ACTOR Eddie Redmayne has described physicist Stephen Hawking, who has passed away aged 76, as “a truly beautiful mind”.

The New York Post reports that Redmayne, who won an Oscar for his portrayal of Hawking in 2014 drama The Theory of Everything, said a statement: “We have lost a truly beautiful mind, an astonishing scientist and the funniest man I have ever had the pleasure to meet. My love and thoughts are with his extraordinary family.”

Hawking, the inspirational and visionary scientist who was diagnosed with ALS aged 22, previously praised Redmayne for his performance in the film about his life.

In a post on his Facebook page, the physicist said, “I thought Eddie Redmayne portrayed me very well in The Theory of Everything movie. He spent time with ALS sufferers so he could be authentic. At times, I thought he was me. Seeing the film has given me the opportunity to reflect on my life. Although I’m severely disabled, I have been successful in my scientific work. I travel widely and have been to Antarctica and Easter Island, down in a submarine and up on a zero gravity flight. One day I hope to go into space. I’ve been privileged to gain some understanding of the way the universe operates through my work. But it would be an empty universe indeed without the people that I love.”

Redmayne told Deadline in 2014 that meeting the “icon” Hawking a few days before shoots for The Theory of Everything was an “astounding” moment.
“Unfortunately, I only met Stephen five days before we started filming. By that point, I had to try and at least technically, if not emotionally, structure what the performance was going to be, because we weren’t shooting chronologically. When I met Stephen, it was this astounding moment with this man who’d become an idol in my mind. I actually had feared, ‘What if this man ends up in reality being nothing like what I predicted?’ Fortunately, in that meeting, he just emanated humour and wit and a joy of life. It became absolutely clear in meeting him that the illness is secondary.”