Morris Chestnut is reflecting on the legacy of his late The Resident costar, Malcolm-Jamal Warner.
In an interview with People magazine, the actor while looking back on his memorable collaborations throughout his career, Chestnut, 56, shared heartfelt memories of working with Warner on the hit medical drama.
“I still can’t believe that Malcolm’s no longer here,” Chestnut said, visibly emotional as he recalled their time together.
The two actors appeared alongside each other on The Resident when Chestnut joined the cast in 2019, portraying neurosurgeon Dr Barrett Cain for two seasons.
“He was such a good dude,” Chestnut said, pointing to a photo of the pair on set. “I remember this scene. Our characters didn’t like each other. He was very protective of everybody on the show, and that’s kind of how he was in real life.”
Before they met, Chestnut had admired Warner’s work since his days as Theo Huxtable on The Cosby Show.
“I can see myself, as an actor, in his character,” he said. “I hadn’t decided to act at that time, but that probably was one of the first times I was like, ‘Wow, that’s kind of cool. This dude’s an actor on TV, we kind of look alike.’ Matter of fact, he had one of my favorite episodes on The Cosby Show — the Gordon Gartrell shirt episode — that’s just one of my favorite all-time episodes.”
Chestnut shared that they reminisced about that same episode while filming together. “When I first came to that cast, he was like, ‘Hey, let’s go grab a bite to eat.’ So we went out to dinner,” Chestnut said. “He was just an incredible dude. I hate what happened to him. Rest in peace.”
Warner, who played Dr AJ Austin for six seasons, died at 54 in an accidental drowning while on a family trip to Costa Rica on July 20.
Chestnut fondly described The Resident ensemble — including Matt Czuchry and Jane Leeves — as a “class act” and “a great cast to work with.”