87-year-old 'Sopranos' actress living in apartment without heat amid 30-degree temperatures: 'I don't have anybody'
Fran Anthony was smothered with a pillow on an episode of The Sopranos for the life savings her character, Minn Matrone, kept under her mattress, but the 87-year-old actress is now worried that the cold of her apartment, located on the Upper East Side of New York City, will be the end of her.
Anthony, who uses a wheelchair, told the New York Post that her 15 neighbors who live at 260 East 72nd Street in Manhattan have friends and relatives to stay with to escape their cold apartments, which had no heat or hot water despite the temperatures entering the 30s over the weekend, but Anthony said, “I don’t have anybody.”
A representative for Plaza Management, which oversees the property, told Yahoo Lifestyle that the five-floor building was sold at the end of October. The Post reports that the previous owner had requested an emergency work order to install an outdoor boiler to replace the broken one in the basement. However, according to Plaza Management, the city was forced to shut down the outside boiler due to “installation deficiencies.” The building has been without a working boiler since Wednesday.
As for Anthony, the cold is proving to be difficult. The actress runs a space heater constantly, and it’s difficult for her to leave the blankets even to use the restroom or bathe. “Even my hands, when you use the toilet, you want to wash your hands, but it’s freezing cold,” she added. “I’ve been using that chemical stuff [hand sanitizer]. It feels pretty awful,” she said. She added that she’s reluctant to order food because she is too cold to “stand in that hall and answer the intercom.”
Plaza Management provided the following statement to Yahoo Lifestyle: “Current Ownership closed on this building a little over a week ago, with the understanding that there is a temp boiler in place and with plans on getting a full boiler replacement done.
“Last week the City shut down the temp boiler due to installation deficiencies. We immediately reached out to Control Combustion (boiler rental company) and they told us that they will have the boiler up and running the next day. Unfortunately, the next day (Thursday) Controlled Combustion went back on their word and told us that they are terminating the rental agreement without any further explanation…
“We delivered heaters to all residents on Friday and we are working around the clock to get this situation resolved. We signed a new contract with another boiler rental company, and the new boiler should be up and running by Wednesday.
“We feel bad for all the tenants, especially the elderly. This problem hit us very unexpectedly and was pretty much beyond our control.”
From Oct. 1 to May 31, New York City requires building owners to provide tenants with heat between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. if the temperatures fall below 55 degrees outside. Between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m., the inside temperature must be at least 62 degrees Fahrenheit. Hot water must also be provided every day of the year. On average in New York City, there are 15 cold-related deaths during the cold season.
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