Broadway will dim its lights on Wednesday (June 26, 2013) in tribute to actor James Gandolfini, the Tony award nominee who died in Italy last week aged 51. The Broadway League announced that theatre marquees will go dark for one minute at 8pm, reports the Los Angeles Times.

Gandolfini was best known for playing New Jersey mobster Tony Soprano on HBO's The Sopranos - considered the greatest television drama of all time - though he also excelled on the stage. In 2009, the actor earned a best actor Tony Award nod for his role in Yasmina Reza's comedy God of Carnage, which he produced two years later at Los Angeles' Ahmanson Theatre. Previously, Gandolfini had appeared in A Streetcar Named Desire (1992) opposite Jessica Lange and a youthful Alec Baldwin. 

"Whether on screen or on a Broadway stage, [Gandolfini] made every role believable and seemingly effortless," Charlotte St. Martin, the Broadway League's executive director, said in a statement.

The Sopranos star, who also appeared in comedy In The Loop, drama Zero Dark Thirty and the Brad Pitt-starring Killing Them Softly, died of a heart attack while visiting Rome with his son on Wednesday (June 19, 2013). His funeral is planned for Thursday in New York City and will undoubtedly be attended by some of the biggest movie and television stars in the business.

We here at Contactmusic.com send our condolences to the family and friends of James Gandolfini.

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James Gandolfini
James Gandolfini At The Premiere of 'Zero Dark Thirty'