
Died at 64
male
James Joseph Gandolfini Jr. (September 18, 1961 – June 19, 2013) was an American actor and producer. He was best known for his role as Tony Soprano, the Italian-American crime boss in HBO's television series The Sopranos, for which he won three Emmy Awards, three Screen Actors Guild Awards, and one Golden Globe Award. Gandolfini's portrayal of Tony Soprano is widely regarded as among the greatest performances in television history. Gandolfini's notable film roles include mob henchman Virgil in True Romance (1993), Lt. Bobby Dougherty in Crimson Tide (1995), Colonel Winter in The Last Castle (2001) and Mayor of New York in The Taking of Pelham 123 (2009). Other roles are enforcer and stuntman Bear in Get Shorty (1995) and impulsive "Wild Thing" Carol in Where the Wild Things Are (2009). For his performance as Albert in Enough Said (2013), Gandolfini posthumously received much critical praise and several awards, including a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination and the Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor. In 2007, Gandolfini produced Alive Day Memories: Home from Iraq, a documentary in which he interviewed injured Iraq War veterans and in 2010, Wartorn: 1861–2010 examining the impact of post-traumatic stress disorder on soldiers and families throughout several wars in U.S. history from 1861 to 2010. In addition to Alive Day Memories, he also produced television film Hemingway & Gellhorn (2012), which gained him a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Limited Series nomination. In 2013, Gandolfini died of a heart attack in Rome at the age of 51.

James Gandolfini

Paul Whiteman
for Paul Whiteman in Rhapsody in Jazz: Roaring Through the Jazz Age
Suggested by juleswb

Rhapsody in Jazz is an exhilarating journey through one of the most transformative periods in history, the 1920s and 1930s. Set against the backdrop of a post-World War I world hungry for change, this series dives deep into the heart of the Jazz Age—a time when jazz music, flappers, speakeasies, and the clash of traditional and modern values defined an entire generation. In Rhapsody in Jazz, viewers are transported to the bustling streets of Harlem, the smoky jazz clubs of Chicago, the glamorous parties of the French Riviera, and the gritty back alleys of prohibition-era America. Each episode weaves together the stories of musicians, artists, writers, and everyday people whose lives were intertwined with the pulse of jazz. From Louis Armstrong's revolutionary trumpet solos to Josephine Baker's electrifying performances in Paris, the series captures the spirit of innovation and rebellion that characterized the era. It explores the racial tensions of the time, the rise of the Harlem Renaissance, the birth of swing, and the impact of jazz on fashion, dance, and the arts.