Actress Conchata Ferrell has been remembered for “the joy she brought so many” following her death aged 77.
Her co-stars on popular sitcom Two and a Half Men, Charlie Sheen, Ashton Kutcher and Jon Cryer have all taken to social media to pay their respects to the actress.
Ferrell played housekeeper Berta throughout the duration of the long-running and wildly popular sitcom.
She died on Monday in California due to complications from a cardiac arrest.
Mr Sheen, who featured on the show until 2011, shared a picture of the pair on set on social media – describing Ferrell as “an absolute sweetheart” and “a genuine friend”.
He added “Berta, your housekeeping was a tad suspect, your ‘people’ keeping was perfect.”
Writing on social media, actor Adam Sandler also paid tribute to the actress, adding: “RIP. Great lady. Will be missed terribly. So sorry to her family.”
Her other Two and Half Men co-star, John Cryer, said: “She was a beautiful human.
“Berta’s gruff exterior was an invention of the writers. Chatty’s warmth and vulnerability were her real strengths. I’m crying for the woman I’ll miss, and the joy she brought so many.”
In addition to her performance on Two and a Half Men, Ferrell appeared in numerous movies and TV.
She acted alongside Julia Roberts in Erin Brockovich in 2000 and played a school nurse who was unfortunately devoured by sea creatures in an episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer.
In 2014, in an interview given to AV club, Ferrell said she was able to live vicariously through the much-loved-but-cantankerous character Berta, who had originally been written as an eastern European woman.
“I love playing women who have the nerve to do things that I don’t have the nerve to do, and Berta is certainly one of those,” said Ferrell.
“Well, she’s that person I wish I could be, and someone I think all of us kind of wish we could be: someone who can just say what’s on her mind and not worry about it.”
Two And A Half Men co-creator Chuck Lorre noted that everybody on the show “all loved her”.
“Twelve years of highs and lows, and lots and lots of laughter,” he said. “Through it all she was a rock. One of the greats. I was privileged to call her a friend.”
Ferrell also acted in Tim Burton’s 1991 fantasy romance Edward Scissorhands, and the 1976 film Network.
The three-time Emmy nominee’s health issues had started in May when she entered hospital due to a life-threatening kidney infection she had over last December and January.
While in hospital she had experienced a 10-minute cardiac arrest that kept her in the intensive care unit for a number of weeks.
She was later transferred to a long-term care facility.
She is survived by her husband Arnie Anderson who she married in 1986 and their daughter, Samantha, 38, who was born in 1982.
