Mandy Moore says This is Us co-star Ron Cephas Jones ‘was suffering’ before death

Moore reflected on her co-star’s ‘intrinsic connection’ to his role as William on the tearjerking NBC drama

Mandy Moore has opened up about working with her This Is Us co-star Ron Cephas Jones before his death.

Cephas Jones starred as William Hill, the biological father of Sterling K. Brown’s Randall Pearson, in the hit NBC family drama from 2016 to 2022. He died the following year at the age of 66 due to “a long-standing pulmonary issue”, his representatives said at the time.

Speaking on the That Was Us podcast, Moore, who played family matriarch and Randall’s adopted mother Rebecca Pearson,  revealed that Cephas Jones “was suffering” during filming and had struggled during a hiking scene.

“It was really hard for him to breathe and I remember him sitting was scripted,” she said. “But also because he genuinely needed to do that, it really brought home knowing what was actually happening in real time in those moments while we were shooting this show and this season.”

She noted that Cephas Jones “just had this intrinsic connection to what his character was going through and it makes it all the more poignant”.

Brown also said that his co-star “had a profound understanding of what he was saying” during an episode in which William reflected on death.

Cephas Jones, left, with the cast of ‘This Is Us' (Getty Images)

“And because he’s not with us anymore, beautiful human being that he is, it’s just like, wow,” Brown added.

In a previous podcast episode, Brown shared happy memories of how Cephas Jones had “joy in every fibre of his being”, maintaining a “big smile” and “big laugh” in spite of his health problems.

Cephas Jones, a Tony-nominated stage actor who also appeared in shows such as Mr Robot and Luke Cage and films including Dolemite Is My Name, had a double lung transplant in 2020 due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.