Co-star remembers James 'Uncle Phil' Avery - FOX5 Vegas - KVVU

The actress who played Vivian Banks on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is mourning the death of her former co-star, James Avery.

Daphne Maxwell Reid who now lives and works in Petersburg, but hasn't lost touch with Avery, best known for playing her on-screen husband, Uncle Phil,  on the 1990s sitcom.

Avery died at age 65, following complications from heart surgery. On New Year's Day, Reid got the call saying her dear friend had passed.

"We were very close. He and his wife and Tim and I have traveled together, and done lots of things together and I admired him. He was a wonderful, wonderful man and I'm going to miss his hugs," said Reid.

Working with Avery was like going to college on the set of Fresh Prince said Reid.

"He always had some little piece of information and insight that he shared with everybody. He was an avid reader, and he was always reading. When he wasn't reading, he and I were dancing down the hall," she said.

While Reid now spends most of her time at New Millennium Studios, she still keeps in touch with those she met while on the show.

"I've spoken to his wife, and she's doing pretty well under the circumstances. I was concerned she didn't have anybody out there with her. James' mother lives on the East Coast as well, and she's not able to travel, so I talked to her too," she said.

Loved ones are planning a memorial for Avery for sometime next week in Los Angeles.

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