“Friends” star Matthew Perry, the Emmy-nominated actor whose sarcastic but lovable Chandler Bing was one of the TV series’ most famous and quoted characters, has died at age 54.
The actor was found dead in his Los Angeles home, according to coroner’s records. The investigation into Perry’s death is ongoing and it could take weeks to determine the cause of his death.
Perry’s body was found in his hot tub, the Washington Post reported, citing unnamed sources. Los Angeles Times and Celebrity website TMZ, first reported the news. Los Angeles Police Department Officer Derek Madison told The Associated Press on Saturday that officers responded to the neighborhood “to investigate the death of a man in his 50s.”
“Matthew is an incredibly talented actor and an indelible part of the Warner Bros. Television family,” the company said in a statement. “The impact of his comedic genius has been felt around the world and his legacy will always live in the hearts of many. This is a heartbreaking day and our hearts go out to his family, his loved ones and all his loyal fans.” With our love.”
Perry’s 10 seasons on “Friends” made him one of Hollywood’s best-known actors, working in New York with Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Matt LeBlanc, Lisa Kudrow and David Starring opposite Hummer.
As Chandler, he plays the witty, insecure and neurotic roommate of James Wong’s Joey and the close friend of Schwimmer’s Ross. During the show’s binge, he might chime in with something like, “Can this get any more awkward?” or another well-timed quip.
Perry has opened up about his long, public battle with addiction, writing at the beginning of his million-selling 2022 memoir: “Hi, my name is Matthew, although you may know me by another name. My My friends call me Marty. And I should be dead.”
“Friends” aired from 1994 to 2004 and won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series in 2002. The cast rallied particularly well in later seasons, earning $1 million per episode.
Some of his “Friends” costars paid tribute on social media, posting photos, GIFs and outtakes from their favorite episodes.
“What a loss,” actress Maggie Wheeler, who plays his girlfriend Janice, wrote on Instagram. “The joy you brought to so many people in your short life will live on. Every creative moment we shared made me feel so blessed.”
Actress Morgan Fairchild, who plays his mother in the show, said the loss of a “talented young actor” was shocking.
“I am heartbroken by the untimely passing of my ‘son’,” she wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
The Friends finale saw Chandler marry and start a family with Cox’s Monica, mirroring the core cast’s transition from single New Yorkers trying to figure out their lives to married couples and families. The journey of a central actor.
The show is one of TV’s hottest shows and has found a new life – and a surprising one Popular with young fans — streaming services in recent years.
In his memoir, Friends, Lovers, and Big Scary Things, Perry describes the experience of reading the Friends script for the first time.
“It was as if someone had been following me around for a year, stealing my jokes, copying my mannerisms, and copying my world-weary yet witty outlook on life. One character in particular stood out to me: not that I thought I could ‘play’ Chandler Le. I ‘was’ Chandler. “
What was not known at the time was that Perry struggled with drug addiction and a strong desire to please audiences.
“Friends is huge. I can’t jeopardize that. I love the script. I love my co-stars. I love the scripts. I love everything about the show, but I’ve been struggling with my own addiction, which It only added to my shame,” he wrote in his memoirs. “I have a secret that no one can know.”
“I feel like I’m going to die if a live audience doesn’t laugh, which is definitely not healthy. But sometimes I say a line and the audience doesn’t laugh, and I sweat and sometimes twitch,” Perry wrote. “If I don’t get the laughs I deserve, I drive crazy. I feel that way every night. The pressure puts me in a bad place. I also know six people who make the show, only one of whom People are sick.”
He recalled in his memoir that Aniston confronted him about his drunkenness while filming.
“I know you’re drinking,” he remembers her telling him once. “We could smell it,” she said, which Perry called “in a weird but loving way, the plural ‘we’ hit me like a sledgehammer.”
In the foreword to Perry’s memoir, Lisa Kudrow describes him as “very smart, charming, lovable, sensitive, very reasonable and rational.” She added, “That guy, despite everything he was fighting, was still there.”
The 2021 HBO Max reunion special was hosted by James Corden and there was a lot of interest in seeing the cast together again, even though the show consisted of the cast discussing the show, not the characters The continuation of the storyline.
Perry received one Emmy nomination for her role on “Friends” and two Emmy nominations for her role as deputy White House counsel on “The West Wing.”
Perry has also starred in a number of notable film roles, such as starring opposite Salma Hayek in the romantic comedy “Jumpin'” and opposite Bruce Willis in the crime comedy “The Whole Nine Yards” Rival play.
He kept working after Friends, though never in a role that brought him as much attention or acclaim.
In 2015, he played Oscar in the CBS reboot of The Odd Couple, which ran for two seasons. He told the AP it was a “dream role” to play Oscar Madison, who first became famous on Walter Matthau’s 1960s series. He also said he was surprised how much he enjoyed filming in front of a live audience again.
“I didn’t realize that I really missed it until it actually happened, until we actually shot the pilot and there was a studio audience there, that I realized, ‘Wow, I really like this. This is good, “He said. “You kind of cheer the crowd on. I’ve never performed better than when I had the crowd in front of me.”
Perry was born on August 19, 1969 in Williamstown, Massachusetts. His father is actor John Bennett Perry, and his mother, Suzanne, served as Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau’s press secretary and was married to Daily News reporter Keith Morrison.
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Associated Press writers Alicia Rancilio, Janie Har, Hillel Italie, Ryan Pearson and Anthony McCartney contributed to this report.
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