Hayden Panettiere and Charles Esten in 'Nashville.' Courtesy Everett Collection Nashville alum Charles Esten is among those remembering late actress Hayden Panettiere after she died unexpectedly Sunday at the age of 36.
Esten, who played Deacon Claybourne on the ABC drama, also lamented a missed opportunity to reconnect with his former co-star before she died.
He and wife Patty Hanson were in Greenville, South Carolina, where Panettiere died on Sunday, on Friday night while he was on tour.
“Patty and I were not only in Greenville, SC this past Friday night for one of my shows, we were actually in Judson Mills, itself (where the venue is located),” Esten wrote in a comment with his Instagram post about his memories of working with Panettiere. “Alongside the horrific news of her passing, we have both been stunned to hear in news reports that Hayden had apparently arrived there at the same Judson Mills (the loft apartments, not the venue) the very next day. By then, (Saturday) our tour bus had taken us through the night to Wilmington, where we were setting up for my next show, oblivious to all that was to come.”
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He added, “Such a strange coincidence. I just wish that it had actually put us there together at the same time. And that we somehow could have bumped into her. And got to hug her, and laugh in amazement with her.”
In his main tribute, Esten said he and Hanson were “stunned and saddened at the loss of our dear and beautiful friend.”
And Esten recalled meeting Panettiere and becoming fast friends during the Nashville audition process.
“I had read two Deacon scenes before pulling out my guitar and singing two songs,” he said of his first audition for the series. “I said my goodbyes and, hoping I’d done well, went to open the door to leave. Instead of swinging all the way out, the door bumped into somebody. Kinda hard.”
That somebody was Panettiere who had been listening (“in full Juliette Barnes mode,” Esten said) right outside of the door.
“Her face instantly bloomed into the most beautiful smile,” he added. “Eyes twinkling, she clapped her hands and said, ‘That was so good!!’ I can promise you that, in that moment, there was nothing in the world I needed to hear more than that.”
He thanked her for the “very kind words” and offered a “jokingly cocky” farewell: “See you on the set!”
Though Esten had to go through a number of additional auditions, he eventually landed the role and Panettiere remembered his prediction when they reunited on set: “She walked right up to me, pointed in my face, and with that magical grin said, “See you on the set!”
“From there, we became fast friends, working very hard to play those 2 troubled Nashvillians, but always having fun and laughing a whole lot along the way,” he wrote.
Deacon became a friend and collaborator to Panettiere’s Juliette.
Read Esten’s full post below.
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