Stephen Hawking was the smartest guy in the room in every room he was ever in. The brilliant physicist and inspiration to so many is being appropriately mourned by the masses this morning — though Eddie Redmayne is feeling the loss more than most.
“We have lost a truly beautiful mind, an astonishing scientist and the funniest man I have ever had the pleasure to meet,” the actor said in a statement provided to TheWrap. “My love and thoughts are with his extraordinary family.”
Redmayne won an Oscar for portraying Hawking in 2015’s “The Theory of Everything,” which was a love story about the author and his first wife, Jane (Felicity Jones).
Hawking died late last night. He was 76.
“We are deeply saddened that our beloved father passed away today. He was a great scientist and an extraordinary man whose work and legacy will live on for many years. His courage and persistence with his brilliance and humour inspired people across the world,” his children, Lucy, Robert and Tim said in a statement. “He once said, ‘It would not be much of a universe if it wasn’t home to the people you love.’ We will miss him for ever.”
Read more about Hawking’s extraordinary life here.