Livia Soprano, played by Nancy Marchand, is a fictional character on the HBO TV
series The Sopranos. She is the mother of Tony Soprano. A young Livia, played
by Laila Robins and later by Laurie J. Williams is sometimes seen in
flashbacks. Series creator David Chase has stated that the main inspiration for
the character was his own mother. Plot details
Livia Pollio Soprano was born in Providence, Rhode Island to Faustino
"Augie" and Teresa Pollio, Italian immigrants from Avellino. Livia's
childhood was poverty-stricken and miserable, and she spent her adult life
punishing everyone for it. Marriage to the tough and charismatic Johnny Soprano
was Livia's ticket out of her parents' house. Married life, however, was not
happily ever after; Livia wasn't particularly interested in housework and
as for motherhood, her take on it was that babies were "animals...no different
from dogs." Although Johnny was a good provider, in Livia's estimation he was
never good enough. She constantly pressured him to earn more, but when he
came to her with a plan to move the family to Reno in order to pursue a new
business opportunity - something he wanted very much - she quickly put the
kibosh on it. Although Livia belittled Johnny practically every day of his
life, when he died she instantly canonized him.
Cagey, manipulative, and possessing an encyclopedic memory of every slight she
ever suffered, Livia Soprano, the family matriarch, seemingly derives little
pleasure from life other than making the people around her miserable, especially
her three children: Janice, Tony, and Barbara. On her son's wedding day, she
tells her new daughter-in-law Carmela that Tony would eventually get bored
with her. Years later, she manipulates her brother-in-law, Junior, into putting
out a hit on her own son after he tries to put her in a nursing home by
mentioning that Tony is seeing a psychiatrist. She later tells Junior
that Tony looks exactly like her cousin Cakey after he had a lobotomy, saying
that his mother said it would have been better if Cakey had died rather than go
on living like that. It is later discovered that the FBI had bugged Green
Grove, and the recordings of Livia conspiring with Junior were played to
Tony. While she was in hospital, she received a visit from Artie Bucco. She
then tells him that Tony burned down his restaurant, presumably in another
attempt to have Tony killed. Tony's plot for revenge is foiled when Livia suffers
a stroke and is taken into a hospital. It appeared Tony had originally been
planning to suffocate her with a pillow he grabbed on his way to her room, but
he is not given the chance when he hears she had suffered a stroke and he sees
her being wheeled out on a gurney. He then publicly threatens to kill her,
informing her that he had heard her conspiring with Junior, thanks to the
FBI tapes, saying, "I'm gonna have a nice, long, happy life, which is more
than I can say for you". However, Tony sees Livia smirking at him, and, when
Tony points this out, he has to be restrained by the hospital staff. When
she gets out, Tony settles for acting as if she were already dead, attempting to
end all contact and financial support. In the second episode of the third
season, "Proshai, Livushka", Tony meets with her briefly, and they get into an
argument that ends with Tony storming out of the house.
Based on her conversations with Tony, Dr. Melfi speculates that Livia might
suffer from some form of borderline or narcissistic personality disorder.
Additionally, Tony tells Adriana that Livia suffered from Irritable bowel
syndrome all her life. After the second season, a storyline was
planned where Livia would be called to testify against her son in court, giving
evidence on stolen airline tickets she had received from him, but Marchand died
in 2000 before it could be filmed. Existing footage and computer-generated
imagery was used to create a final scene between Tony and Livia in the episode
"Proshai, Livushka" in Season Three before the character, too, passed on. In
the same episode, Artie experiences a brief flashback of a meeting with Livia,
showing footage of a scene from a first season episode. Livia nevertheless
appeared as a young woman in several flashbacks after then, as well as being
frequently referenced, with Tony still far from resolving his feelings towards
her. Janice, during a conversation with
Carmela, calls into question whether or not her mother loves them. She goes on
to explain that her therapist explained to her that Livia does indeed love them,
but does not know how to express it. During the sixth season episode
"Mayham," when Tony is comatose from a gunshot wound, he has a vivid dream that
ends with Tony being beckoned into a house by his dead cousin Tony Blundetto;
a woman who looks similar to Livia can briefly be seen in the doorway of the
house. Tony then hears a child's voice calling "Daddy, don't go, come back." He
then awakens to see his daughter Meadow and wife Carmela standing over him.
Character origins David Chase, the creator of The
Sopranos, based Livia heavily on his own mother, Norma Chase. He described her as
being paranoid, prone to often insulting others, abusive, and disregarding her
son's career achievements. Many of Livia's memorable lines, such as "Poor
you" or "daughters are better at taking care of their mothers than sons," are
what Norma Chase would say. And, just as Tony Soprano, David Chase spent time in
psychotherapy. References
External links HBO Profile: Livia Soprano