Tina Fey on Elaine Stritch: 'I loved her voice, her timing, her stories and her natural elegance'

NEW YORK, July 18 (UPI) -- Tina Fey remembered what she liked most about the her late 30 Rock co-star Elaine Stritch while speaking to People magazine one day after her passing.

"Elaine was a 'tough old bird,' but I suspect she may have been a 'tough old bird' since birth," the former SNL star told the magazine. "I loved her voice, her timing, her stories and her natural elegance."

"One day she was wearing a beautiful butterfly cocktail ring, and when I admired it, she gave it to me on the spot -- like an Arab sheik in black pantyhose. I feel very lucky to have worked with her as much as I did."

Stritch died in her Birmingham, Mich. home Thursday after a long battle with stomach cancer. The former Broadway star was best known for her roles in TV's My Sister Eileen in 1960, Two's Company in 1975 and most recently for portraying Jack Donaghy's (Alec Baldwin) mother Colleen on 30 Rock.