Luke Perry’s Riverdale costars are still contending with raw emotions following his death. Nevertheless, many of them still turned out at the Hollywood premiere of Five Feet Apart to support their colleague Cole Sprouse — who stars in the romance movie — including Hayley Law, who shared her fond memories of the late actor.
“He’s so kind,” Law exclusively told Us Weekly at the premiere at Los Angeles’ Fox Bruin Theater on Thursday, March 7. “I’ve never met anyone who’s so positive and could turn any negative thought or situation into a beautiful one, and he’s always been so supportive of everyone in the cast and every day — honestly, like, I know it sounds cheesy to be like ‘every day,’ but literally every day — seeing him, and giving him a hug, and him asking how you’re doing and genuinely caring. You know, like, ‘How are you doing?’ If you’re like, ‘Good,’ he’d be like, ‘Are you good? What’s going on?’ And like, ‘What’s going on with your family, and how’s your family?’”
Law said the Beverly Hills, 90210 alum was a positive influence: “This business, this industry is crazy, and to meet someone like him in this industry … it’s the rarest thing. He’s like a unicorn angel. I feel so lucky that I even got to call him a friend.”
The actress, who plays Valerie Brown on Riverdale, found out about Perry’s death when she woke up on Monday morning. “Everyone was super supportive — on the cast and just people who worked with him or knew him — and it’s been really hard, and I still don’t believe it.”
She added: “I’m really happy that everyone’s really supportive … Everybody that worked with him understood how special he was.”
Perry died on Monday, March 4, at age 52 after suffering a stroke at his home in L.A.’s Sherman Oaks neighborhood on February 27. He is survived by ex-wife Rachel “Minnie” Sharp and their two children: son Jack, 21, and daughter Sophie, 18.
Law told Us she doesn’t know what the Riverdale producers’ plan is for moving forward without Perry, who played Fred Andrews on the show. The cast and crew recently returned to work after a two-day production shutdown. The Wednesday, March 6, episode of Riverdale ended with an “In Memoriam” message for Perry, with executive producer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa tweeting that all future episodes will be dedicated to the actor.
Riverdale airs on The CW Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET.
With reporting by Amanda Champagne
