I was very sad to hear of the death of Ronnie Barker, who was such a warm, friendly and encouraging presence to have when I started in television. He was also a great comic actor to learn from.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Ronnie Barker will forever be remembered as one of the great comic actors.
Tony Scott was one of the best directors I've ever worked with, and I was devastated when I heard about his death. He was a great guy with great energy. But this is a difficult business, and people's lives are sometimes difficult.
Almost the moment he died, they put him in Playboy as one of the greatest drummers, which he was - there's no doubt about it. There's never been anybody since. He's one of the greatest drummers that ever lived.
River Phoenix and I were friends for nine years, and I watched him grow and mature, and I also saw him struggle. I watched him deal with the whole up and down aspects of Hollywood and saw him bounce back, so when he passed away, it was such an enormous shock.
You never have a comedian who hasn't got a very deep strain of sadness within him or her. Every great clown has been very near to tragedy.
I got my first television at Stanford when I was 20, and I used to watch 'The Dick Van Dyke Show'. He played my father on 'Becker,' and he's still one of my heroes. Along with John Cleese, he's my favourite physical comedian.
I was up watching Meet Joe Black at four AM. I was hoping Brad Pitt would die, and he was still alive at seven forty in the morning! I actually felt sorry for once, for critics.
And one of my favorites was Eddy Arnold of course. He just had that smooth, soulful voice.
I worked with Carl Perkins on a number of shows. Live shows. He just showed up and played. He just killed. Killed! Man... he was amazing!
It was sad when Sid Vicious died... I was freaked out when Phil Lynott died from Thin Lizzy. I cried. It was too crazy.