In the crowded ranks of television’s supporting actors, few have burned themselves into our memories with the force of Vincent Pastore. For a handful of seasons on The Sopranos, he played Salvatore “Big Pussy” Bonpensiero with such lived-in authenticity that his character’s fate (*spoiler alert*) of sleeping with the fishes seared itself into our imaginations. And perhaps no television actor ever altered my perception of (and associations with) a novelty item forever in the way that Pastore did with the Big Mouth Billy Bass talking fish. What had been a gimmicky singing plaque became, after his turn in Tony Soprano’s fever dream sequence, an object freighted with menace, melancholy, and dark comedy. That is the peculiar power of a truly memorable supporting performance: It can rewire the associations of an entire culture.