Jane Fonda has shared an emotional tribute to her frequent screen partner Robert Redford.

The Oscar-winning actress, who worked with Redford several times from the 1960s into the 2010s, honored the "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" star in a statement after his death at age 89.

"It hit me hard this morning when I read that Bob was gone," Fonda said in the statement provided to USA TODAY on Tuesday, Sept. 16. "I can't stop crying."

She continued, "He meant a lot to me and was a beautiful person in every way. He stood for an America we have to keep fighting for."

Fonda worked with Redford on the 1966 film "The Chase," which also starred Marlon Brando. They were costars again in 1967's "Barefoot in the Park" and in 1979's "The Electric Horseman."

In 2017, the pair reunited on the Netflix movie "Our Souls at Night," which marked one of the final films of Redford's career. His last major acting role was in 2018's "The Old Man & the Gun." He also had a cameo in 2019's "Avengers: Endgame."

Speaking to Esquire in 2017, Redford said that he and Fonda had a "very special relationship" going back to when they worked together on "The Chase."

"It just clicks," he told the outlet. "Whatever her life was — which was all over the place — whatever my life was, when we came together, those things were forgotten. We were just she and I working together. It didn't require a lot of analysis. It just fell into place."

Redford added, "I knew Jane to be a very strong woman. She's a force. She takes risks. I've always admired that."

For her part, Fonda told The Guardian in 2015 that she was "always in love" with Redford. "I made three films with him and nothing happened because I was married and he was married," she said at the time.

Redford died on Tuesday, Sept. 16, at his home in Utah, "the place he loved, surrounded by those he loved," his representative Cindi Berger told USA TODAY. "He will be missed greatly."

Redford, who won the best director Oscar in 1981 for "Ordinary People," starred in films like "All the President's Men," and founded the Sundance Institute, was honored on Sept. 16 by Hollywood stars like Marlee Matlin and Meryl Streep and politicians like President Donald Trump and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

"He championed progressive values like protecting the environment and access to the arts while creating opportunities for new generations of activists and filmmakers," Clinton said on Instagram. "A true American icon."

Contributing: Brian Truitt, USA TODAY

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jane Fonda honors Robert Redford in emotional tribute: 'It hit me hard'

Reporting by Brendan Morrow, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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