'Hook' Actor Dante Basco Writes Robin Williams Tribute

Rufio Wrote Robin Williams A Farewell Tribute
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Dante Basco is best known for playing Rufio, the spiky, red-haired leader of The Lost Boys in Steven Spielberg's 1991 film "Hook." When Basco found out about his co-star Robin Williams' death Monday evening, he took to Twitter to post a farewell video and letter.

Basco first Tweeted a video from his YouTube page, pausing his monthly Vlogathon to remember the late Peter Pan, played by Williams in "Hook."

Early Tuesday morning Dante posted a farewell tribute letter to Williams on his blog. Basco shared that working with the actor on "Hook" changed his life, but Williams really made an impression on him years before they met. "He impacted me several years before when 'Dead Poets Society' became one of my favorite films and really started me being interested in poetry, at which I later became a poet," Basco wrote. "I was fortunate to spend private times, many mornings in the makeup chair, (which with my tri-hawk hair took hours), just talking about poetry … And soft spoken and introspectively we would discuss Walt Whitman and Charles Bukowski." The two even got to have a little onscreen poetry competition with the imaginary words battle between Rufio and Peter ("nearsighted gynecologist" being the standout insult, of course).

Many who were touched by Williams' films as children could agree with Basco that Williams' sudden death feels like "the death of my childhood." The actor closed the letter saying, "I guess we can’t stay in Neverland forever, we must all grown up. ... O’ Captain! My Captain! See you in Neverland ..."

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Before You Go

Robin Williams Quotes
"You're only given one little spark of madness. You mustn't lose it."(01 of14)
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(credit:Wynn Miller/The LIFE Images Collection)
"Comedy is acting out optimism."(02 of14)
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(credit:Ron Galella)
"When you have a great audience, you can just keep going and finding new things."(03 of14)
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(credit:NBC)
"Do you think God gets stoned? I think so ... look at the platypus."(04 of14)
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(credit:Jim Britt/Disney ABC Television Group)
"See, the problem is that God gives men a brain and a penis, and only enough blood to run one at a time."(05 of14)
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(credit:Disney ABC Television Group)
"A woman would never make a nuclear bomb. They would never make a weapon that kills. They’d make a weapon that makes you feel bad for a while."(06 of14)
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(credit:Disney ABC Television Group)
On acting: "All the new people you meet, it's pretty amazing. The vampire needs new blood. And there is still a lot to learn and there is always great stuff out there. Even mistakes can be wonderful."(07 of14)
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(credit:Alan Levenson/The LIFE Images Collection)
"Everyone has these two visions when they hold their child for the first time. The first is your child as an adult saying 'I want to thank the Nobel Committee for this award.' The other is 'You want fries with that?'"(08 of14)
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(credit:The LIFE Picture Collection)
"You could talk about same-sex marriage, but people who have been married say ‘It’s the same sex all the time.'"(09 of14)
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(credit:Disney ABC Television Group)
"When in doubt, go for the dick joke."(10 of14)
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(credit:Paula Bronstein/Getty Images Entertainment)
"Most of all, I want to thank my father, up there, the man who when I said I wanted to be an actor, he said, 'Wonderful. Just have a back-up profession like welding'."(11 of14)
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(credit:HAL GARB/AFP)
On his mentor, Jonathan Winters: "Jonathan taught me that the world is open for play, that everything and everybody is mockable, in a wonderful way."(12 of14)
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(credit:Jack Mitchell/Archive Photos)
"Never fight with an ugly person, they’ve got nothing to lose."(13 of14)
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(credit:Archive Photos)
"I love kids, but they are a tough audience."(14 of14)
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(credit:Ryan Pierse/Getty Images Entertainment)