James Gandolfini Dead, Actor Was in Good Spirits on Italy Flight With Son Two Days Before Death, Says Source [EXCLUSIVE]
James Gandolfini's unexpected passing has shocked the world -- especially for a fan who shared a flight to Italy with the New Jersey-bred actor on Monday.
Speaking exclusively to Enstars, the eyewitness recounted her encounter with Gandolfini at LAX airport, where they shared the same flight to Rome on June 17, two days before he died of a reported heart attack. The source said that he seemed in good spirits and showed no visible health problems.
The eyewitness boarded the flight with the 51-year-old and his son, Michael, 13 on the Alitalia Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Rome and sat in a nearby seat. The source said that at times during the 11-hour flight, when her eyes met Gandolfini's and when he spoke to his son, he showed kindness.
"Naturally, and if I was looking that way, not reading or sleeping, we saw each other, and he smiled and I smiled. Plane etiquette," said the eyewitness.
The source admits that at times she couldn't help but to stare at Gandolfini because of his celebrity status. Gandolfini was a former truck driver who shot to stardom when he played mobster Tony Soprano on HBO's The Sopranos.
"It was James Gandolfini and you can't help picturing all the hours you watched this man on TV or on the big screen and there he was sitting a chair away for an 11-hour flight."
Gandolfini's trip to Rome was a gift to his son for his eighth grade graduation. The hulking actor was also scheduled to attend the Taormina Film Festival in Sicily on Saturday to receive the Taormina City Prize, Yahoo reports.
Gandolfini was found unconscious by his son at the Boscolo Exedra Roma hotel at 10 p.m. (Italy time) on June 19. A rep for the hotel told TODAY that Michael called the front desk for help, after he found his father lying on the bathroom floor alive but not moving. Paramdedics arrived and tried to resuscitate Gandolfini repeatedly as he was driven to the Policlinico Umberto I Hospital.
laudio Modini, the director of the Emergency Department of Policlinico, told ABC News that Gandolfini arrived in cardiac arrest at 10:20 p.m. Resuscitation efforts continued for 40 minutes until he died. His official time of death was 11 p.m., said Modini.
TMZ reports that Michael's mother, Gandolfini's first wife, Marcy Wudarksi, flew to Italy immediately when she heard the news.
Gandolfini was married to his second wife, Deborah Lin Gandolfini, until his death. She gave birth to his second child last fall.
Gandolfini's autopsy is being held off until Friday because of the Italian law that an autopsy cannot occur until 24 hours after someone dies, according to Yahoo!. Additionally, Italian authorities will not allow Gandolfini's body to be transported back to the United States until a death certificate is issued as to the cause of death and is confirmed following the autopsy.
