‘Friends’ Cast Releases Joint Statement Following the Death of Matthew Perry

UPDATE: As tributes for Matthew Perry continue to pour in, the late actor’s Friends cast mates released a joint statement about his passing on Monday.

Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer — who starred alongside Perry on the hit sitcom — released their statement to People.

“We are all so utterly devastated by the loss of Matthew. We were more than just cast mates. We are a family. There is so much to say, but right now we’re going to take a moment to grieve and process this unfathomable loss. In time we will say more, as and when we are able. For now, our thoughts and our love are with Matty’s family, his friends, and everyone who loved him around the world.”

 

Original story: Published Oct. 28, 2023

Matthew Perry Dies at 54; Justin Trudeau, Brooke Shields and More Pay Tribute to the Friends Star

 

Actor Matthew Perry, who gained fame as the wise-cracking Chandler Bing on the hit U.S. television comedy Friends, was found dead on Saturday at a Los Angeles-area home, several news outlets reported.

The Los Angeles Times and TMZ.com, both citing unnamed law enforcement sources, reported that Perry, 54, was found dead in a hot tub or jacuzzi.

NBC News, citing an unnamed representative for the American-Canadian actor and a law enforcement source, reported the actor was found dead of an apparent drowning at his home in the Pacific Palisades neighbourhood of Los Angeles.

Reuters could not immediately confirm the reports independently.

Perry was best known for his longtime role as Chandler in the hugely successful Friends, which ran for 10 seasons on the NBC network from 1994 to 2004, co-starring Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, David Schwimmer, Matt LeBlanc and Lisa Kudrow.

The series made international celebrities out of all six castmates. They played a close-knit group of young adults who shared space in one another’s apartments and met for coffee at the “Central Perk,” a fictional Manhattan cafe.

One of the major story lines involved a clandestine romance between Chandler and Monica Geller, the character played by Cox, which the four other friends — Rachel, Joey, Phoebe and Ross — each discovered one by one.

The entire cast came back together 17 years after the series finale for a much-ballyhooed reunion special that aired on HBO Max in 2021.

In the midst of the show’s original run, Perry was widely reported to have sought treatment for prescription drug and alcohol abuse in 1997 and 2001.

Following Friends, Perry went on to star in a least three more network television ventures that proved short-lived — Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Mr. Sunshine and Go On.

He also logged guest appearances or recurring roles in other hit TV shows, including The West Wing, Ally McBeal, Scrubs and Beverly Hills, 90210. His motion picture credits included Fools Rush In, The Whole Nine Yards, Almost Heroes and Three to Tango.

The Massachusetts-born actor grew up in Ottawa after his mother, a Canadian journalist who once served as press secretary to former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, divorced Perry’s father and married Canadian broadcast personality and Dateline NBC correspondent Keith Morrison.

At the age of 15, Perry moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting and improvisational comedy.

(Reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)

 

Tributes for Matthew Perry

 

Following news of Perry’s passing, various tributes began to appear. Saturday Night Live, which aired just hours after the news of Perry’s death broke, held a moment of silence over an image of the actor on the screen.

Marta Kauffman and David Crane, who created Friends, as well as the show’s executive producer Kevin Bright, released a statement in the days following Perry’s death, calling him “a brilliant talent” who “from the day we first heard him embody the role of Chandler Bing, there was no one else for us.” They added, “We will always cherish the joy, the light, the blinding intelligence he brought to every moment — not just to his work, but in life as well. He was always the funniest person in the room. More than that, he was the sweetest, with a giving and selfless heart.”

Meanwhile, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau who, as a child, attended the same Ottawa schools as Perry, paid tribute to the actor on social media.

Many others, like, actress Mira Sorvino, shared an excerpt from Perry’s memoir in which he said that, when he dies, “it would be nice if Friends were listed far behind the things I did to try to help other people,” referring to his work in helping others to overcome addiction.

 

 

Others, meanwhile, shared reminiscences of Perry and expressed their sadness at his passing.

 

 

And in New York, outside the apartment building that was used as the exterior of the building where Chandler Bing lived on Friends, fans set up a makeshift memorial for the actor.

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