Christopher Walken could have been on ‘The Sopranos’

Famed bisexual actor Christopher Walken “almost” ended up in an eight-episode recurring role on The Sopranos but missed out on it to another actor.

The Sopranos had a number of recognisable guest stars and Walken could have been one of them as he was being considered for the role of Elliot Kupferberg, the therapist of Jennifer Melfi (Lorraine Bracco), who was herself the psychiatrist of Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini).

Kupferberg was played by Peter Bogdanovich instead.

While Kupferberg only appeared in eight episodes between seasons 2 and 4 of The Sopranos, many consider him to be a memorable character as he becomes increasingly interested in the salacious details of Tony’s life and later breaches doctor-patient confidentiality as a result.

Speaking to About Film, Walken previously said that a cameo on The Sopranos “almost happened once”.

“In fact, it was the part that Peter Bogdanovich played. They had several people they were thinking about,” he said.

Walken’s wife, Georgianne Walken, was previously a casting director on The Sopranos so it could have been an easy way in for him.

About Film asked Walken whether he would be “twisting her arm to get in”, to which he said: “Nah.”

But, when The Sopranos were on, many actors asked Walken to “put in a word” with his wife for them.

Walken is bisexual, coming out in 1973 in an interview to promote his role as Bassanio in The Merchant of Venice.

He said: “I suppose I think of the man I’m playing as bisexual, and I suppose that’s how I think of myself too. I’d hate to think that I was harnessed to heterosexuality. I mean, my life is heterosexual, but I like to think that my head is bisexual, and I think it’s a good idea for everybody to start getting used to that notion, because that way one becomes aware of a lot more things.”

However, Walken has never publicly been involved with any men romantically. He has in fact been married to Georgianne since 1969.