Tributes have begun pouring in from around the world for the actor Matthew Perry, who is reported to have died at the age of 54.
The actor, best known for his portrayal of Chandler Bing in Friends, was found dead in his Los Angeles home on Saturday, according to multiple US media reports. Police were called to his home at 4pm and found Perry unresponsive, law enforcement sources were quoted as saying.
No initial signs of foul play were found and the authorities continue their investigations, the reports said. The Los Angeles Police Department confirmed to The Independent that officers were called to the home but declined to comment further.
Actors Selma Blair, Paget Brewster, Maggie Wheeler, Yvette Nicole Brown were among those paying tribute to the Friends star.
“I’m so very sad to hear about @MatthewPerry. He was lovely to me on Friends and every time I saw him in the decades after,” wrote Paget Brewster, who played the character Kathy alongside Perry in season four of Friends.
“Please read his book. It was his legacy to help. He won’t rest in peace though… He’s already too busy making everyone laugh up there.”
Matthew Perry opened up about his struggles while filming ‘Friends’
Matthew Perry had opened up about his struggles with addiction while filming Friends.
In his autobiography Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing, which was released last year, 53-year-old Perry revealed that he struggled with addiction and nearly died at aged 49, when his colon burst from opioid overuse.
“‘Friends’ was huge. I couldn’t jeopardize that. I loved the script. I loved my co-actors. I loved the scripts. I loved everything about the show but I was struggling with my addictions which only added to my sense of shame,” he wrote in his memoir. “I had a secret and no one could know.”
“I felt like I was gonna die if the live audience didn’t laugh, and that’s not healthy for sure. But I could sometimes say a line and the audience wouldn’t laugh and I would sweat and sometimes go into convulsions,” Perry wrote. “If I didn’t get the laugh I was supposed to get I would freak out. I felt that every single night. This pressure left me in a bad place. I also knew of the six people making that show, only one of them was sick.”
He recalled in his memoir that Jennifer Aniston confronted him about being inebriated while filming. “I know you’re drinking,” he remembered her telling him once. “We can smell it,” she said, in what Perry called a “kind of weird but loving way, and the plural ‘we’ hit me like a sledgehammer.”
Anuj Pant29 October 2023 04:05
‘Friends’ made Matthew Perry one of Hollywood’s most recognisable actors
Matthew Perry’s 10 seasons on Friends made him one of Hollywood’s most recognisable actors, starring opposite Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Matt LeBlanc, Lisa Kudrow and David Schwimmer.
As Chandler, he played a sarcastic yet insecure and neurotic roommate of Joey, played by LeBlanc, before the character married Cox’s Monica.
The series was one of television’s biggest hits and found surprising popularity with younger fans in recent years on streaming services.
The series ran from 1994 until 2004. A reunion special in 2021 was hosted by James Corden and fed into huge interest in seeing the cast together again, although the HBO Max reunion was the actors discussing the show and not a continuation of their characters’ storylines.
Perry received one Emmy nomination for his Friends role and two more for appearances as an associate White House counsel on The West Wing.
Perry also had several notable film roles, starring opposite Salma Hayek in the rom-com Fools Rush In and opposite Bruce Willis in the crime comedy The Whole Nine Yards.
Associated Press29 October 2023 03:47
Comedian Lisa Ann Walter recalls Matthew Perry in ‘The Whole Nine Yards’
Comedian and actor Lisa Ann Walter, who co-starred with Matthew Perry in The Odd Couple, has remembered the actor’s performance in The Whole Nine Yards.
“In The Whole Nine Yards – Matthew Perry runs full force into a patio door – that and the scene that followed is one of the top comedic moments I’ve witnessed,” she wrote on X/Twitter.
“ I told him so when I recurred on The Odd Couple. He smiled so big I thought he’d crack his face.”
Anuj Pant29 October 2023 03:42
Yvette Nicole Brown talks about ‘great loss’: ‘54 is too young to go’
Yvette Nicole Brown, who starred alongside Matthew Perry in The Odd Couple, said the entire entertainment world has suffered a great loss.
“Our #OddCouple family suffered a great loss today. The entire entertainment world has,” she wrote on X/Twitter.
“I am too sad about the news to say more than this: @mattyperry4 was a sweetheart who deserved more peace in this life. 54 is too young to go. We love you, Matty!”
Anuj Pant29 October 2023 03:30
Warner Bros TV, which produced ‘Friends’, pays tribute to Matthew Perry
Warner Bros TV has paid tribute to Matthew Perry on social media. The studio produced Friends.
“We are devastated to learn of Matthew Perry’s passing,” said the Instagram post. “He was a true gift to us all. Our heart goes out to his family, loved ones, and all of his fans.”
Anuj Pant29 October 2023 03:19
Mira Sorvino pays tribute to Matthew Perry’s ‘singular wit’
Actor Mira Sorvino starred with Matthew Perry in the 1994 movie Parallel Lives.
On X/Twitter, Sorvino paid tribute to her co-star by reminiscing about his “singular wit”.
“Oh no!!! Matthew Perry!! You sweet, troubled soul!! May you find peace and happiness in Heaven, making everyone laugh with your singular wit!!!”
Anuj Pant29 October 2023 03:15
Paget Brewster says Matthew Perry ‘already too busy making everyone laugh up there’
Paget Brewster, who played Kathy in season four of Friends, mourned Perry’s death in a post on X/Twitter.
“I’m so very sad to hear about @MatthewPerry. He was lovely to me on Friends and every time I saw him in the decades after,” she wrote.
“Please read his book. It was his legacy to help. He won’t rest in peace though.. He’s already too busy making everyone laugh up there.”
Anuj Pant29 October 2023 03:09
Friends star Matthew Perry dead aged 54, reports say
Police were called to the home at around 4pm and found Perry unresponsive, the sources said. The Los Angeles Police Department confirmed to The Independent that officers were called to the home but declined to comment further.
There were no initial signs of foul play, sources said. The investigation is ongoing.
Perry was born in 1969 to father John Bennett Perry, an actor, and mother Suzanne Marie Langford in Plymouth, Massachusetts. He spent his childhood between Montreal, Canada, and Los Angeles.
Anuj Pant29 October 2023 03:03
Good morning and welcome to The Independent’s live blog as reactions pour in to the reported death of Friends actor Matthew Perry.
Anuj Pant29 October 2023 02:59