'Green Gables' star Jonathan Crombie dies

For many women of Generation X, Jonathan Crombie was their first PBS crush, even if they didn't know his name.

He played Gilbert Blythe, the school rival, boyfriend and eventual husband of the heroine in the beloved Anne of Green Gables movies.

Crombie, 48, died of a brain hemorrhage Wednesday In New York, his sister Carrie told the Canadian Broadcasting Company Saturday.

Though he would go on to star in the Broadway play The Drowsy Chaperone, Crombie is best remembered for his work as Gilbert. He was never bothered by the fame it brought him and even answered to the name Gil when recognized on the street, she says.

"I think he was really proud of being Gilbert Blythe and was happy to answer any questions," she told the CBC. "He really enjoyed that series and was happy, very proud of it — we all were," she said.

The son of former Toronto mayor and Canadian Cabinet minister David Crombie, he beat out fellow Canadian and future 90210 star Jason Priestly for the role. "We never screen-tested him," Green Gables producer Kevin Sullivan told the CBC. "We met him and he was cast. It was a perfect storm. ... It just all worked perfectly."

"I think for legions of young women around the world who fell in love with the Anne of Green Gables films, Jonathan literally represented the quintessential boy next door," he said, explaining the actor's appeal.

"I think there will be hundreds of people who will be floored that this has happened," he said of Crombie's sudden passing. "It's such a devastating tragedy. In reality, Jonathan was as generous, as kind, as sensitive and as ambitious, in some ways, as the character he came to be identified with."

Keeping in character with his kind, generous alter ego, Crombie's organs were donated.

Throughout his acting career, Crombie traveled back and forth between New York and Toronto via bus. "That's how we are going to be bringing him back," his sister explained to the CBC. "We felt that it was an ode to Jonathan. He would never go on a plane, so we're going to make the trek from New York to Toronto on a bus with his ashes."