“Glee’s” Mike O’Malley has a new show coming to NBC this fall, but the actor took time to remember Cory Monteith on Saturday during the Television Critics Association Summer Tour in Beverly Hills.
During the NBC panel presenting his comedy “Welcome to the Family,” Mike was asked by a reporter for his thoughts on Cory, who passed away earlier this month in Vancouver, Canada, and the actor shared his thoughtful and kind words for the young man who played his television stepson.
“Many of my scenes on ‘Glee’ were usually with either Chris Colfer or Cory Monteith and I think that I had what was probably the toughest scene I’ve ever acted in my career as an actor opposite him when I had to throw… his character, Finn, out of the house because of slur that he used,” Mike said. “It was remarkable to me when we were shooting that scene over and over again, the depth of the emotion he was able to portray, the sorrow, the shame.”
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Beyond complimenting the late actor’s talent, Mike echoed the sentiment many other “Glee” stars have shared in recent days – that Cory was a welcoming and kind person.
“Ever since I met him, he was the fictional quarterback on that show and he was the very real quarterback on that set,” Mike said. “He was an incredibly warm guy, a guy who was welcoming to everyone who came on that show, from the beginning, through [to] the new folks who came on that show this past year, and he was a very, very hard working actor and I just loved working with him. He was a great guy, and I miss him very much.”
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Mike said he hopes to be able to come back to “Glee” to reprise his role as Burt Hummel, especially in Episode 3 of the upcoming Season 5, which will pay tribute to Cory.
“I hope to. I’m here doing ‘Welcome to the Family,’ and we shoot one episode, five days a week, but Burt is a very, very important role to me. It’s been a great, great part and I’ve said to all of those guys, I’ll work early in the morning, late at night, Saturdays Sundays, whatever I need to do to participate in not only continuing to be on that show, but honoring Cory and his passing, and that character,” Mike said. “He is, on that show, my stepson, so I certainly plan on being there and I actually think they’re going to be possibly shooting that episode on the time we’re on hiatus.”
The Season 5 premiere of “Glee” was pushed from September 19 to September 26.
“Welcome to the Family,” premieres October 3 at 8:30/7:30c on NBC.
— Jolie Lash
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