Ted Danson is raising a glass in honor of his Cheers co-star, Kirstie Alley.
The Mr. Mayor actor, 74, paid tribute to the actress, who died at the age of 71 on Dec. 5 after a short battle with cancer. The two were co-stars on the popular NBC sitcom for six years until 1993.
"I was on a plane today and did something I rarely do. I watched an old episode of Cheers," Danson said in a statement to E! News. "It was the episode where Tom Berenger proposes to Kirstie, who keeps saying no, even though she desperately wants to say yes. Kirstie was truly brilliant in it. Her ability to play a woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown was both moving and hysterically funny."
As Danson noted, her ability to be a scene-stealer stood the test of time.
"She made me laugh 30 years ago when she shot that scene, and she made me laugh today just as hard," he continued. "As I got off the plane, I heard that Kirstie had died."
"I am so sad and so grateful for all the times she made me laugh," he added. "I send my love to her children. As they well know, their mother had a heart of gold. I will miss her."
For breakout role as Rebecca Howe in Cheers, Alley won both an Emmy and Golden Globe Award. She also went on star in a number of hit movies including Look Who's Talking, It Takes Two and Drop Dead Gorgeous.
The actress' children, True, 30, and Lillie, 28, shared news of their mom's passing, noting that their family has now been left with "a certainty of her never-ending joy."
"As iconic as she was on screen," her children wrote in a Dec. 5 statement, "she was an even more amazing mother and grandmother."