Fondly recalling James Gandolfini’s beard era

Once upon a time, there walked this Earth a man so beautiful, so radiant, so exquisite, he had to be taken from us early. The world simply couldn’t bear his beauty. The Gods were jealous and the heavens cried out for blood.

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Okay, that’s not what happened at all, but forgive me for being dramatic: I’m talking about James Gandolfini, one of the finest actors to grace the small screen in our lifetimes. And not only was he an incredible actor, he was one of the hunkiest bears to ever walk the Earth. A recent 2003 Golden Globes clip making the rounds on Twitter proves it. I mean, come on. Look at this beard and try not to drool.

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Now there’s some important context here: in 2003, before The Sopranos was about to enter its 5th season, Gandolfini ended up suing HBO for lowballing him and the rest of the cast compared to the take-home pay actors were getting for syndicated shows. It was a nasty battle, but Gandolfini came out on top, and after settling things with HBO, he cut a personal check to his castmates to the tune of $500,000 total. And he looked damn sexy while doing it.

Beauty, brains, AND heart? That’s a triple threat if ever there was one.

I mean come on.

Our man wasn’t often seen sporting a full beard, but when he showed up on the red carpet with even the tiniest hint of stubbled, hearts everywhere swooned. And we’re still swooning.

We miss this beautiful man every single day.