Leta Gandolfini, the sister of “Sopranos” star James Gandolfini, is shielded by security as she arrives at the Rome morgue where the body of her brother is being held following an autopsy today. (Reuters)
Coronor Antonio Spasola informs the media about the procedure that they will follow during the autopsy of James Gandofini’s body. (Getty Images)
ROME — An autopsy of TV mobster James Gandolfini shows the legendary actor died from natural causes, a family friend said today in Rome.
“The autopsy further stated that nothing else was found in his system,” Michael Kobold said of Gandolfini, who had a heart attack Wednesday in his hotel room.
A funeral director will embalm the body in Italy before it is sent back to the US.
“In Italy it can take up to ten days to get all the necessary documents and paperwork to repatriate the body,” said Kobold. “We are looking forward to working with the Italian government and officials to shorten that process. It looks like they’re doing everything on their end, which is wonderful, so that we can get Jim’s body back sooner.”
He said the family hopes to send his body back to the states on Wednesday or Thursday, and that the funeral will be held in New York rather than his native New Jersey.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is ordering all government buildings in the Garden State to fly flags at half-staff on Monday to honor “Sopranos” star and Jersey native James Gandolfini.
“James Gandolfini enjoyed an extraordinarily successful acting career across television, film and Broadway, including his popularly acclaimed role as Tony Soprano in ‘The Sopranos’ and advocated for United States service members and veterans in his two documentaries, ‘Alive Day Memories: Home From Iraq’ and ‘Wartorn: 1861-2010,’” Christie’s office said in a press statement.
Today I ordered flags to be lowered throughout the state Monday in memory of New Jersey native James Gandolfini. http://t.co/GUtEnOnJXv
— Governor Christie (@GovChristie) June 21, 2013
“James Gandolfini was an iconic actor and will be remembered for the timeless impact he left upon television and film in the State of New Jersey and across our nation,” the Christie statement said.
Christie said Gandolfini was a Jersey boy through and through. Born in Westwood, he graduated from Park Ridge High School and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Rutgers University.
Gandolfini, who died Wednesday, came to Rome the day before to vacation with his family ahead of a film festival this weekend in Sicily.
“He had a wonderful day. He visited the Vatican and had dinner at the hotel with his son, awaiting the arrival of his (Gandolfini’s) sister,” Kobold said.
“He was on vacation with his son, he has an eight-month-old daughter. Everything was going really great. I just spoke to him on Fathers Day. He was fine, he was happy. He was a good guy,” Kobold said.
“We are all devastated by this loss.”
His sister, Leta Gandfolfini, visited his body at the hospital morgue on Friday morning after the autopsy.
Asked if Gandolfini had previous heart problems, Kobold said: “No. He was happy. He was healthy. He was doing really fine.”
Gandolfini, whose performance as New Jersey mob boss Tony Soprano made him a household name and helped usher in a new era of American television drama, had been scheduled to attend the closing of the Taormina Film Festival in Sicily on Saturday.
Since “The Sopranos” ended its six-season run in June 2007, Gandolfini appeared in a number of big-screen roles, including the crime drama “Killing Them Softly” and “Zero Dark Thirty,” a film about the hunt for Osama bin Laden.
Gandolfini had been working on an upcoming HBO series, “Criminal Justice,” and had two films due out next year.
Apart from Michael, his son with his first wife, who he divorced in 2002, Gandolfini is survived by wife, Deborah Lin and baby daughter Liliana, born last year.
In the HBO series, the burly, physically imposing Gandolfini created a gangster different from any previously seen in American television or film.
Tony Soprano was capable of killing enemies with his own hands but was prone to panic attacks. He regularly saw a therapist to work out his anxiety problems.
With Reuters