David Lynch has paid tribute to Robert Forster who he described as a “great human being” after the actor passed away recently.

Forster, who was once nominated for an Academy Award following his stellar performance in Quentin Tarantino’s film Jackie Brown, died following a battle with brain cancer, passing away surrounded by his family in his Los Angeles home.

Forster’s career spanned over five decades, appearing in over 100 films the process with his most notable credits being projects such as The Descendants, Me, Myself and Irene, the Fallen saga and David Lynch projects Twin Peaks: The Return and Mulholland Drive.

Lynch, a longtime admirer of Forster, first approached the actor to appear in the original Twin Peaks series released in 1990 but Forster was then tied to another project and scheduling conflicts wouldn’t allow it. However, Lynch would later land his man by casting him in Mulholland Drive and, a decade later, Twin Peaks: The Return.

Now, reacting to the death of the 78-year-old, Lynch said: “I feel so lucky to have had the chance to know and to work with Robert,” he told Deadline in a statement. “He was a great actor and a great human being. He will really be missed.”

While Lynch was a huge fan of Forster’s work, the feeling was very much mutual. In a 2016 interview, when discussing his career, Forster described working with Lynch as a defining moment, describing the director as “one of the great artists in this business,” before adding, “I’m hopeful that I get a chance to live long enough to get a chance to do it again.”

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