Chris Colfer pays tribute to his late 'Glee' co-star Cory Monteith

LOS ANGELES, March 21 (UPI) -- Actor and singer Chris Colfer says he will always remember his late Glee co-star Cory Monteith as a man who showed respect to everyone he encountered.

Monteith died of a drug overdose in 2013 at the age of 31. He had starred in four seasons of Glee alongside Colfer -- and his real-life girlfriend Lea Michele -- by the time he died.

The high school-centered dramedy ended its six-season run Friday night. The entire cast sang the uplifting anthem "I Lived" at the end of which a photo of Monteith's character Finn Hudson -- whose death occurred off-screen in Season 5 -- was shown next to a plaque revealing the school auditorium had been renamed in his honor.

"He really was the big brother I never had," Colfer, 24, told Entertainment Weekly about Monteith. "I have to say -- I hope I don't get emotional -- I always felt so respected by Cory, and I think being a young gay kid, I've never really felt respected very much by older straight types, I guess. But with Cory, I think we just respected each other so much and we respected working with each other so much. I think that's what I'll always remember -- the abundant respect that he gave everyone. I think that's why it was such a hard loss. It was so hard to see betrayed when he passed away in his life -- that didn't represent who he was."