Patrick Dempsey Pays Tribute To Grey’s Anatomy Co-Star Eric Dane

Patrick Dempsey has paid an emotional tribute to his former Grey’s Anatomy co-star Eric Dane.

During an interview on Friday’s edition of The Chris Evans Breakfast Show on Virgin Radio UK, Patrick shared his memories of working with Eric, who died on Thursday around one year after sharing that he’d been diagnosed with ALS.

“I just woke up this morning and it was very sad to read the news,” he began. “It’s hard to put into words. I feel really so sad for his children.”

Patrick continued: “He was the funniest man – he was such a joy to work with and I want to just remember him in that spirit because any time he was on set, he brought so much fun to it. He had a great sense of humour.

“He was easy to work with, we got along instantly. [His] first scene was him, you know, in all his glory, coming out of the bathroom with the towel on looking amazing, making you feel completely out of shape and insignificant…”

“We hit it off because [there] was never really any competition,” Patrick added. “There was just this wonderful mutual respect. [He was] wickedly intelligent and I’m always going to remember those moments of fun that we had together and celebrate the joy that he did bring to people’s lives and the real loss is for us who don’t have them anymore.

“He did an incredible job at bringing awareness to this horrible disease and those remaining days and it just reminds us that we all have to celebrate every day like it’s our last day…

“It’s something that we have to remember and certainly in a world where there is just so much crisis and there is so much tragedy that we really need to be grateful for every moment that we have, spend time with our families, do things that are better, that benefit of other people to be of service to be kind, to be loving.

Patrick then lamented: “With our leadership, unfortunately that we’re seeing around the world – and certainly in America with this horrible, you know, corrupt government that is currently running America – we have to remember to treat our neighbours and our friends with the right values.”

Other members of the Grey’s Anatomy cast have also been paying tribute to Eric since the news of his death broke in the early hours of Friday morning.

In addition to his work in Grey’s Anatomy, Eric played Jason Dean in Charmed, and Jacob Elordi’s on-screen dad Cal Jacobs in Euphoria.