Michael Gandolfini, left, James Gandolfini’s teen son, arrives at today’s funeral service. (AP)
Actor Steve Schirripa today. (Robert Miller)
Aida Turturro arrives for the funeral service of James Gandolfini. (AP)
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie holds a program with a photo of actor James Gandolfini while arriving at Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine today. (AP)
Friends and co-stars filled a Manhattan cathedral today to remember James Gandolfini, a “big teddy bear,” whose larger than life role as Tony Soprano often consumed him in darkness.
There were enough actors and extras to film a Sopranos scene at the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine in Morningside Heights, where Gandolfini’s funeral drew a thick crowd.
Gandolfini, 51,a New Jersey native who earned international fame, died last week after suffering a heart attack while vacationing in Rome with his family.
PHOTOS: MOURNING LOSS OF ACTOR JAMES GANDOLFINI
The list of heartbroken mourners could have easily been pulled from the credits that ran after his groundbreaking show. It included co-stars Eddie Falco, Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Tony Sirico, Steve Schirripa, Aida Torturro and Steve Buscemi.
They were joined by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, and such stars as Dick Cavett, Mario Batali, Chris Noth and Brian Wiliams.
“Sopranos” creator David Chase spoke on behalf of the cast and crew.
“You tried harder than most of us and you tried and you tried, sometimes you tried too hard,” Chase said. “You’d just do too much and then you’d snap and of course that was what people would read about.”
Chase told a story about how Gandolfini had so much rage in his heart while playing Tony that he broke a refrigerator on set while slamming it shut.
Chase said Gandolfini told him that when he was struggling with the dark role “you know what I want to be, I want to be a man.”
Chase called Gandolfini child-like in his emotions and reactions while playing Tony Soprano.
“I think only a pure soul like a child can do it right,” Chase said.
Wife Deborah Lin said Gandolfini was a loving, complex man.
“People mattered to him,” Lin said. “He was ironically very private…I love you Jim and I always will.”
Fellow Sopranos actor and friend Susan Aston said he turned down a role in a movie that was shooting this summer to spend more time with his family — as if he knew his time was limited.
“He said ‘I don’t want to lose anytime with Michael and Lily,’” Aston said. “He said, `Quality of life, time with family and friends, that’s more important than all of this stuff.’”
Aston said they chose the massive cathedral because it’s a space “big enough to hold his heart and spirit.”
She called him “my big teddy bear of a friend.”