Richie Aprile was crazy. Not gangster or organized crime crazy, but nuts. Way over the top, barely functioning in society, nuts.
Of all the characters ever invented on HBO’s long-running mobster drama “The Sopranos,” Aprile—played brilliantly by actor David Proval during season two—was the only one that genuinely scared me with his anger and quick-to-violence temper.
Tony Soprano, of course, was menacing, as were many of the guys on his crew and those of the New York Families, but the portrayal of Aprile by Proval was soul-rattling. For me, at least.
DAVID PROVAL podcast excerpt: “Dedicated. Committed. Concentrated. For me, as an actor, to have that around me on The Sopranos was nourishing, inspiring. James Gandolfini was a good man, a sweet man, and a very funny guy.”
The real David Proval? He first came to wide notice in Martin Scorsese’s Mean Streets and has a role upcoming opposite Ving Rhames in Robert Townsend’s Sonny Liston biopic, Phantom Punch. I’m very curious to find out what he’s really like.
DAVID PROVAL podcast excerpt: “I was so upset, so disappointed (to be written out of The Sopranos). I was hoping I’d get a reprieve, which is exactly what I said to Mr. David Chase when he called to tell me there was nowhere else to go (with Richie Aprile). I loved the show, loved being a part of it. I sat in my little hovel in Manhattan and cried in my beer. Naaah.”
What I do know is that he’s starring alongside Tanna Frederick and Karen Black in Henry Jaglom’s new play, “45 Minutes From Broadway,” now running through late July at the Edgemar Center for the Arts in Santa Monica, California.
David Proval Order The Sopranos: Season 2 DVD from Amazon.com
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