Gandolfini, who was being honored at a film festival in Sicily, turned the trip into a commemoration of his son, Michael, who had just graduated from junior high school and won a soccer championship.But instead, it was Gandolfini who got the nod, and he made viewers care about a mob boss who could order the murder of a family member one minute and turn around and tenderly feed the ducks that swam in his estate's swimming pool the next.Michael Imperioli, who played Tony Soprano's nephew, called working with Gandolfini a "pleasure and a privilege" in a statement.
"I only hope to help his family any way I can in their grief and mourning. I am utterly heartbroken. I'm so sad for his family and his little daughter who will only know him from his work and for his wife and son and for everyone who won't get to see great things he was going to continue to do.
"Despite being globally associated with Tony Soprano, Gandolfini went on to play quite different roles including Defense Secretary Leon Panetta in Kathryn Bigelow's Osama bin Laden-hunt docudrama "Zero Dark Thirty." He was very proud of his son.
They wed in 1999 and split three years later.Sopranos creator David Chase said Gandolfini was a "genius".Family friend Michael Kobald told a news conference in Rome that Gandolfini had experienced "a medical emergency" in his hotel room, where he was found by a family member.Gandolfini's more recent film credits included In The Loop, Zero Dark Thirty and Killing Them Softly.In a December 2012 interview with the Associated Press news agency, Gandolfini said he had become an actor to overcome his anger. ""He was going to combine the two things and they were going to spend some time together there," said screenwriter and actor Pat Healy (“Compliance” and “The Innkeepers”), who met with Gandolfini on Friday at HBO offices in Santa Monica, Calif., about an upcoming film Gandolfini was going to star in. "I admire Jimmy as a ferocious actor, a gentle soul and a genuinely funny man," said actor Brad Pitt, who worked with Gandolfini on "The Mexican" and "Killing Them Softly. "We ask you all to respect the family's privacy at this difficult time.”On Friday, when the HBO meeting ended, Healy shook Gandolfini's hand but the actor "grabbed me and he gave me a big hug.
"“Our prayers and condolences go to Mr Gandolfini's family and firends," Kobold said, referring to himself as a family spokesman. "Jimmy treated us all like family with a generosity, loyalty and compassion that is rare in this world...I will be forever grateful having had a friend the likes of Jimmy. "He was very excited about it. The program was nominated for an Emmy Award for outstanding nonfiction special, and NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams called it a "powerful and nonpolitical hour of television. By George Stark. He was 51. Published: 00:37 EDT, … By George Stark. He suffered a massive heart attack while on a trip to Italy with his son, Michael. Doting father James Gandolfini was on a boys trip with teenage son Michael in Italy when he died .