LOS ANGELES (AP) — Matthew Perry, who starred as sarcastic-but-sweet Chandler Bing within the hit collection “Pals,” has died. He was 54.
The Emmy-nominated actor was discovered lifeless of an obvious drowning at his Los Angeles residence Saturday, in accordance with the Los Angeles Occasions and superstar web site TMZ, which was the primary to report the information. Each shops cited unnamed sources confirming Perry’s loss of life.
In an announcement, Warner Bros. Tv Group stated it’s “devastated” by Perry’s passing.
“Matthew was an extremely gifted actor and an indelible a part of the Warner Bros. Tv Group household,” it stated. “The affect of his comedic genius was felt all over the world, and his legacy will stay on within the hearts of so many. It is a heartbreaking day, and we ship our like to his household, his family members, and all of his devoted followers.”
Perry’s publicists and different representatives didn’t instantly reply to messages from The Related Press in search of remark. Requested to verify police response to what was listed as Perry’s residence deal with, LAPD Officer Drake Madison informed AP that officers had gone to that block “for a loss of life investigation of a male in his 50s.”
Perry’s 10 seasons on “Pals” made him one in every of Hollywood’s most recognizable actors, starring reverse Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Matt LeBlanc, Lisa Kudrow and David Schwimmer as a good friend group in New York.
As Chandler, he performed the quick-witted, insecure and neurotic roommate of LeBlanc’s Joey and a detailed good friend of Schwimmer’s Ross. Through the present’s hijinks, he could possibly be counted on to chime in with a line like “Might this BE any extra awkward?” or one other well-timed quip.
By the collection’ finish, Chandler is married to Cox’s Monica and so they have a household, reflecting the journey of the core solid from single New Yorkers making an attempt to determine their lives out to a number of of them married and beginning households.
The collection was one in every of tv’s greatest hits and has taken on a brand new life — and located shocking reputation with youthful followers — lately on streaming providers.
“Pals” ran from 1994 till 2004, successful one greatest comedy collection Emmy Award in 2002. The solid notably banded collectively for later seasons to acquire a salar of $1 million per episode for every.
Unknown on the time was the wrestle Perry had with dependancy and an intense need to please audiences.
“’Pals’ was big. I couldn’t jeopardize that. I beloved the script. I beloved my co-actors. I beloved the scripts. I beloved the whole lot in regards to the present however I used to be scuffling with my addictions which solely added to my sense of disgrace,” he wrote in his memoir, “Pals, Lovers and the Large Horrible Factor.” “I had a secret and nobody may know.”
“I felt like I used to be gonna die if the stay viewers didn’t chortle, and that’s not wholesome for certain. However I may generally say a line and the viewers wouldn’t chortle and I’d sweat and generally go into convulsions,” Perry wrote. “If I didn’t get the chortle I used to be speculated to get I’d freak out. I felt that each single evening. This stress left me in a nasty place. I additionally knew of the six folks making that present, solely one in every of them was sick.”
He recalled in his memoir that Aniston confronted him about being inebriated whereas filming.
“I do know you’re ingesting,” he remembered her telling him as soon as. “We are able to odor it,” she stated, in what Perry known as a “sort of bizarre however loving means, and the plural ‘we’ hit me like a sledgehammer.”
An HBO Max reunion particular in 2021 was hosted by James Corden and fed into big curiosity in seeing the solid collectively once more, though this system consisted of the actors discussing the present and was not a continuation of their characters’ storylines.
Perry acquired one Emmy nomination for his “Pals” position and two extra for appearances as an affiliate White Home counsel on “The West Wing.”
Perry additionally had a number of notable movie roles, starring reverse Salma Hayek within the rom-com “Fools Rush In” and Bruce Willis within the the crime comedy “The Complete 9 Yards.”
He labored persistently after “Pals,” although by no means in a task that introduced him as a lot consideration or acclaim.
In 2015, he performed Oscar for a CBS reboot of “The Odd Couple” that aired for 2 seasons. He informed AP that taking part in Oscar Madison, the character initially made well-known within the Sixties collection by Walter Matthau, was a “dream position.” He additionally stated he was stunned how a lot he loved being filmed once more in entrance of a stay viewers.
“I didn’t understand I missed it actually till it truly occurred, til we truly shot the pilot and there was a studio viewers there and I spotted, ‘Wow, I actually like this. That is good,’” he stated. “You sort of ham up for the folks within the viewers. My efficiency by no means obtained higher than when there was an viewers there.”
Perry was born Aug. 19, 1969, in Williamstown, Massachusetts.
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Related Press writers Alicia Rancilio, Janie Har, Hillel Italie and Anthony McCartney contributed to this report.