Tony Soprano is undoubtedly one of the most iconic characters in television history. The Sopranos, which you can, of course, watch with an HBO Max subscription, changed television, ushered in the era of “peak TV,” and put James Gandolfini’s Tony at the center of it all. It made Gandolfini a huge star and earned him numerous awards and accolades. It also stressed him out and weighed heavily on the actor, according to his co-star Steve Schirripa, who played Bobby Bacala.Gandolfini was, frankly, incredible as the boss of the fictional DiMeo crime family. If you’ve ever seen him in other roles, or in interviews, you learn pretty quickly that the actor was nothing like his character. His accent, mannerisms, and way of moving were completely different in real life. Tony, the character, really took over every part of Gandolfini when he filmed. That took a toll. As Schirripa explained to the Press Association (via Indy100):That bothered him, having to be angry all the time, that started getting to him. It started happening the middle, the end. I mean, don’t forget, he worked 16-hour days, five days a week. He had to kill people, he had to yell, be angry, every day, every day, every day. For some people, it’s easy. For some people, it’s not. I think it started bothering him.It’s easy to see how playing such a dark character for so long could affect an actor’s psyche. For a guy who seemed to be universally loved by his co-stars, it must have been hard. The late Gandolfini was a nice guy who played a very nasty guy. Schirripa talked about how great he was, saying:He was a good guy. [He was] a lot of fun. We had a lot of laughs. As a cast, a lot of us hung around together off camera and we had a lot of fun. We travelled together a lot. We knew each other’s families. You’re together nine or 10 years, people went through marriages, divorces, had babies, so it really did become like a family.The family behind the family took The Sopranos to heights that no other TV show has ever reached. It was incredibly popular and critically successful. That’s not easy to do, but The Sopranos maintained both through the 86 episodes over six seasons, right up until the controversial ending (one that really freaks me out). Though others have tried to replicate that success, The Sopranos really kicked off HBO’s wild Sunday night success, leading to shows like The Wire, Six Feet Under, Sex And The City, Game of Thrones, and so many more. One has to wonder if any of that would’ve happened without Gandolfini and The Sopranos. Just like the stress of leading a crime family in decline was hard on Tony Soprano, leading the show seems to have been just as hard on Gandolfini himself. I hope he would agree that it was all worth it, as The Sopranos has remained popular and will live on forever.