When Bethlehem Met 'The Sopranos'

In the spring of 2002, Tony Soprano dumped a headless body at Bethlehem Township's Dutch Springs.

Well, it wasn't really a body, it was a mannequin. And although Tony Soprano was there to carry out a pretty grim task, the man playing him, actor James Gandolfini, couldn't have been nicer, Dutch Springs owner Stu Schooley said Friday.

Schooley's recollection of Gandolfini -- who died Wednesday at 51 -- was in keeping with what a lot of people had to say about the actor: a kind man who became famous for playing a monster.

Near the end of the fourth season of the Sopranos, Gandolfini's mob boss character kills one of his associates during a fight. Because the murder isn't a sanctioned mob hit, Tony (with the help of his protege Christopher) needs to cover his tracks.

That's where Dutch Springs, a water park built around a big quarry, came in.

Schooley said HBO had a lot of locations to choose from, but went with Dutch Springs because it had the right infrastructure and parking.
 
The crew spent several hours there to shoot what -- on TV -- is a very brief scene: Tony and Christopher (played by actor Michael Imperioli) drive to the edge of the quarry, and toss the body into the water.

Schooley didn't really interact much with the actors.

"I said 'Thank you for coming, glad to have you here,'" he recalled.

"He seemed like he was really nice. He wasn't ordering people around the whole time," Schooley said of Gandolfini.

HBO aired the episode that fall, but Schooley didn't see it at the time. Years later, when recovering from surgery, his wife bought him the entire series on DVD, and he got to see Dutch Springs' Hollywood moment.

"You couldn't tell it was us," he said.

—written by Tom Coombe