In pictures: Stars mourn James Gandolfini

Fellow actors mourned James Gandolfini as a great craftsman and a warm and generous man at a his funeral yesterday, a week after the 51-year-old star of the HBO television show The Sopranos died of a heart attack while visiting Rome.

Picture: Reuters

David Chase, creator of the hit programme, and the actor’s wife Deborah Lin Gandolfini were among four speakers at a packed ceremony for the actor whose performance as the cigar-chomping New Jersey mob boss Tony Soprano made him a household name.

Most of the cast of the show including Edie Falco, who played Tony Soprano’s wife, and Michael Imperioli, who played Christopher Moltisanti, attended the ceremony at the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine in upper Manhattan.

“It was heaven on earth. You could feel James’ presence,” said actor George Loros, who played mobster Ray Curto.

Scores of fans waited for a glimpse of Alec Baldwin, Steve Buscemi, John Turturro, Chris Noth and Julianna Margulies, and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.