John Travolta has vowed to look after James Gandolfini's family following his sudden death on Wednesday (19Jun13) as a way of repaying his late Get Shorty co-star for helping him come to terms with the passing of his son in 2009.
The Sopranos star, who worked on five films with Travolta, including She's So Lovely and The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, died in Italy after suffering a heart attack, and, during an appearance on U.S. breakfast show Good Morning America on Thursday (20Jun13), the Grease star revealed his longstanding links to Gandolfini.
He said, "My father sold tyres to his father... And I was his inspiration to get into the business... He would see pictures of me on the wall from movies, and then he decided he wanted to be an actor... Who knew we'd end up working together so much."
He added, "The beautiful thing about Jim (Gandolfini) was that he was a people person first. He was a beautiful man and I love him very much."
And the Oscar nominee insists he will always be there for Gandolfini's wife and kids - just like the 51 year old was there for his family when Travolta and Kelly Preston's young son Jett passed away.
He adds, "James went out of his way to come to Florida and he would not leave Florida until I was Ok, or he felt that I would be fine, and after a week, I said, 'Jim, you can really (go), 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 Ok, that's the kind of soul that James Gandolfini was...
"So my goal is to make sure his family is Ok, 'cause that little boy (Michael), I watched him grow up and the brand-new little girl (too)... we'll just make sure they're taken care of."
Gandolfini had two kids - 13-year-old son Michael from his first marriage to Marcy Wudarski, and a baby daughter, Liliana, with his second wife Deborah Lin, who gave birth to the tot last October (12).
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