Actor James Gandolfini died suddently this morning after a suspected heart attack while on vacation in Italy. He was 51 years old.
Gandolfini, best known as the polerizing Tony Soprano on the popular HBO drama, was one of Hollywood's most surprising leading men. Overweight, balding, and a bit rough in both personality and demeanour, Gandolfini won three Emmys for his work on 'The Sopranos,' earning an impressive $1,000,000 per episode paycheck during the closing of the shows impressive six season run. He climbed to the top thanks to a vigorous work ethic and a passion for the practice; making him a well respect member of Hollywood's elite club of talented entertainers.
Gandolfini's death surprised everyone, including Chris Albrecht, executive producer of 'The Sopranos' who officially greenlit the show and approved of Gandolfini's casting. He was quoted by Deadline saying 'Absolutely stunned. I got the word from Lorraine Bracco and just got off with Brad Grey who had just heard from David Chase. We had all become a family. This is a tremendous loss."
There is no doubt that Gandolfini will forever be cherrished for his impressive work both on the big and small screen. Other than 'The Sopranos' Gandolifini offered his talent to such projects as 8MM, Fallen, In the Loop, Killing Them Softely, Zero Dark Thirty, and this past summer's The Incredible Burt Wonderstone. He had at least three projects that had yet to hit theaters, most noticably Animal Rescue which co-stars Tom Hardy and Noomi Rapace. It is currently set to his theaters sometime next year.
