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Dennis Quaid is in the ballroom to support his Parent Trap costar Elaine Hendrix at Dancing with the Stars.
PEOPLE spotted the 71-year-old actor backstage ahead of Hendrix and her partner, Alan Bersten, performing a foxtrot to “This Will Be (An Everlasting Love)” by Natalie Cole for the show’s Dedication Night.
Hendrix, 54, dedicated the routine to her friend and fellow Parent Trap star Lisa Ann Walter, 62, who also joined the couple on the dance floor.
Quaid was seen patting his former costars’ shoulders and giving them words of encouragement before the performance. He could also be seen nodding his approval after the dance — and earning a thunderous round of excited shouts from the audience.
“It means everything to me, the love and support of the people who are here and the people who aren’t here,” Hendrix said of her cheering squad. “I just I feel so much love. And when you are lucky enough to have these kind of people in your life, you have to hold on to them because they’re lifers.”
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Hendrix previously told PEOPLE, “They said Dedication Week was coming. I said, ‘Well, I need to have Lisa Ann Walter there with me.’ ”
The actress also previously said Walter was her “life security blanket,” adding, “[Dance partner] Alan [Bersten] is my show security blanket, and Lisa is my life security blanket,” she says. “And I look at her and I instantly feel calm.”
“She just knows,” Hendrix said of the Abbott Elementary star. “We know what to say to each other because we know each other so well. So when I start to get on the edge, she knows how to bring me back and how to calm me down. And so, having her here means everything to me.”
As for Quaid, Hendrix opened up to Insider about her instant chemistry with Quaid while filming The Parent Trip.
“I thought we had tremendous chemistry,” Hendrix said of her former costar.
Like her character Meredith Blake, Hendrix was 26 years old when filming for the movie began, while Quaid was 44 — 18 years her senior.
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Discussing their dynamic, Hendrix laughed and said, “He’s just such a guy.”
“One of the generalized differences between men and women is that boys mature later and girls mature earlier. So I think I was sort of an older 26,” she recalled, adding Quaid was a “younger” 44. “I think it worked well.”
“Clearly, Meredith Blake is not an average 26-year-old,” she added of her character, who stood out thanks to her red convertible, designer clothes and engagement to a vineyard owner. “All of that I couldn’t relate to. But how together she was and how ambitious she was—that I could definitely relate to.”
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The age gap between their characters was also something thought out by screenwriters David Swift, Charles Shyer, and Nancy Meyers (who also served as the film’s director).
“The character had to be close enough to the twins’ age but not so close that it was like, ‘Oh, this is really creepy,’ ” Hendrix said.
