-Mexico border are losing their drugs, but not facing prosecution because cooperation between local and federal prosecutors has broken down. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Mueller urges ca... FBI Director Robert Mueller testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, June 19, 2013, before the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on national security matters. As Mueller nears the end of his 12 years as head of the law enforcement agency, lawmakers questioned him about the IRS, surveillance activities, and the Boston Marathon bombing. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Baked Alaska: Un... This photo taken Monday, June 17, 2013, shows people sunning at Goose Lake in Anchorage, Alaska. Parts of Alaska are setting high temperature records as a heat wave continues across Alaska. Temperatures are nothing like what Phoenix or Las Vegas gets, but temperatures in the 80s and 90s are hot for Alaska, where few buildings have air conditioning. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)
VP Biden pays tr... From left, Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of Calif., Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nev., House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio and Vice President Joe Biden applaud during a ceremony to dedicate the statue of Frederick Douglass, seen behind them, Wednesday, June 19, 2013, in the Emancipation Hall of the United States Visitor Center on Capitol Hill in Washington. The bronze statue of Douglass is by Maryland artist Steve Weitzman. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Traffic returns ... This Tuesday, june 18, 2013 photo shows the Interstate 5 bridge over the Skagit river, which is scheduled to reopen tomorrow, Wednesday June 19. (AP Photo/The Seattle Times, Mark Harrison) OUTS: SEATTLE OUT, USA TODAY OUT, MAGAZINES OUT, TELEVISION OUT, SALES OUT. MANDATORY CREDIT TO: MARK HARRISON / THE SEATTLE TIMES
Judge reads char... Attorney Mark O'Mara, right, jury consultant Robert Hirschhorn, second from right, George Zimmerman and co-counsel Don West, left, watch the proceedings during Zimmerman's trial in Seminole circuit court in Sanford, Fla., Tuesday, June 18, 2013. Zimmerman has been charged with second-degree murder for the 2012 shooting death of Trayvon Martin. (AP Photo/Orlando Sentinel, Joe Burbank, Pool)
Aug. trial set f... Ariel Castro, center, sits before a judge with his defense attorney's, Craig Weintraub, left, and Jaye Schlachet during a pretrial hearing on Wednesday, June 19, 2013, in Cleveland.. A tentative Aug. 4 trial date has been set for Castro, accused of kidnapping three women and holding them in his home for about a decade. (AP Photo/Jason Miller)