James Gandolfini's Funeral Attended By Family, Friends, Costars & Fans

James Gandolfini’s funeral on Thursday at New York’s Cathedral of Saint John the Divine was attended by hundreds of mourners – from those close to the actor to those who knew him best as Tony Soprano on the hit HBO drama.

Gandolfini’s surviving wife and mother to his infant daughter, Deborah Lin Gandolfini, delivered an emotional and earnest speech during the ceremony. Eulogies were also given by Gandolfini’s former acting coach and friend Susan Aston, assistant Thomas Richardson and Sopranos creator David Chase.

“The paradox about you as a man is that I always felt personally that with you, I was seeing a young boy. … And that was all in your eyes. And that was why, I think, you were a great actor — is because of that boy that was inside. It was a child reacting,” Chase said during his eulogy. “They were just simple emotions, straight and pure. And I think your talent is that you can take in the immensity of humankind and the universe and shine it back out to the rest of us like a huge, bright light. And I believe that only a pure soul, like a child, could do that really well. And that was you.”

Gandolfini’s former Sopranos cast mates – Edie Falco, Steve Buscemi, Tony Sirico, Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Dominic Chianese and Aida Turturo – were all present for Chase’s moving words. Other famous faces such as Alec Baldwin, Chris Noth, Marcia Gay Harden, Brian Williams, Chris Christie and Mario Batali were also among the nearly 2,000 who arrived at the Manhattan church to pay their respects to the late actor.

Gandolfini died on June 19 at the age of 51 from cardiac arrest while vacationing in Italy. He is survived by his wife, daughter Liliana Ruth born last October and son Michael from a previous marriage.

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