James Gandolfini. (Getty)
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has ordered flags to be at half-mast on Monday, in honor of the late actor James Gandolfini, who died on Wednesday at age 51.
“All the people in the state really felt a connection to him, not just to his character, but to him,” Mr. Christie said in a statement, calling Mr. Gandolfini “a fine actor, a Rutgers alum and a true Jersey guy.”
“One could even argue that Gandolfini/Soprano ushered in the latest era of New Jersey politics,” Lee Siegel wrote in the New York Times today. “Without Mr. Gandolfini’s six-season tour de force as Tony Soprano, I don’t think the state would have been ready for big, blustery Chris Christie."