Goodbye, Jimmy. James Gandolfini Dead.

"Woke up this mornin..." as the theme song to the Sopranos says, but who could have imagined the  news about James Gandolfini's death at 51.

In The Sopranos he was to play the ultimate television bad guy, a character who was as complex as any ever seen on the small - or big - screen. Tony Soprano was no cliche, he was a living breathing man. A brow-beaten father, husband, philanderer, worrier, killer. That was the trick, to make Tony human.

I first noticed Gandolfini as Bear in Get Shorty, a strong arm character with beard and ponytail - but one with a heart, cradling his little girl in his arms. There's more than one side to any thug. Gandolfini knew that because he was so much more than just a bad guy actor.

David Chase, the creator of The Sopranos, wrote the series mainly through Tony's eyes. When we weren't with Tony we wanted to be. How could it be that a killer, a thug, a fashion-free Mafioso could be so compelling? Gandolfini made him so. A writer can write the word and action but an actor has to bring the twinkle in the eyes, the smile that plays across the lips, the power that suddenly burst forth. Gandolfini had that power in spades.

Contrast the mob boss scenes with those alone in a room with Dr Melfi. So often he sits there with a blank expression, like a schoolboy waiting for admonishment. Whenever he gets too close to working out what really lies at the bottom of his problems he strikes out, explodes, he doesn't want to face the immorality of what he does. Without those scenes in the doctor's office would we have cared about him quite as much, I don't think so. It gave us the insight into his inner conflict. He's a soldier. There are rules. He follows the path. Gandolfini added so many layers on top of the writing.

To be Tony Soprano was a blessing, but for some actors it would also have been a curse. How could an actor shake off that role to play others. Gandolfini did. In The Mexican, alongside Julia Roberts, he plays a gay hit man, in In The Loop he's a Lt General working inside an insane political system, in Zero Dark Thirty he's the C.I.A Director.

He even appeared on screen in the down and dirty musical Romance and Cigarettes - Tony Soprano sings! There was much more to him that one role.

When I first saw The Sopranos, the night it debuted here, I knew I was watching something special. I followed the show through the twists and turns of every episode, every series until the enigmatic ending that still has fans divided. To all of us who watched and loved the show Gandolfini's portrayal of  "T" was unmissable. We'll miss him.

A man with so much talent dies at 51, a tragedy but as Tony would say, "Whadyagonnado..."