John Travolta will ‘take care’ of Gandolfini’s family

Following the shock death of ‘Sopranos’ star James Gandolfini yesterday, aged just 51, friend John Travolta has promised to take care of the late-actor’s family, after Gandolfini helped the star through his own tough times.

“My goal is to make sure that his family is okay,” Travolta told Good Morning America.  “His little boy, I watched him grow up, and his brand new little girl.  We’ll just make sure they’re taken care of.  That’s the whole idea.”

[Sopranos star James Gandolfini dies of a heart attack]

Travolta, who starred alongside Gandolfini in movies such as ‘Get Shorty’ and ‘Lonely Hearts’, paid tribute to his friend, revealing how the ‘Sopranos’ star looked after his own family following the tragic death of his 16-year-old son Jett in 2009.

“James went out of his way to come to Florida and he would not leave Florida until I was okay, or he felt that I would be fine,” Travolta said. “After a week I said, ‘Jim you can really, you can, you know, we’ll be fine.  I’ve got a lot of support here.’”
“But the idea that in our profession someone would go out of their way and not want to leave you until he felt you were okay, that’s the kind of soul that James Gandolfini was.”

You can see a clip of the interview, here.

[Carell due to work with Gandolfini]

Both New Jersey natives, Travolta revealed to the ABC show just how far back his friendship with Gandolfini went - explaining how it was his own career that got James into acting in the first place.

“My father sold tyres to his father,” Travolta said, “I was his inspiration to get into the business. He would see pictures of me on the wall from movies and he decided that he wanted to be an actor.”

He added: “He was a people person first and then everything else. He was this beautiful man and I love him very much.”