Jamie Lee Curtis credits Richard Lewis for her sobriety: 'Rest in laughter'

CNN
—

Jamie Lee Curtis sent love to her late friend, comedian and former actress Richard LewisWho died at his home in Los Angeles on Tuesday.

The “Curb Your Enthusiasm” star had Parkinson's disease.

Curtis took to Instagram With a series of photos of her and Lewis, they write about their time working together on the sitcom Anything But Love, which ran for four seasons from 1989 to 1992.

“I just read that my friend Richard Lewis has passed away. I remember exactly where I was when I saw a billboard for him about a stand-up special on Sunset Boulevard when we were casting the ABC pilot Anything But Love and asked the cast to bring him to the audition to play my best friend,” she wrote. : Her boyfriend, Marty Gould. “I thought he was handsome. He made me laugh, which is the one thing a strong, capable woman can't do for herself. He got the role when he laughed when he mispronounced the word bundt cake.

She continued: “He blew everyone away. It was a love triangle show and they didn't pick up that pilot but they came back to me and said the chemistry with Richard was so great and could we renew the original pilot which is the show we ended up doing for a few years.”

Curtis explained that Lewis hated working with a live audience even though he was an accomplished comedian.

“He was also a stand-up comedian and hated live audiences, and I, who had never done a play before, loved it,” she wrote. “He used to hide his lines everywhere on set, on props, door frames, on my face in close-up, and he always carried a clipboard with his lines written on it. It turns out he was a wonderful actor. Deep and very funny.”

She said the two supported each other through the death of their friend Richard Frank, and also mourned the loss of John Ritter, who appeared on the series in five episodes and was an executive producer.

“The last message Richard sent me was hoping I could convince ABC/Disney to release another batch of episodes of the show,” she said.

She concluded with an important note about Lewis.

“He is also the reason I am sober. He has helped me,” she wrote. “I am forever grateful to him for this act of grace alone. He has found love with Joyce, and that, of course, along with his sobriety, is what matters most to him. I'm crying as I write this. A strange way to say thank you to a nice and funny guy. Have a laugh, Richard. Marty, I love you, Hannah!

The tributes continue to pour in for Lewis, who recently rose to fame for playing opposite Larry David on the show “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” who described Lewis as “a brother to me.”