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Wednesday, December 26, 2012
In bite-sized roles, Gandolfini ubiquitous again
WEATHER FORECAST Dps 23 - 32
Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK — In the five years since “The Sopranos” ended, James Gandolfini has eschewed the spotlight, instead disappearing into a heap of character actor performances that, while they may lack the heft of Tony Soprano, have only further proved the actor’s wide-ranging talent.
AP Photo/Paramount Vantage, File
This publicity film image released by Paramount Vantage shows James Gandolfini, as Pat, in a scene from the film “Not Fade Away.”
16 Pages Number 7 5th year
I N T E R N A T I O N A L
This season offers a gluttony of Gandolfini, albeit in bite-sized parts. In Kathryn Bigelow’s Osama bin Laden hunt docudrama “Zero Dark Thirty,” he plays Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta. In David Chase’s ‘60s period drama “Not Fade Away,” he plays the old-school father of a wannabe rocker. And in Andrew Dominick’s crime flick “Killing Them Softly,” he plays an aged, washed-up hit man. None of the roles are showy lead men, and that’s just fine with Gandolfini. “I’m much more comfortable doing smaller things,” Gandolfini said in a recent interview. “I like them. I like the way they’re shot; they’re shot quickly. It’s all about the scripts — that’s what it is — and I’m getting some interesting little scripts.” The 51-year-old actor takes scant pleasure in interviews and rarely does them. This is partly because Gandolfini — sitting attentively with his hands on his knees, his head back and his let’s-hear-whatyou-have-to-say eyes tilted downward — distrusts the ego-inflating effect of attention. Explaining his interest in a character, he breaks off: “I
always wonder how interesting any of this is to people. It’s just my own (stuff).” Though Gandolfini’s achievement playing Tony Soprano for eight years is unquestioned (he won three Emmy awards), the sensation of the show — and the long time spent playing a violent, sometimes loathsome gangster — grated on Gandolfini. He says that after “The Sopranos,” he didn’t quite regain himself as an actor until he starred in the Tony-winning play “God of Carnage” on Broadway in 2009. He played half of a Brooklyn couple trying to resolve a squabble with another couple over a fight between their children — a part also revealing of our underlying animalism. “It really grounded me more as an actor again,” says Gandolfini. “Then I could go off and try different things.”
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Wednesday, December 26, 2012 Stalin’s birthday marked in Russia and beyond
Benitez needs goals to keep flowing at Chelsea
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Predicting who’s at risk for violence isn’t easy Page 14
in Jesus’ Bethlehem birthplace
‘Odd Couple’ star Jack Klugman dies in LA at 90 Associated Press Writer
LOS ANGELES — For many, Jack Klugman will always be the messy one. His portrayal of sloppy sportswriter Oscar Madison on TV’s “The Odd Couple” left viewers laughing but it also gave Klugman the leverage to create a more serious character, the gruff medical examiner in “Quincy M.E.” His everyman ethos and comic timing endeared him to audiences and led to a prolific, six-decade acting career that spanned stage, screen and television. Klugman died Monday at age 90 in suburban Northridge with his wife at his side. His sons called on his fans to embrace their father’s tenacious and positive spirit. “He had a great life and he enjoyed every moment of it, and he would encourage others to do the same,” son Adam Klugman said. The cause of Klugman’s death was not immediately known. Adam Klugman said his father had been slowing down in recent years, but wasn’t battling cancer, which robbed him of his voice in the 1980s. Klugman taught himself to speak again, and kept working. He remained popular for decades simply by playing the type of man you could imagine running into at a bar or riding on a subway with — gruff, but down-to-earth, his tie stained and a little loose, a racing form under his arm, a cigar in hand during the days when smoking was permitted. Off-screen, Klugman owned racehorses and enjoyed gambling, although acting remained his passion. Despite his on-screen wars with Tony Randall’s neat-freak char-
acter Felix Unger on “Odd Couple,” the show created a friendship between the men that endured after the series ended. When Randall died in 2004 at age 84, Klugman told CNN: “A world without Tony Randall is a world that I cannot recognize.” AP Photo/David F. Smith, File
FILE - In this May 20, 1973 file photo, Jack Klugman holds his Emmy for his role in “The Odd Couple” presented at the 25th Emmy Awards Banquet for outstanding continued performance by an actor in a leading role in a comedy series in Los Angeles.
Associated Press
BETHLEHEM — Pilgrims and locals celebrated Christmas Day on Tuesday in the ancient Bethlehem church where tradition holds Jesus was born, candles illuminating the sacred site and the joyous sound of prayer filling its overflowing halls. Overcast skies and a cold wind didn’t dampen the spirits of worshippers who came dressed in holiday finery and the traditional attire of foreign lands to mark the holy day in this biblical West Bank town. Bells pealed and long lines formed inside the fourth-century Church of the Nativity complex as Christian faithful waited eagerly to see the grotto that is Jesus’ traditional birthplace. Duncan Hardock, 24, a writer from MacLean, Va., traveled to Bethlehem from the republic of Georgia, where he had been teaching English. After passing through the separation barrier Israel built to ward off West Bank attackers, he walked to Bethlehem’s Manger Square where the church stands. “I feel we got to see both sides of Bethlehem in a really short period of time,” Hardock said. “On our walk from the wall, we got to see the lonesome, closed side of Bethlehem ... But the moment we got into town, we’re suddenly in the middle of the party.” Bethlehem lies 10 kilometers (6 miles) south of Je-
rusalem. Entry to the city is controlled by Israel, which occupied the West Bank in 1967. Hardock’s girlfriend, 22-year-old Jennifer Gemmell of Longmont, Colorado, compared the festive spirit in Manger Square on Christmas Eve, saying “it’s like being at Times Square at New Year’s.” The cavernous church was unable to hold all the worshippers who had hoped to celebrate Christmas Day Mass inside. A loudspeaker outside the church broadcast the service to the hundreds in the square who could not pack inside. Tourists in the square posed for pictures as vendors hawked olive wood rosaries, nativity scenes, corn on the cob, roasted nuts, tea and coffee. An official from the Palestinian tourism ministry predicted 10,000 foreigners would visit Bethlehem on Christmas Day and said 15,000 visited on Christmas Eve — up 20 percent from a year earlier. The official, Rula Maia’a, attributed the rise in part to the Church of the Nativity’s classification earlier this year as a U.N. World Heritage Site. Christians from Israel — Arab citizens and others — also boosted the number of visitors. Information technology consultant Martin Wzork came to Bethlehem with his wife and young daughter from Krakow, Poland. “My wife believes in God, so it’s important for her,” said Wzork, who described himself as a non-believer. “For me, it’s interesting because it’s a historical place
AP Photo/Adel Hana
A cross is held during Christmas celebrations outside the Church of Nativity, traditionally believed by Christians to be the birthplace of Jesus Christ, in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, Monday, Dec. 24, 2012. Thousands of Christian worshippers and tourists arrived in Bethlehem on Monday to mark Christmas at the site where many believe Jesus Christ was born. and famous.” On Christmas Eve, thousands of Christians from all over the world packed the square, which was awash in light, resplendent with decorations and adorned by a lavishly decorated, 17-meter (55-foot) fir tree. Their Palestinian hosts, who welcome this holiday as the high point of their city’s year, were especially joyous this season, proud of the United Nations’ recognition of an independent state of Palestine just last month. Israel, backed by the United States, opposed the Palestinian statehood bid, saying it was a ploy to bypass negotiations, something the Palestinians deny. Talks stalled four years ago. Later Tuesday, the world’s Christmas focus will shift to Vatican City, where Pope Benedict XVI will deliver his traditional “Urbi et Orbi” speech — Latin for “to the city and the world” — from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica to thousands of pilgrims, tourists and Romans gathered in the piazza below. The speech traditionally reviews world events and global challenges, and ends with the pope delivering Christmas greetings in dozens of languages.