Meat Loaf, the prolific singer and actor who died Thursday night, was remembered Friday by friends from across the worlds of music, art and even politics as a grand talent and a kind, gentle soul.
The “I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That)” singer also sang the national anthem at the MLB All-Star Game in 1994. He acted in “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” and “Fight Club.”
“I don’t keep pictures from films around home. But I have this one in my office in a frame bc it makes me smile every time,” actor Edward Norton tweeted Friday, including a picture of himself and Meat Loaf embracing in character in “Fight Club.” “It’s engraved ‘Love and Hugs, Meat’ it sums him up well. He was so funny. And gentle. And warm to everyone. A sweet soul. RIP Meat Loaf.”
Actor Marlee Matlin remembered the rock star fondly, tweeting, “He was passionate. A softie. Kind. And talented as hell. And he was my friend. My heart is broken into a million pieces. RIP my friend, Meat Loaf.”
“I hope paradise is as you remember it from the dashboard light, Meat Loaf. Had a fun time performing a sketch with him on Saturday Live way back in the last century — he had the quality of being simultaneously frightening and cuddly, which is rare and rather wonderful,” actor Stephen Fry tweeted, embedding a video of the two men in a sketch together on the second season of “Saturday Night Live. “
Former President Donald Trump weighed in, saying in a statement, “Meat Loaf was a great guy—got to know him very well doing Celebrity Apprentice. He was smart, talented, open, and warm. His success was enormous—we all loved him. Meat Loaf will be greatly missed!”
“Meatloaf was a fierce Patriot for America. He travelled the world and saw how other countries lived, and understood that only in America would he have had the chances he had to succeed and overcome,” wrote John Rich, half of the country duo Big & Rich. “He was the epitome of an American dream chaser and a great friend to me.”
He added in a separate tweet that tagged the Rock Hall, “Meatloaf is not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It’s time to fix that. Should have happened a long time ago.”
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