Charlotte Rae (WireImage)
Charlotte Rae, who played Edna Garrett on both “Diff’rent Strokes,” and its spin-off “Facts of Life,” says she will “always cherish” working with her co-star Conrad Bain who passed on Monday at the age of 89.
“We used to call him Connie,” Rae tells Page Six exclusively. “He really was a very fine actor. I loved working with him… He was like a big brother to me when I worked on the show.”
Adding, “He was very warm and gave me interesting advice, like when I had to purchase a car.”
“He made me laugh,” she says. “He told me that when he was on ‘Maud,’ playing a doctor, people would accost him at the supermarket or the post office and ask for medical advice. He would tell them he was only an actor but that didn’t stop him. I think it was his warmth. They all wished they had a doctor like him.”
Rae, who worked alongside Bain in all 24 episodes of the show’s first season continues, “I am sorry that he had to go. Look, I’m 87 in a couple of months and I’m enjoying my life to the max, but you know, it’s part of the process, and I will always cherish having worked with him.”
Bain’s daughter Jennifer Bain confirmed his death on Wednesday, just three weeks short of his 90th birthday.