(CNN) — James Gandolfini, who gained fame playing a memorable mafia boss on HBO’s “The Sopranos” by giving the role a contemporary twist of visiting a therapist for middle-age anxieties, died after suffering a possible heart attack in Italy, an HBO spokeswoman and the actor’s managers said Wednesday. He was 51. Gandolfini was on holiday in Rome, said Mara Mikialian, HBO’s vice president for program publicity. He was best known for his award-winning performance as Tony Soprano from the late 1990s to the mid-2000s.