RIP: James Gandolfini (1961-2013)

[O]

Dead of a heart attack at 51.

http://variety.com/2013/more/news/james-gandolfini-dead-of-sudden-stroke-at-51-1200499141/

 

[Dback Jon]

I was about to post that...
http://www.tmz.com/2013/06/19/james-gandolfini-dead-dies-italy/

 

[Brian in Mesa]

RIP

 

[Joe L]

Just heard. Devastated!

R.I.P

 

[AzStevenCal]

Wow. Stunned. RIP.

Steve

 

[Dr. Jones]

Woah! What a terrible bit of news! RIP James.

 

[UncleChris]

Not to be ghoulish, but I wonder if he had a heart history.

 

[Stout]

Wow, that's awful. He was an incredible character actor who ran with a leading role when he had the chance. He'll be missed.

 

[Brian in Mesa]

With new movies, James Gandolfini will have a Heath Ledger moment

http://touch.latimes.com/#section/4/article/p2p-76376588/

Gandolfini, who died Wednesday at age 51, shot two movies since last summer that he won’t get to see. The rest of us, fortunately, will.

In Nicole Holofcener’s “Enough Said,” shot in August and September in Los Angeles, Gan-dolfini plays a character we haven’t seen him play before: a gentle, lovable soul who is just look-ing for love. He's a TV archivist named Albert whom the female lead, played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus, falls in love with. As this is a Holofcener movie, it’s a human story, full of quiet mo-ments and genuine emotion, according to a person familiar with the project. The film isn’t dated, but it’s tentatively scheduled to come out sometime next year.

Earlier this spring Gandolfini shot a crime drama set in Brooklyn titled “Animal Rescue,” which like “Enough Said” comes from the studio division Fox Searchlight. Director Michael Roskum (“Bullhead”) is in postproduction on the movie, which is notable on several fronts. It’s a Euro-centric acting affair set in outerboro New York (Tom Hardy and Noomi Rapace play the leads). And its story of redemption involving the rescue of a pit bull, a con, a romance and a Brooklyn bar marks the feature screenwriting debut of one Dennis Lehane, the novelist on whose work “Shutter Island” and “Mystic River” are based.

But now it’s known for something else much bigger than that: the last movie Gandolfini shot. Ganfolini plays the proprietor of a bar and an older spirit guide of sorts to Hardy’s bartender character, who becomes embroiled in a plot involving Chechen gangsters. The movie is also not dated, but will aim to come out in 2014.

 

[BigRedRage]

His kids found him too = /

 

[Brian in Mesa]

Not to be ghoulish, but I wonder if he had a heart history.

No idea, but alcohol/drug abuse can cause long term damage to your heart and blood vessels...

TMZ: No Evidence of Drugs, Alcohol ... So Far

http://www.tmz.com/2013/06/20/james-gandolfini-died-dead-drugs-alcohol/#ixzz2WoTXNNdr

A doctor who runs the ER where James Gandolfini was taken before he was pronounced dead says there are no suspicious factors, such as alcohol, but the statement appears premature -- especially with respect to any drugs that might have been in the actor's system.

Professor Claudio Modini, the chief ER doc, says it looks like a heart attack, adding it was "probably a natural cause of death, myocardial infarction."

Gandolfini had acknowledged he had been addicted to cocaine and booze, and substance abuse played a part in his 2002 divorce.