Jack Coleman has paid tribute to his Heroes co-star Hayden Panettiere in a heartbreaking message after her death.
The 36-year-old actress passed away earlier this week (Aug 16), and tributes have been flooding in from those in the entertainment industry — with Jack one of the latest.
The actor worked closely with Hayden on Heroes, with the pair playing father and daughter Noah and Claire Bennet on the hit show, and issued a lengthy statement on his social media pages following the screen star’s death.
Alongside a series of pictures of himself and Hayden, Jack said he’s “heartbroken” by her passing and has been struggling to pen a suitable tribute, admitting his words will be “inadequate” for the star.
He wrote: “I’ve loved Hayden since day one of the pilot of Heroes, 20 years ago, when she introduced herself by shouting “daddy” and throwing her arms around me. From that day on, she called me daddio. She was Haydini, because she was a magician.
“She was a prodigious talent. During an early scene, a tear rolled down her cheek on the same line, take after take. I marvelled at her technique. ‘It’s not technique,’ she corrected me. ‘I’m not a trained seal. I feel it and the tears just happen to come at that moment.’ She was 16.”
Jack continued to slam those who asked her “obnoxious” and “misogynistic” questions about “when she was going to go off the rails”, and also took aim at the photographers who had “hunted” Hayden at the height of her fame.
He wrote: “Everywhere she went, there were photographers with 300m lenses-the kind that can make even the most innocent activity look sinister.
“Once, when she came to our house, paparazzi hid in the bushes behind our yard and drove onto neighbours’ lawns. They were predatory. No one, especially a teenager, should be targeted that way.”
Jack praised Hayden for bringing “joy to the set”, and revealed she also had a “photographic memory”.
He wrote: “Everyone was in awe of her ability to bring it every take. A tiny colossus who loved to laugh. We laughed a lot. That shining face, that megawatt smile, that wasn’t just for the camera. That was her. She glowed.”
Jack added that Hayden was an “extraordinary young woman who was blessed and cursed”.
He continued: “She was vulnerable. She felt everything. It made her a remarkable actor and susceptible to the heartache and thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to.”
He concluded his post by saying he loves and will miss his friend and co-star, and wrote: “I’ll remember how happy you were on set and on the European press tour… Your commitment to animal welfare and the courage to put yourself in harm’s way to protect them.
“I only wish you had been given that same protection. Good night, sweet girl. And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.”
[[nid:742993]]
Read the full article here
