David Chase

David Henry Chase (born August 22, 1945) is an American writer, producer, and director. A recipient of seven Primetime Emmy Awards, he is best known for being the creator, head writer, and executive producer of the HBO drama The Sopranos, which aired for six seasons between 1999 and 2007. Chase has also produced and written for shows such as The Rockford Files, I'll Fly Away, and Northern Exposure. He created the original series Almost Grown which aired for 10 episodes in 1988 and 1989. Chase's film debut came in 1972 with Grave of the Vampire, and his later filmography includes Not Fade Away (2012) and The Many Saints of Newark (2021), a prequel film to the TV series The Sopranos.

Early life

Chase was born as an only child to Norma () and Enrico "Henry" Chase, both born in 1908 and hailing from Italian-American working-class families. Norma was born in Essex County, New Jersey, as one of twelve children to Marian D'Agostino and Vito Bucco, who immigrated from Ariano, Campania and Fossacesia, Abruzzo respectively. Henry was born in Providence, Rhode Island, as one of seven children, the son of Teresa Melfi, who was married to Giovanni DeCesare, 17 years her senior. Henry and his sister Evelina (Evelyn), however, were the biological children of Giuseppe "Joseph" Fusco, a 21-year-old Italian immigrant who had been lodging with the DeCesares since 1904. Following Evelyn's birth in 1910, Melfi and Fusco eloped to Newark, New Jersey, with their two biological children, whose surnames Melfi subsequently changed from DeCesare to Chase; the couple kept their own surnames and raised another five children under Fusco's name (although the 1940 census lists both their surnames as "Fusca"). The DeCesare family originates from Caserta while Chase's biological grandfather Joseph Fusco was from Roccamonfina.

Chase grew up in a small garden apartment in Clifton, New Jersey, before moving to North Caldwell, New Jersey. His father owned Wright's Hardware in Verona, New Jersey. He grew up watching matinée crime films and was well known as a creative storyteller. He attended West Essex High School.

He has stated that he had many problems with his parents when he was a child. Although the one-hour series was well received by critics, only 10 episodes aired from November 1988 to February 1989.

The Sopranos

right|thumb|Chase with [[Lorraine Bracco, who played Jennifer Melfi, receiving the Peabody Award for The Sopranos in 2000]]

Chase worked in relative anonymity before The Sopranos debuted. Chase got some input from his manager Lloyd Braun and decided to adapt it into a television series. He drew heavily from his personal life and his experiences growing up in New Jersey, and has stated that he tried to apply his own "family dynamic to mobsters". For instance, the tumultuous relationship between series protagonist Tony Soprano and his mother Livia is partially based on Chase's relationship with his own mother.

Chase had been fascinated by organized crime and the mafia from an early age, witnessing such people growing up. He also was raised on classic gangster films such as The Public Enemy and the crime series The Untouchables. The series is partly inspired by the Richard Boiardo family, a prominent New Jersey organized crime family when Chase was growing up, and partly on New Jersey's DeCavalcante family. He has mentioned American playwrights Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams as influences on the show's writing, and Italian director Federico Fellini as an important influence on the show's cinematic style. The series was named after high school friends of his. Chase directed it himself. They finished the pilot and showed it to HBO executives, but the show was put on hold for several months. During this time, Chase, who had long experienced frustration at being unable to break out of TV and into film, He also directed the pilot episode and the series finale (both of which he also wrote).

Of the intentionally ambiguous final scene of the series finale that aired on June 10, 2007, Chase said, "I have no interest in explaining, defending, reinterpreting, or adding to what is there."

In 2022, Chase and Phil Abraham created a 2022 Super Bowl spot for Commonwealth / McCann with two characters from the show who appear in a 2021 New York City/New Jersey setting.

In September 2024, HBO released a two-part documentary called Wise Guy: David Chase and the Sopranos.

Not Fade Away

Not Fade Away (2012), Chase's feature film debut, was released on December 21, 2012. It centers on the lead singer of a teenage rock 'n' roll band (played by John Magaro) in 1960s New Jersey. Described as "a music-driven coming-of-age story," the film reunites Chase with James Gandolfini (former star of Sopranos), who co-stars as Magaro's father.

The Many Saints of Newark

Although Chase was "against [the movie] for a long time", Deadline Hollywood reported in March 2018 that New Line Cinema had purchased the script for The Many Saints of Newark, a prequel to The Sopranos written by Chase and fellow screenwriter Lawrence Konner. Chase said of the storyline, which centers on the 1967 Newark riots and racial tensions between the Italian-American and African-American communities, "I was interested in Newark and life in Newark at that time... I used to go down there every Saturday night for dinner with my grandparents. But the thing that interested me most was Tony's boyhood. I was interested in exploring that." The film was initially scheduled to be released on September 25, 2020, however, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, its release date was rescheduled to March 12, 2021 and later September 24, 2021 before ultimately being released on October 1, 2021.

In October 2021, he and his Chase Films production company struck a deal with WarnerMedia. In March 2024, it was revealed that he will be directing an untitled horror movie for New Line Cinema. The screenplay will be written with Terrence Winter.

Unrealized projects

A Ribbon of Dreams

Chase has previously developed A Ribbon of Dreams, a miniseries for HBO. According to an HBO press release, the series' pilot would "begin in 1913 and follow two men, one a college-educated mechanical engineer, the other a cowboy with a violent past, who form an unlikely producing partnership and together become pioneers and then powers for a time in motion pictures." Specifically, the two men would "begin as employees of D.W. Griffith, and then cross career paths with John Ford, John Wayne, Raoul Walsh, Bette Davis, Billy Wilder and others who gave shape to Hollywood as it grew from the age of rough-hewn silent Westerns, to the golden era of talkies and the studio system, to the auteur movement, to television, and finally to the present day." In 2021, Chase revealed that HBO agreed to proceed with the production of the miniseries but with "a cheesy budget", to which Chase refused to agree. Therefore, Chase and HBO parted ways on the project and A Ribbon of Dreams fell through.

Personal life

After graduating from NYU in 1968, Chase moved to California and married his high school sweetheart Denise Kelly.

Chase once stated that he "loathed and despised" television shows, watching only The Sopranos and movies. However, he said in later interviews that he watched Boardwalk Empire and Mad Men, the work of former Sopranos writers and producers Terence Winter and Matthew Weiner, respectively. He said that he previously made those negative comments in part because he had been frustrated working within the confines of 1990s network television.

In 2023, Chase was inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame.

Select filmography

Television

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"

! Year !! Title !! Director !! Writer !! Producer !! Creator !!Notes

|| 1971

| style="text-align:left"| The Bold Ones: The Lawyers

| Episode: "In Defense of Ellen McKay"

|| 1974

| style="text-align:left"| The Magician

| 7 episodes

|| 1974–1975

| style="text-align:left"| Kolchak: The Night Stalker

| 8 episodes Also story consultant

|| 1975–1976

| style="text-align:left"| Switch

| 6 episodes Also story consultant

|| 1976–1979

| style="text-align:left"| The Rockford Files

|20 episodes

| rowspan=2| 1980

| style="text-align:left"| The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo

| Episode: "Perkins Bombs Out"

| style="text-align:left"| Off the Minnesota Strip

| Television film

|rowspan=2| 1982

| style="text-align:left"| Palms Precinct

| Pilot episode

| style="text-align:left"| Moonlight

| Television film

|| 1986

| style="text-align:left"| Alfred Hitchcock Presents

| Episode: "Enough Rope for Two"

|| 1988–1989

| style="text-align:left"| Almost Grown

|| 1991–1993

| style="text-align:left"| I'll Fly Away

|4 episodes

|| 1993–1995

| style="text-align:left"| Northern Exposure

| Wrote 1 episode

| rowspan=4| 1996

| style="text-align:left"| The Rockford Files: If the Frame Fits...

|rowspan=4| Television film

| style="text-align:left"| The Rockford Files: Godfather Knows Best

| style="text-align:left"| The Rockford Files: Friends and Foul Play

| style="text-align:left"| The Rockford Files: Punishment and Crime

|| 1999–2007

| style="text-align:left"| The Sopranos

| Directed 2 episodes, wrote the script for 24 episodes and the story for 5 episodes Also uncredited appearances in three episodes

| style="text-align:left"| MKUltra

| Based around the illegal human experimentation program with the same name

Film

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"

! style="width:33px;"| Year !! Title !! style="width:65px;"| Director !! width=65 | Writer !! width=65 | Producer !! Notes

|| 1972

| style="text-align:left"| Grave of the Vampire

| Based on his novel The Still Life

|| 2012

| style="text-align:left"| Not Fade Away

|| 2021

| style="text-align:left"| The Many Saints of Newark

| Also cameo appearance as Ercole "Eckley" DiMeo a.k.a. "Old Man"

|TBD

|style="text-align:left"| Untitled Horror Movie

Other credits

{| class="wikitable sortable

! Year

! Title

! Role

| 1969

| The Cut Thorats

| Production manager

| 1972

| Winter Love

| Unit manager

| 2017

| BoJack Horseman

| Voice role: Himself Episode: "See Mr. Peanutbutter Run"

Awards and recognition

{| class="wikitable sortable"

!colspan=5|Primetime Emmy Awards

! Year

! Category

! Nominated work

! Result

! class=unsortable|

|1978 || rowspan="3" | Outstanding Drama Series || The Rockford Files (season 4) || ||

|1979 || The Rockford Files (season 5) || ||

|rowspan=2|1980 || The Rockford Files (season 6) || || rowspan=2|

| Outstanding Writing in a Limited Series or a Special || Off The Minnesota Strip ||

|rowspan=2|1992 || Outstanding Drama Series || I'll Fly Away (season 1) || || rowspan=2|

| Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series || I'll Fly Away (episode: "Pilot") ||

|1993 || rowspan="3" | Outstanding Drama Series || I'll Fly Away (season 2) || ||

|1994 || Northern Exposure (season 5) || ||

|rowspan=4|1999 || The Sopranos (season 1) || || rowspan=4|

| rowspan="2" | Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series || The Sopranos (episode: "College") ||

| The Sopranos (episode: "Pilot") ||

|Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series || The Sopranos (episode: "Pilot") ||

|2000 || rowspan="2" | Outstanding Drama Series || The Sopranos (season 2) || ||

|rowspan=3|2001 || The Sopranos (season 3) || || rowspan=3|

| rowspan="2" | Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series || The Sopranos (episode: "Funhouse") ||

| The Sopranos (episode: "Amour Fou") ||

|rowspan=2|2003 || Outstanding Drama Series || The Sopranos (season 4) || || rowspan=2|

|Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series || The Sopranos (episode: "Whitecaps") ||

|2004 || rowspan="3" | Outstanding Drama Series || The Sopranos (season 5) || ||

|2006 || The Sopranos (season 6 - Part 1) || ||

|rowspan=3|2007 || The Sopranos (season 6 - Part 2) || || rowspan=3|

| rowspan="2" |Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series || The Sopranos (episode: "Kennedy and Heidi") ||

| The Sopranos (episode: "Made in America") ||