HBO has confirmed the unexpected death of actor and producer James Gandolfini, who passed away at age 51 while traveling in Italy. At press time, the cause of his death was unclear, with several outlets reporting a heart attack or a "sudden stroke." He was due to appear at the Taorima Film Festival in Sicily, where he was slated to paricipate in a panel discussion with director Gabriele Muccino.

While Gandolfini appeared in countless film and television roles, ranging from comedies (like Armando Iannucci's wickedly skewering Washington satire In the Loop) to hard-hitting dramas like Kathryn Bigelow's Zero Dark Thirty, it was his visceral turn as deeply troubled mobster Tony Soprano, the pater familias of a New Jersey crime family and a domestic one, on HBO's The Sopranos which won him accolades from critics and viewers alike. During the drama's acclaimed six-season run, Gandolfini would win three Emmy Awards for Best Actor for The Sopranos (he was nominated six times), widely regarded as one of the best television shows ever to air--it was recently named the best written show in history by the Writers Guild of America--and one that ushered in a new Golden Age for television.

Acting giant James Gandolfini has died at the age of 51, reports Variety. HBO, the network that broadcast his hit show The Sopranos, has confirmed the news, claiming he was on vacation in Italy at the time. In addition to his wife, Deborah Lin, and their baby daughter, Mr. Gandolfini has left behind a legacy of fantastic film and television roles. Here are his most iconic performances.

TRUE ROMANCE (1993)

In the cool, dark fitness studio painted in camouflage and lit like a nightclub, instructor Todd Mendiola shouts, “Let’s get this done!” This is the Sunday-morning full-body session of Barry’s Bootcamp in New York City’s TriBeCa neighborhood. About a dozen students warming up on a treadmill pick up their pace; a second group prepares to hold the beginning position of a pushup known as the “plank” for one minute. Fifteen minutes of grueling drills later, the groups switch places.

The hourlong sequence is billed as the “1,000-calorie workout.” The “treaders” practice speed intervals, and the “floor” cycles through classic gym routines: lunges, bicycle-style sit-ups, and free weights. “The idea is to burn out your legs,” Mendiola shouts to the panting, sweating group of men and women in their 20s and 30s.

The exercises aren’t particularly original, yet group fitness instructor and founder Barry Jay has hit on a formula that has inspired a fervent following willing to plunk down up to $38 a class, the price at the franchise’s Hamptons outpost (the average session ranges from $20 to $30, depending on location). Jay’s brainchild is one of a growing niche of boutique fitness studios, such as CrossFit and SoulCyle spinning, that are attracting a health-and-fitness-conscious set willing to pay a premium to be barked at and pushed to their limits to mixes featuring Lana Del Rey and Justin Timberlake. It’s a concept that’s helping to boost the $22 billion health-club industry patronized by approximately one fifth of American adults.

There’s never a lack of interest in anything Kim Kardashian–related. So when the reality star gave birth to her baby girl on June 15—five weeks earlier than her reported due date—the rumors began to fly. Had the Kardashian clan pulled one over on the unsuspecting public? Was it just another publicity stunt? Did Kanye West, the baby’s father, have anything to do with it? While there are some reports that medical complications led to an early delivery, the Internet needed no proof to start spinning crazy conspiracy theories. Here are a few of the best.

Timed Birth to Kanye’s Record Release

Move over, Yeezus.

During a special edition of Jimmy Kimmel Live that aired Tuesday night before Game Six of the NBA Finals, Kimmel premiered the music video for a smooth—and hilarious—sexually suggestive R&B ballad called, “(I Wanna) Channing All Over Your Tatum.” In the video, Channing Tatum and his White House Down co-star Jamie Foxx are seen frolicking on a beach in white suits while bikini babes pop bottles of ‘Channing Champagne.’

Kanye West’s sixth solo album, Yeezus, is in stores now and is already being hailed by critics as one of the best LP’s of the year. We called it “bizarre, brilliant, and like nothing you’ve heard before.” It’s also incredibly, incredibly quotable, with lines touching on Chewbacca furs, croissants, and lascivious Hamptons spouses. If you thought West’s interview with The New York Times was packed with quotables, well, you ain’t heard nothing yet.

“Real nigga back in the house again / Black Timbs all on your couch again / Black dick all in your spouse again / And I know she like chocolate men / She got more niggas off than Cochran, huh?!?” – Kanye West, “On Sight”

Ed Hardy was a "thing" of the early 2000s. Sported on the likes of wild-and-crazy celebutantes—think Tara Reid, Heidi Montag, and Paris Hilton in their party girl heydays—the line's trucker hats and blinged-out tees (helmed by French designer Chrisitan Audigier) became a staple of Hollywood's elite.

This past week, Ed Hardy, the 68-year-old tattoo artist-cum-fashion mogul, blamed not the out-of-control socialites, but rather celebrity hanger-on Jon Gosselin for the demise of his fashion empire.

It makes Mad Men’s depiction of admen look tame. The backstory of Charles Saatchi, who was cautioned by police Monday night for allegedly repeatedly grabbing the throat of his wife, celebrity TV chef Nigella Lawson, during dinner at an exclusive London restaurant, is far more extraordinary than Don Draper’s—and he remains even more enigmatic and elusive.

Born in Baghdad to Iraqi Jews who fled to London in 1947, Charles and his brother Maurice built up the world’s largest advertising company, with over 600 offices, before they were 40 years old. Having turned modern advertising into an art form, the self-confessed “artoholic” Charles went on to establish himself as the most influential art collector of the last 25 years, creating the Young British Artist phenomenon—and launching the careers of Tracey Emin and Damien Hirst. For someone who has radically altered the visual perceptions of the public, Charles studiously avoids the limelight and has given only a couple of newspaper interviews. Compared with him, Svengali is an attention seeker.

In 1983, the poster for a new movie called Mr. Mom showed Michael Keaton as a perturbed dad, his two kids wreaking havoc as he held his baby at arm’s length while his business-suit-clad wife cheerfully walked out the door. Thirty years later, pop culture’s stay-at-home dad hasn’t progressed very far beyond that. Cue the laugh track.

Last month, a Pew study showed that 40 percent of U.S. households now have a woman as the leading breadwinner. Fox News’s Juan Williams said the change was “hurting our children” while a professor of economics and behavioral science at the University of Chicago, Richard H. Thaler, argued in The New York Times that it was leading to the “decline in the formation and stability of marriages.” This despite the fact that, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, 20 percent of fathers with working wives regularly care for their children (by comparison, 23 percent of marriages were found to have stay-at-home moms).