10 Actors Who FREAKED OUT When Their TV Character Died
2. Joe Pantoliano Stormed Off During A Table Read - The Sopranos
Joe Pantoliano gave an Emmy-winning performance in The Sopranos as the thoroughly detestable, psychotic mobster Ralph Cifaretto, whose long-awaited, grisly demise fans cheered in the show's fourth season.
Ralph ends up strangled to death and dismembered by Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), and though shortly after the episode's airing Pantoliano said that the brutal death scene was "the best thing that has ever happened to [him]," one of his co-stars painted a very different picture recently.
Dane Curley, who played Ralph's son Justin for two episodes, claimed during a recent Reddit AMA that Pantoliano was incredibly upset when he learned of Ralph's demise. He said:
"Joe Pantoliano... found out his character was being killed off the show in real time during the table read for our episode. Yeah, he wasn't happy! As soon as he realised he was getting whacked (maybe by reading a few pages ahead of where we were), he angrily shouted (at no one in particular, but presumably the writers) and stood up from the session.
His phone went up to his ear so fast to call his agent, and he stormed off. As he did this, [co-star] Tony Sirico yelled back some choice words to him: something like, 'Don't let the door hit your ass on the way out!' The ruthlessness of showbusiness. Got to see the reality of this business well before my 14th birthday."
Yet to dispel any notion that he was implying Pantoliano was a difficult presence on set, Curley added that the actor was "otherwise very nice" and "constantly joking around."
Ultimately the fact that Pantoliano won an Emmy for his performance the very next year must've surely soothed his initial anger.