Stockard Channing recalls her 'chemistry with Will Smith on 'Six Degrees of Separation'

Stockard Channing is reminiscing about her past days of co-starring with Will Smith with a sense of nostalgia.

On The Hollywood Reporter's It Happened in Hollywood podcast, the 80-year-old actress revealed how she and Smith, who is now 55, clicked right away while filming 1993's Six Degrees of Separation.

“I felt very motherly towards him,” said Channing, who earned an Academy Award nomination for her lead performance as Ouisa Kittredge in the movie. “I liked him a lot. He was absolutely adorable, just a sweetheart… natural and easygoing.”

According to Channing, Smith had a genuine charm and lovely sweetness from the moment they met. They were introduced by film director Fred Schepisi who took Channing to dinner after watching her in the UK stage version of Six Degrees.

This meeting happened when Smith was just starting his career in films after finding success with DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince and his long-running sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

Smith's first major film role was in the Six Degrees screen adaptation where he played the character of Paul.

In the movie, Paul is a con artist who gets involved in the lives of an Upper East Side couple portrayed by Channing and Donald Sutherland.

“He made a lot [of money] from his music, or even Fresh Prince,” Channing told The Hollywood Reporter. But “there was no ‘big shot’ stuff at all” when it came to her costar, she said. “I remember we talked about it.”

The “real survival instinct in him,” Channing added, “was completely perfect for the part.”