RIP Old Bear. Oh man, so many great memories.
He was larger than life, but I remember meeting him the first day on set having no idea what to expect and he shook my hand, told me his name, and from then on always was a Burt fan.
I mentioned this somewhere else, but he was just a sweet man deep down. Yes he was a "playboy" and a "mega-star" but the role he had in Mystery, Alaska was the coming out party for his sweet old guy persona.
For some reason (and to this day I still don't understand why) but he was always giving gifts. I'd walk into my trailer and there would be something from Burt. It was the strangest thing, but I still have all of it and I'm so happy that I do. Of course the most bizarre of the gifts was this pair of shorts from International Male...(lolololol)
https://twitter.com/user/status/1037789007910920192
I'll never forget the day we were shooting, right before he was heading down for the Oscars for his role in Boogie Nights. You could feel the stress. There was a bit of an outburst and we all awkwardly had to stay in the locker room. When he came back, we were shooting a courtroom scene and it felt like it was going down that road again...but then this music started playing and he started singing in the courtroom. It was amazing.
I spent time with him in Los Angeles. Generous and stately. We'd obviously not spoken much lately, but I was prepping a documentary on him and was just about to pitch the idea to him and his representation, but not I think I'll just stick with the memories.