Award-winning star of The Sopranos dies during Roman holiday

Gandolfini came to embody the resilience of the Garden State on The Sopranos,which made its debut in 1999 and ran for six seasons on HBO.

In its pilot episode,viewers were introduced to the complicated life of Tony Soprano,a New Jersey mob kingpin who suffers panic attacks and begins seeing a psychiatrist. Over 86 episodes,audiences followed Gandolfini and,in 2007,an ambiguous series finale that left millions of viewers wondering whether Tony Soprano had met his fate at a restaurant table.

The series,created by David Chase,won two Emmys for outstanding drama series,and Gandolfini won three Emmys for outstanding lead actor in a drama. He was nominated six times for the award.

HBO said of Gandolfini in a statement on Wednesday,“He was a special man,a great talent,but more importantly,a gentle and loving person who treated everyone no matter their title or position with equal respect.”

Chase,in a statement,called Gandolfini “one of the greatest actors of this or any time,” and said,“A great deal of that genius resided in those sad eyes.” He added: “I remember telling him many times: ‘You don’t get it. You’re like Mozart.’ There would be silence at the other end of the phone.”

James Joseph Gandolfini Jr. was born in Westwood,N.J.,on Sept. 18,1961. His father was an Italian immigrant and his mother,Santa,was a high school cafeteria chef.

He attended Park Ridge School and Rutgers University,graduating in 1983 with a degree in communications. He drove a delivery truck,managed nightclubs and tended bar in Manhattan before becoming interested in acting at age 25,when a friend took him to an acting class.

He began his movie career in 1987 in the low-budget horror comedy Shock! Shock! Shock! In 1992 he had a small part in the Broadway revival of A Streetcar Named Desire.

After The Sopranos,he went on to play a series of tough guys and heavies,including an angry Brooklyn parent in the Broadway drama God of Carnage,for which he was nominated for a Tony Award in 2009; director of CIA in Zero Dark Thirty and a hit man in Killing Them Softly.

Survivors include wife,Deborah Gandolfini; a daughter,Liliana,born last year; a teenage son,Michael,from his marriage to Marcella Wudarski,which ended in divorce; and his sisters Leta Gandolfini and Johanna Antonacci.