"I can still remember, that first day on Zuma Beach with him, in the frigid cold. From that day for five more years, Larry was the center of so many fun, wild, shocking and, in retrospect, memorable moments that will remain in my heart forever," Eden said in a Facebook post on Friday, shortly after hearing of Hagman's death.

"...I, like many others, believed he had beat cancer and yet we are reminded that life is never guaranteed."

Eden signed off, simply: "Goodbye Larry. There was no one like you before and there will never be anyone like you again."

Hagman kept busy after the show went off the air in 1970, appearing in guest roles in "The Streets of San Francisco," "The Rockford Files" and "Barnaby Jones." In the 1990s, he starred in the television show "Orleans."

Off screen, his drinking earned him unwanted attention from the tabloids, which chronicled his battle with alcoholism.

In recent years, he went public with his wife's battle with Alzheimer's.

He also suffered several health scares, including a bout with cirrhosis and a 16-hour liver transplant in 1995 that helped save his life.

Last year, he revealed that he had been diagnosed with cancer, but at the time, Hagman called it "a very common and treatable form."

He is survived by his wife, a son, a daughter and five grandchildren.