He may have played one of the toughest characters in television history, but it looks like James Gandolfini's character on The Sopranos beared no relation to his true personality if a recent anecdote is anything to go by.

Reflecting on James' presence on the hugely popular HBO show, former co-star Drea de Matteo, who played Adriana La Cerva, revealed that the actor had once made a significant gesture towards his co-stars.

"When all of us made our deals with HBO, none of the actors were included in the DVD sales for the show," Drea explained as she remembered her time with the late actor.

"And when he found out about that, he was pretty pissed off, and he called each actor into his trailer one by one, and cut everybody a VERY big check for thousands of dollars, in the double numbers."

"And paid each actor a cut of the proceeds he'd gotten from the DVD sales at that time," she added.
 

Here's a story Drea de Matteo had about James Gandolfini. Good morning. pic.twitter.com/xn2B9jhHQa

— Michael Spicer (@MrMichaelSpicer) November 25, 2016

"That was completely unnecessary, but Jesus Christ, it was something I'll never forget, there aren't many people who would do that," Drea said.

The anecdote, which has been shared extensively on social media, has been met with delight from fans of the actor who sadly passed away in 2013.

"I was ready to have a miserable day before reading that. That has completely uplifted me, thanks," wrote one.

"I love finding out that famous people I like are genuinely brilliant people in real life," remarked a fan.

"What I love about that story is it is literally the diametric opposite of what Tony Soprano did/would do," added another.

Between James and Tom Hanks, we're struggling here this morning.