Fellow actors mourned James Gandolfini as a great craftsman and a warm and generous man at his funeral on Thursday, after the 51-year-old star of the HBO television show The Sopranos died of a heart attack in Rome.
Sopranos creator David Chase and the actor’s wife Deborah Lin Gandolfini were among four speakers at a packed ceremony for the actor whose performance as cigar-chomping New Jersey mob boss Tony Soprano made him a household name.
Most of the cast of The Sopranos, including Edie Falco, who played his wife, and Michael Imperioli, who played his nephew Christopher Moltisanti, attended the 90-minute ceremony at the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine in Manhattan.
“It was heaven on earth. You could feel James’ presence,” actor George Loros, who played mobster and FBI informant Ray Curto in the series, said about the funeral.
Loros, who was visibly moved by the service, and other actors praised Gandolfini’s generosity, dedication and talent: “He could be talking like you and I are talking right now,” Loros told Reuters, “and then get called to the set and be just brutal (as an actor). He had such a God-given gift.”
New York actor Tommy Bayiokos, who worked on the fifth season of The Sopranos, described Gandolfini as “a master of his craft”. Laila Robins, who played Soprano’s mother as a young woman in the early seasons of the show, said Gandolfini had an acting coach on the set.
“That was so sweet, and I remember that about him the most – just how badly he wanted to do a good job. He worked so hard,” she added.
Scores of fans waited in the sweltering heat to get a glimpse of actors Alec Baldwin, Steve Buscemi, John Turturro, Chris Noth and Julianna Margulies, and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie as they entered the cathedral.
Other fans managed to get into the funeral service, which was led by the Very Reverend James A. Kowalski.
On Wednesday about 100 people attended a private wake for the actor in New Jersey. Gandolfini, who was raised in a working-class neighbourhood, shared Tony Soprano’s Italian-American heritage and New Jersey roots.
Broadway theatres dimmed their marquees on Wednesday night in memory of the actor, who also had a successful stage career.