Memorial grows for actor Paul Walker

A memorial is growing in southern California for actor Paul Walker, who died in a fiery car crash on Saturday.

Walker was best known for his roles in the Fast and the Furious action movies, a series of films about illegal street racing and heists. He was in five of the six films and was working on the seventh when he died.

Walker, 40, had just left a charity event. He was a passenger in a friend’s car, according to a message linked to his Twitter account.

“Sadly, I must confirm that Paul did pass away this afternoon in a car accident,” Ame Van Iden, Walker’s publicist, said in an email.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said in a statement that there had been a car accident involving two fatalities in Valencia, a community in the city of Santa Clarita.

When deputies arrived, they found the vehicle engulfed in flames. Both victims were pronounced dead at the scene, the statement said.

Hours after the car crash, police investigators were still at the scene as local news helicopter crews filmed.

The office did not provide the identities of the dead, and said the cause was under investigation.

In the Fast and Furious movies, the blond-haired, blue-eyed actor played Brian O’Conner, a law enforcement official. The first movie was released in 2001, and a seventh was in development at the time of his death, Universal, the studio behind the franchise, said in a statement.

According to the IMDb.com movie website, Paul William Walker IV was born in Glendale, California, in 1973 and began acting at a very young age, appearing in many commercials.

He played Professor Bennet in the 1987 movie Monster in the Closet and starred in the television series Throb, IMDb said.

Walker also made guest appearances on television shows, including Charles in Charge and Who’s the Boss? and had a role in the soap opera, The Young and the Restless.

Walker has a daughter named Meadow.

Universal conveyed its condolences to Walker’s family, saying, “All of us at Universal are heartbroken.

“Paul was truly one of the most beloved and respected members of our studio family for 14 years, and this loss is devastating to us, to everyone involved with the Fast and Furious films, and to countless fans.”