How Jean Smart Really Feels About Former Costar Brad Pitt

Brad Pitt has worked with likely hundreds of actors across the more than 100 film and TV projects he has starred in or produced over his decades in the entertainment industry. While it's not unusual to see actors publicly praised by their costars, the Oscar winner appears to have made a fan out of almost every actor who has been on the same set with him.

Chief among the reasons he's loved by his colleagues is that despite being a superstar, he has no airs and graces. "He comes to a set and everybody's comfortable. He made me feel relaxed, like, in a second," Javier Bardem told Wired of working with Pitt in the upcoming movie "F1." Their "F1" costar Damson Idris was equally effusive in his praise of Pitt's "humility" in an interview with Vanity Fair. Meanwhile, according to Digital Spy, Joey King described her time with Pitt on the set of "Bullet Train" as "comfortable," adding, "I just absolutely adore him."

It's no surprise that Pitt was able to charm Hollywood veteran Jean Smart when they teamed up for "Babylon." While speaking to Variety at the 2023 Golden Globes, she said making the 2022 movie with Pitt and Margot Robbie was "so much fun" before going on to describe her two costars as "lovely," "funny," and "sweet."

Richard Gilliland, Jean Smart's husband of nearly 34 years and fellow actor, died at age 71 in March 2021. During an interview with "Who's Talking to Chris Wallace?" (via The Hollywood Reporter) in May 2024, she said his death, which came at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, came as a huge "shock" because none of the hospitals and clinics they had gone to ran tests to check his heart and instead only tested him for the coronavirus. The delay in the detection of Gilliland's heart condition ultimately proved fatal, and he died after suffering a heart attack and contracting pneumonia.

Six months after his death, Smart paid tribute to Gilliland while accepting the best actress Emmy for "Hacks." During her speech, she credited her late husband and the sacrifices he made with her success, saying, "I would not be here without him."

Though she was still mourning the loss of her husband at the time, Smart threw herself into work and was back on the set of "Babylon" right after the award show. In between filming scenes, Pitt made a heartfelt gesture that sealed Smart's positive opinion of the A-list star. "Brad came over, and he had watched the Emmys, so he knelt down next to my chair, and he took my hand and he congratulated me and gave me his condolences about losing my husband. He said, 'I had no idea you'd been going through that.' He was incredibly kind," Smart told Variety. "That's what makes him Brad Pitt."