Famous faces lost: James Gandolfini
James Gandolfini
In June, The Sopranos lead actor James Gandolfini died of a heart attack in Italy at the age of 51.
The actor's son, Michael, 13, reportedly found his father alive but in distress in the bathroom of their Rome hotel room.
The teen called for help as his father lay alive but stricken in his room at the Hotel Boscolo around 10 p.m., Antonio D'amore, the hotel's manager, said.
Hotel employees attempted to resuscitate Gandolfini, 51, as they waited for emergency crews to arrive. The actor was still alive when his ambulance arrived at the hospital, but was later pronounced dead at Policlinico Umberto I hospital, located about three minutes away from the hotel.
New Jersey born Gandolfini began his career with small parts in films Crimson Tide and Get Shorty, recently he starred as director of the CIA in the Academy Award winning Zero Dark Thirty.
He also starred alongside Alec Baldwin and Jessica Lange in a 1992 Broadway production of A Streetcar Named Desire and he returned to Broadway in the Tony Award winning God of Carnage in 2009.
But it was his role as mob boss Tony Soprano which earned him fame worldwide and a series of accolades.
Gandolfini won three Emmys, three SAG Awards, and one Golden Globe for his performance as Tony Soprano on the acclaimed HBO drama - a complex, sometimes villainous role that launched the current wave of TV antiheroes.
The Sopranos remains HBO's highest-rated series ever, with 13.4 million viewers tuning in for the Season 4 premiere in 2002.
Gandolfini is survived by his wife, Deborah Lin, and an eight-month-old daughter, Liliana, as well as a son, Michael, from a previous marriage.
