James Joseph Gandolfini Jr September 18 1961 June 19 2013 was an American actor and producer He was best known for his role as Tony Soprano the ItalianAmerican crime boss in HBOs television series The Sopranos for which he won three Emmy Awards three Screen Actors Guild Awards and one Golden Globe Award Gandolfinis portrayal of Tony Soprano is widely regarded as among the greatest performances in television history Gandolfinis notable film roles include mob henchman Virgil in True Romance 1993 Lt Bobby Dougherty in Crimson Tide 1995 Colonel Winter in The Last Castle 2001 and Mayor of New York in The Taking of Pelham 123 2009 Other roles are enforcer and stuntman Bear in Get Shorty 1995 and impulsive Wild Thing Carol in Where the Wild Things Are 2009 For his performance as Albert in Enough Said 2013 Gandolfini posthumously received much critical praise and several awards including a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination and the Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor In 2007 Gandolfini produced Alive Day Memories Home from Iraq a documentary in which he interviewed injured Iraq War veterans and in 2010 Wartorn 18612010 examining the impact of posttraumatic stress disorder on soldiers and families throughout several wars in US history from 1861 to 2010 In addition to Alive Day Memories he also produced television film Hemingway Gellhorn 2012 which gained him a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Limited Series nomination In 2013 Gandolfini died of a heart attack in Rome at the age of 51 Description above from the Wikipedia article James Gandolfini licensed under CCBYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia