AceShowbiz -

Kristen Stewart is the latest celebrity and James Gandolfini's co-star who pays tribute to the late actor after he passed away earlier this month. The two formed a bond while filming "Welcome to the Rileys" where she played a teen troubled stripper and he portrayed the man who wanted to help her out of the path of self destruction.

"When I heard of James' passing I was in New Orleans, where we met shooting [the indie drama movie], and every memory flooded back and gutted me," the actress says in a statement to Entertainment Weekly. "I'll hold that time near to me forever. He was immeasurably great. My heart goes out to his beloved family."

Gandolfini died of heart attack in his hotel room during a vacation with his teenage son in Rome, Italy. A funeral service for the mob boss of "The Sopranos" is set for Thursday, June 27, at the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine in New York City.

Many fellow stars offered their condolences and prayers after his passing. John Travolta remembed the actor as a "people person first and then everything else." He said his late pal stayed with him after the death of his son Jett four years ago. "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," Travolta said on "Good Morning America".