Fresh Prince of Bel-Air: Will Smith tears up during emotional tribute to James Avery on HBO Max reunion

Reunion special was released day early on streaming service HBO Max

Will Smith teared up while paying tribute to Uncle Phil actor James Avery on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air reunion.

Released on Wednesday (18 November) on HBO Max, the one-off reunion special saw the cast of the hit 1990s sitcom come together to discuss their time on the show. This included working with the late Avery, who died in 2013 aged 68.

Describing how the actor had always “pushed” him to be the best and use his position to “elevate your craft”, Smith, 52, recalled filming one of the show’s most memorable episodes with Avery, in which Will’s father reappears after 14 years away from his son.

“I remember in one of my favourite and most famous scenes from Fresh Prince – the father episode – James Avery was this six-foot-four, 300-pound stage-trained Shakespearean beast and I'm the little rapper from Philly under him and I wanted him to think I was good,” Smith said.

“I wanted him to be proud of me… we come to that scene and I was like, ‘I want to deliver this scene so bad’… I flubbed my line on the take and I messed it up in front of the audience and my mind snapped and I'm like, 'Ahhhh.' James says, 'Hey, right here… use me.’”

Avery and Smith in ‘The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air' (Rex Features)

“With the scene that we do, it’s the scene that ends being in the episode. And I fall into his arms at the end of the scene, he's holding me and he’s holding me. He whispered into my ear, 'Now that's acting,’” Smith tearfully added as he had dabbed at his eyes with a tissue.

“It’s like people don't even know when they're shaping you and forming you and crafting you. He knew.”

During the scene in question, Smith is briefly reunited with his absent father, who quickly leaves him again. He then has a heart-to-heart with Phil, asking him at one point: “How come he don’t want me, man?” Banks then pulls the teenager into a tight hug, as young Will breaks into sobs.

Smith was joined in the reunion special by the likes of Tatyana Ali, Karyn Parsons, Joseph Marcell, Daphne Maxwell Reid, Alfonso Ribeiro and DJ Jazzy Jeff.