Steve Schirripa talks about 'The Sopranos,' 'Blue Bloods,' his book and WillieBoy

Ah, the price of fame. Being a celebrity usually you can't even go for a walk without being noticed. It's the price of success Steve Schirripa knows all too well.

Whenever the actor, best known for his roles as Tony Soprano's brother-in-law Bobby Baccalieri on "The Sopranos" and Det. Anthony Abetemarco on "Blue Bloods," takes his 7-year-old dachshund WillieBoy for a walk, they always get stopped. Only it's not always Schirripa that fans can't want to meet.

"This morning we were leaving the house to take a walk, and someone wanted to take a picture with him," Schirripa said in a phone interview.

WillieBoy became a sensation after Schirripa posted a "Blue Bloods" promo video on social media. Schirripa was sitting on a lawn chair with a bag of popcorn and WillieBoy on his lap. WillieBoy stole the spotlight when he stuck his head in the bag. The video went viral as did subsequent ones of WillieBoy eating everything from watermelon to pasta e fagioli.

 "He did an episode of 'Blue Bloods.' He had his own chair," Schirripa said.

Now fans of Schirripa, 68, and WillieBoy can meet both when they come to The Next Chapter in Huntington on April 21 where he will talking with Long Island comedian Joey Kola about his charming children's book "WillieBoy Eats the World" (Akashic Books, $16.95), written with Philip Lerman. Schirripa recently spoke about the book, his TV career and more.

I admit it, I am a fussy eater, so I could relate to the book and how WillieBoy tries to expose you to different foods.

I mostly eat Italian food, which is what I’m familiar with, so Willie wants to expand my horizons. So the message to kids is try new things. I had a wonderful illustrator [Kirk Parrish] and I thought he captured myself and Willie just perfect. ... I didn’t know what Mexican food was until I was in my 20s. I married a Mexican American girl and that’s how I found out. She had refried beans in the refrigerator, I thought they were dog food.

After playing a mobster on "The Sopranos" and a detective on "Blue Bloods," do you like showing a different side of you as a children's book author?

Yes. After "The Sopranos," I was on "Secret Life of the American Teenager" where I played a suburban dad of a teenage boy. And I enjoyed that a lot. ... I’ve also done two Hallmark movies which I enjoyed tremendously. That was kind of a bucket list thing. I wanted to do a Hallmark Christmas movie and I was lucky enough to be in one. And I like that space. There’s no yelling and killing and screaming. It's just nice.

Of course, everyone loved you on "The Sopranos." Were you expecting them to kill you off?

I made it to the next to last episode, so it didn’t really bother me. Then it became a thing of how are they going to kill you. In my case, [show runner] David Chase called me and came to my apartment. It was like a real hit. The doorman sent him up, he opened the door and he said "I guess you know why I’m here." That’s how I found out. If I had been killed off in the earlier seasons, I would have been very upset. Not only are you out of work, but we were all good friends. And to not be able to go there every day and not be able to participate, that would have upset me. So I was very lucky that I made it to the end.

Did you know how the series was going to end?

I did know. I read the script, but it still didn’t register when I finally saw it. We were all together in Florida watching at one of the casinos. There were nine of us — Michael Imperioli, Jim Gandolfini, Paulie Walnuts [Tony Sirico], Stevie Van Zandt. ... When it happened, it was so abrupt that I was stunned. "Fade to black" wasn’t what I expected.

You've done a lot of events on Long Island, mostly tied to "The Sopranos." What do you like about Long Island audiences?

The fans are fantastic. We played Patchogue and Huntington at the Paramount and the fans are just great. The fans are passionate and they're real fans. They know the show.

You were on "Blue Bloods" for nine years. Have they approached you about being on the spinoff "Boston Blue?"

"Blue Bloods" was a good game and I enjoyed all the people there. Nobody has asked me. I know that they shoot in Toronto. Maybe someday.