Friends Actor Matthew Perry Dies at 54: A Look Back at His Iconic Career
October 29, 2023
Matthew Perry, best known for his role as Chandler Bing in Friends, has died at the age of 54. The actor was found unresponsive at his home in Los Angeles.
US actor Matthew Perry, best known for playing wisecracking Chandler Bing in the hit ‘90s TV sitcom Friends, has died at the age of 54.
The actor was found dead at his home in Los Angeles, law enforcement sources told US media.
Friends, which followed the fortunes of six young friends living in New York City, aired from 1994 until 2004.
Its final episode was watched by 52.5 million in the US, making it the most watched TV episode of the 2000s.
The LA Times and TMZ, which first reported that Perry had died, said the actor was found unresponsive in a hot tub at his house on Saturday.
A Los Angeles Fire Department spokesperson told the BBC that first responders went to an address in the Pacific Palisades area, regarding a “water emergency” of an unknown type, but did not name Perry.
Warner Bros, which produced the long-running show whose global reruns were loved by new generations of viewers, described Perry as a “true gift to us all”.
Born in Massachusetts in 1969, Perry was raised in Ottawa, Canada, where he attended elementary school with Justin Trudeau, who later became Canadian prime minister.
Perry moved to Los Angeles as a teenager. He starred as Chazz Russell in Boys Will Be Boys and also had roles in shows including Growing Pains.
But he became an international star on Friends, a show which followed the lives of six New Yorkers navigating dating, careers and friendship.
The comedy, co-starring Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, David Schwimmer, Matt LeBlanc and Lisa Kudrow, became one of the most successful shows of all time.
Perry was cast as the awkward Chandler Bing, famous for his sarcastic one-liners and his childish behaviour with room-mate Joey Tribbiani. The role earned him an Emmy nomination in 2002.
But while at the height of his fame, Perry was battling with addiction to painkillers and alcohol, and attended rehabilitation clinics on multiple occasions.
Perry also appeared in several films, including Fools Rush In, Almost Heroes and the Whole Nine Yards – but never found a screen project which came anywhere near matching the huge success and fame he found in Friends.
His later TV work, however, achieved some acclaim.
His role as associate White House counsel Joe Quincy in Aaron Sorkin’s The West Wing earned him two Emmy nominations for outstanding guest actor in a drama series in 2003 and 2004. He played the lead role in Sorkin’s later series, Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip, then wrote and produced his own show called Mr Sunshine in which he also played the lead character. (BBC)
