To get an idea of the range that Gandolfini had as an actor, check out the movie: The Mexican.
The movie also has Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts in it. Two people that we can learn about at a later time.
From your post, I’m not sure if you’re a fan of Gandolfini. I did not see “The Mexican.” But he was brilliant in “The Sopranos.” A very fine performance. He also appeared in a recent B’way play that I missed but in which he was supposed to be great. As an actor, he’ll be missed. Now whether we should be flying flags at half mast for actors, I don’t know.