‘Ryan Gosling Won’t Eat His Cereal’ creator dies; Gosling gives us closure

Ryan Gosling has finally eaten his cereal.

The “Drive” star, 34, sat down with a bowl and big spoon Monday to honor a Scottish filmmaker who made a wildly popular series of online videos featuring the actor and his breakfast.

Ryan McHenry, creator of the “Ryan Gosling Won’t Eat His Cereal” series, died of cancer Sunday at 27, according to Scotland's Daily Record.

For the series, which began in spring 2013, McHenry selected clips of movies featuring close-ups of Gosling’s face. As each clip played, he would slowly move a cereal-laden spoon toward the part of the screen showing the actor’s mouth. Onscreen, Gosling would appear to refuse the food, often flinching away.

The videos accumulated millions of hits on Vine and YouTube. Here’s a partial compilation:

The public spotlight on the series waned over time, but it was far from forgotten. Just last month, Gosling and McHenry teased each other about the videos during a Twitter Q&A.

On Monday, after McHenry's death, Gosling provided some closure: In honor of McHenry, he posted a Vine of himself eating cereal.

"My heart goes out to all of Ryan McHenry's family and friends," Gosling said in a follow-up tweet. "Feel very lucky to have been apart of his life in some small way."

This may be the most touching time Gosling has engaged with an Internet sensation built around him, but it isn't the first.

A couple years before the cereal videos began, the "Hey girl" meme took off, combining photos of the actor with lines that his female fans would love to hear from him. “Hey girl,” one example goes. “Sure, I’ll unload the dishwasher for you. Just let me finish folding and putting away the laundry first.”

While the actor was promoting "Blue Valentine" in 2010, MTV coaxed him into reading some of the lines aloud.

Even if he seemed a little uncomfortable in the video above, things seem to be going well with two very important women in his life. Gosling and "Hitch" actress Eva Mendes, 41, have been together for years, and last September they had a baby daughter, Esme.

Times staff writer Lauren Raab contributed to this report.

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