The Gandolfinis - The Son Also Rises
Remembering the day the small screen’s favourite mobster prematurely cut to black…
A version of this article appeared in The New European.
It was supposed to be the holiday of a lifetime. James Gandolfini, in possession of all the fame and fortune a man could ever need, was in Rome with his only son, Michael. A treat to celebrate the 14-year-old’s high school graduation, the actor was apparently every bit as excited about visiting the old country as his boy.
On the evening of June 18, 2013, father and son dined at the restaurant of the hotel they were staying in, the Boscolo Exedra Roma. The newspapers would later claim that Gandolfini looked haggard and half-cut after a meal that took in two pina coladas, four shots of rum, two beers, two orders of fried king prawns with mayonnaise and a large portion of foie gras. However, the waitress who served him that evening reported nothing of the sort.
“I remember him because he was a very nice person,” waiter Andrei Burca told the New York Post. “He had a big smile, a big laugh and looked happy.”
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