Actor Matthew Perry, best known for his portrayal of Chandler Bing on the NBC sitcom Friends from 1994 to 2004, passed away today of an apparent drowning at his home in Los Angeles. He was 54 and the youngest member of the cast of Friends.
Born in Western Massachusetts, Perry spent most of his childhood in Canada growing up in Ottawa where his mother worked as a press secretary for then Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. Perry and current Prime Minister Justin Trudeau were schoolmates. Perry once claimed that he beat up the younger Trudeau in the fifth grade though he did not remember making the comment years later.
After showing some promise as a tennis player, he eventually moved to California to be his with father actor John Bennett Perry and pursue an acting career of his own. Some of the younger Perry's early acting credits including appearances on TV shows like Charles in Charge, Silver Spoons, Highway to Heaven and Growing Pains before becoming a household name in the mid-1990's.
During his time on Friends, Perry co-starred in several movies such as Fools Rush In with Salma Hayek and The Whole Nine Yards and The Whole Ten Yards with Bruce Willis. Perry would never replicate his success after Friends went off the air nearly 20 years ago although he would receive an Emmy and Golden Globe nomination for the TV movie The Ron Clark Story. Several TV vehicles Studio 60 on The Sunset Strip, Mr. Sunshine and Go On lasted a season or less. Perry did play Felix Unger in the revival of The Odd Couple with Thomas Lennon which would air on CBS for two seasons, but it would prove to be among his final acting roles.
Sadly, Perry had a long and well-documented alcohol and drug problem which he detailed in his autobiography Friends, Lovers and The Big Terrible Thing which came out only last year. In 2019, Perry nearly died after his colon burst from overusing prescription opioids. Although he lived to tell that tale, he did not get a chance at a second act. R.I.P.
No comments:
Post a Comment