Jim Burrows directed more than a dozen episodes of “Friends,” and has fondly remembered his time with the late Matthew Perry, who passed away in October at 54-years-old.
“He was incredibly inventive. He was inventive with how he did a line,” Burrows told TODAY.
Burrows said he knew early on (he directed the show’s first four episodes) Perry was extremely talented and claimed the actor’s death left him stunned.
“I had to have a couple of days to just let it soak in. He was part of a family and he was the first one to not be part of that family anymore,” he said.
Burrows told the program the rest of the cast was equally as devastated by the news.
“I had texted the girls the day we found out,” he said. “They were destroyed. It’s a brother dying.”
Burrows went on to say Perry was like his “Friends” character in a number of ways.
“He was really funny. He was a little awkward, too. Chandler was awkward. Matthew was awkward. So it was a perfect, perfect meld,” he said.