I met him in person several years ago (maybe late 1997 or early 1998) in LA. I happened to be at the Beverly Hills Public Library. He was sitting in a chair by the "movie and theater books" section on the second floor. I saw this guy sitting off to the side of the stacks quietly thumbing through some photography books. I stared as him as unobtrusively as I could trying to place him. When he looked up briefly, I knew right away it was Gandolfini. This was still well before The Sopranos hit. I recognized him because I had seen him in Crimson Tide, True Romance and Get Shorty. He had really popped off the screen as the hit man in True Romance. At any rate, I approached him -- something I rarely do with actors that I recognize on the street -- and introduced myself (we shared the same first name whic he thought was funny) and said I was a big fan of his work, especially the films noted above. He seemed to get a kick out of anyone knowing who he was or being familiar with his work. At that time, he was still basically a character actor not a star.

I asked what he was doing at the library and he said he had a day off from shooting a film he was working on in -- iirc, it was "Fallen" starring Denzel Washington. He might have just wrapped up his part. Anyways, he said he was just passing the time and liked the quiet there.

He was physically not as imposing in person as he appeared on film. He had a bit more hair on top back then (which seemed more brown as opposed to black -- maybe for the role he was playing). Still, he was a big guy (not as heavy as in recent pictures) though not overly tall. What stands out in my memroy is that he had a real gentle presence and overall came off as an extremely humble guy. He didn't carry himself as a big shot in any way. He asked me about myself and we had a nice little conversation. At any rate, I didn't want to keep bugging the guy, so before leaving I asked him what projects he had lined up next. He said he was probably going to be doing some TV thing (whether he meant The Sopranos or not I don't know).

I wished him good luck. We shook hands again and that was that. Several months later, when The Sporanos hit TV and he became this megastar I kept thinking back to that day, during a time before his life changed completely. I thought of him repeatedly over the years when I'd see him in other projects or about his exploits once his life became tabloid fodder.

Hearing that he died so suddenly at at such a young age really bummed me out. I'm not someone who gets star-struck or even approaches many famous people. I like to give them their privacy even when they're in public. But he seemed so unassuming and just had a good vibe about him. Sweet guy. Hell of an actor. He will be missed.

And that's my James Gandolfini story.