James Gandolfini, who played the head of the Soprano crime family in one of the greatest TV series of all time, The Sopranos, is dead.

According to Dailymail:

The actor James Gandolfini, who played mafia boss Tony Soprano on the hit TV series The Sopranos, has died of a suspected heart attack in Italy. He was 51.

Colleagues and fans expressed shock after news broke late on Wednesday. “It is with immense sorrow that we report our client James Gandolfini passed away today while on holiday in Rome, Italy,” said his managers, Mark Armstrong and Nancy Sanders. “Our hearts are shattered and we will miss him deeply.”

Tributes flooded in for an actor who won three Emmys and showed that being fat, bald and playing thugs was no impediment to charisma.

“[James] was a genius. Anyone who saw him even in the smallest of his performances knows that,” David Chase, who created The Sopranos, told TMZ.com. “He is one of the greatest actors of this or any time. A great deal of that genius resided in those sad eyes. 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.”

Gandolfini had been due to take part in the Taormina film festival in Sicily this weekend. Mara Mikialian, a spokeswoman for HBO, the network that made The Sopranos, told Reuters the cause of death might have been a heart attack.

Hollywood took to Twitter to mourn its loss. “I’m truly heartbroken … he is one of my all time favourite actors. Tragic loss,” said Jonah Hill.

[more here]

Of his role in The Sopranos, the Daily Beast had this to say:

With his death, Hollywood has lost one of its finest veteran actors. With The Sopranos, Gandolfini delivered a searing and deeply complex performance that captured the rage, sorrow, and frustation of the modern American male. As played by Gandolfini, Tony Soprano was full of contradictions, a complex man whose struggles with depression and panic attacks humanized him despite the violence he perpetrated on those around him. (It was hard not to love him when even his desperate, harried mother wanted him dead.) Prone to violence, Tony Soprano represented the unfettered darker impulses of the id, while also remaining intriguingly relatable. Even as the character plotted for control of a New Jersey criminal enterprise, he struggled to keep his own family together.

[more here]

If you’ve never watched The Sopranos, I really think you should. It is literally known as the greatest series of all time.

Buy all the seasons – you won’t regret it.

Here’s a cool scene.

Then watch this video from CNN:

[thanks simon]