Livia Soprano

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 thought that children, including her own, were "animals...no different from dogs."

Cagey, manipulative, and utterly self-absorbed, Livia Soprano 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 marrying Tony was a mistake and eventually Tony would get bored with her. Years later (in season one of the show), 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 (Livia's nursing home), 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 (said to be induced by repressed rage) 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". When she gets out of the hospital, 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 (in "Irregular Around the Margins") 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, sharp-tongued, 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. Just like Tony Soprano, David Chase spent time in psychotherapy.