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| James Gandolfini died of heart attack, friend confirms | James Gandolfini died of heart attack, friend confirms |
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| James Gandolfini died of a heart attack on Wednesday while visiting Italy, a family friend has confirmed after an autopsy in Rome. | |
| In a statement to reporters on Friday, Michael Kobold said there was no sign of substance abuse or any other complicating factors. | |
| "Today we received the results of the autopsy, which stated he died of a heart attack, of natural causes. The autopsy further states that nothing else was found in his system," he said. | "Today we received the results of the autopsy, which stated he died of a heart attack, of natural causes. The autopsy further states that nothing else was found in his system," he said. |
| Asked if Gandolfini had previous heart problems, Kobold said: "No. He was happy. He was healthy. He was doing really fine." | |
| The actor, who played Tony Soprano in the long-running US television show, collapsed on Wednesday evening and was discovered by his 13-year-old son, Michael, in the bathroom of his hotel room. | |
| Despite being rushed to the city's Umberto I hospital, Gandolfini, 51, was pronounced dead later that night. Claudio Modini, the hospital's emergency room chief, told Reuters that doctors had tried to resuscitate Gandolfini for 40 minutes. | |
| Kobold said the actor had had "a wonderful day" in the capital, visiting the Vatican and dining with his son. | |
| "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. | |
| Gandolfini's body had been released to a funeral director, he added, but when the funeral can actually be held in New York depends on Italian bureaucracy, he said. | |
| "In Italy it can take up to 10 days to file all the necessary documents and paperwork to repatriate the body," he said. "We are looking forward to working with the Italian government 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." | |
| Gandolfini's sister, Leta Gandfolfini, visited his body at the hospital's morgue on Friday after the autopsy. | |
| A spokesman at the US embassy declined to comment. | A spokesman at the US embassy declined to comment. |
| Gandolfini had been due to attend the Taormina film festival in Sicily this weekend. Organisers said he had been scheduled to teach a masterclass and receive a prize on Saturday before attending the closing ceremony. Instead, said editorial director Mario Sesti, there would be a tribute in honour of his career and talent. | Gandolfini had been due to attend the Taormina film festival in Sicily this weekend. Organisers said he had been scheduled to teach a masterclass and receive a prize on Saturday before attending the closing ceremony. Instead, said editorial director Mario Sesti, there would be a tribute in honour of his career and talent. |
| Apart from Michael, his son with his first wife, whom he divorced in 2002, Gandolfini is survived by wife Deborah Lin and baby daughter Liliana, born last year. |