Jamie Lee Curtis pays tribute to former sitcom co-star Richard Lewis: He's 'the reason I am sober'

Jamie Lee Curtis is honoring late actor and comedian Richard Lewis, who was her co-star in the hit ABC sitcom "Anything But Love."

Curtis posted a gallery that included images of her and Lewis on the series Feb. 28 on Instagram. In her caption, she stated that Lewis, who died after suffering a heart attack on Feb. 27, was "the reason I am sober."

“I’ve just read that my friend Richard Lewis has died,” wrote the Oscar winner, who went on to recall how funny Lewis was when he auditioned to play her character Hannah Miller's co-worker and possible love interest, Marty Gold, on the show.

"I remember exactly where I was when I saw a billboard of him about a stand up special on Sunset Boulevard when we were casting the ABC pilot Anything But Love and asked the casting people to bring him in to audition to play my best friend/maybe boyfriend, Marty Gold," she wrote.

“I thought he was handsome. He made me laugh, which is the one thing that a strong, capable woman, can’t really do for herself. He got the part when I snort laughed when he mispronounced the word Bundt cake. He blew everyone else away,” Curtis continued.

Although the show's original pilot didn't get picked up by the network, producers noted the "chemistry" between Curtis and Lewis and set out to "revamp" it, turning it into the series that aired on ABC from 1989 to 1992.

The sitcom, which also starred Ann Magnuson and Richard Frank, was set in the newsroom of a trendy Chicago magazine where Hannah and Marty were employed as writers.

Curtis noted that Lewis, who had had more success as a stand-up comedian prior to the show, proved to be an excellent actor though, ironically, he did not like taping in front of a live audience.

"He was also a stand-up comic and hated the live audience, where I, who had never done a play, loved it," she wrote. "He used to hide his lines everywhere on the set, on props, door frames, on my face in a close up and was always carrying a clipboard with his lines on them.

"It turns out he was a wonderful actor," she added. "Deep and so freaking funny."

Curtis also recalled that she and Lewis stayed close for years after "Anything But Love" ended, and together grieved the deaths of both their co-star Frank and actor John Ritter, whose production company helped produce the series.

"Richard’s last text to me, was hoping that I could convince ABC/Disney to put out another boxed set of episodes of the show," she wrote.

The "Everything Everywhere All at Once" star ended her tribute by crediting Lewis with helping her to get sober, too.

"He also is the reason I am sober. He helped me. I am forever grateful for him for that act of grace alone," she wrote of the actor, who told Variety in 2021 that he had devoted his life to comedy and his sobriety for decades.

"I’m weeping as I write this," Curtis concluded. "Strange way of saying thank you to a sweet and funny man. Rest in laughter, Richard. My Marty, I love you, Hannah!"

This article was originally published on TODAY.com