He was there for us.
Following Matthew Perry’s Oct. 28 death at his Pacific Palisades home, tributes poured in from co-stars, fans and celebrities. The actor, who was 54, was best known for his iconic role as Chandler Bing on “Friends.”
There aren’t many people who can stop an Adele concert, but the singer took a moment during her Oct. 28 Las Vegas show to honor Perry.
“I just want to say how much I love what he did for us,” Adele said, noting that he meant something to her even though they had never met. Later that night, “Saturday Night Live” showed a photo of the actor, who hosted the series in 1997.
On screen, Perry was the funniest man in the room. Born on Aug. 19, 1969, his father, John Bennett Perry, was also a prolific actor, and his mother was Canadian journalist Suzanne Langford. When his parents met, Langford was working as a press secretary to then-Canadian prime minister Pierre Trudeau. Perry would later be a classmate of current Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
“I’ll never forget the schoolyard games we used to play, and I know people around the world are never going to forget the joy he brought them,” Trudeau said in a statement. “Thanks for all the laughs, Matthew.”
His parents divorced when Perry was still a baby. His mother would eventually marry journalist and “Dateline: NBC” host Keith Morrison. While initially Perry set his sights on being a professional tennis player, his interests turned to acting after moving from Canada to Los Angeles to live with his father.
In his teens and early-20s, Perry made numerous guest appearances on popular television series, including “Charles in Charge,” “Empty Nest,” “Who’s the Boss?” and “Beverly Hills, 90210.” He had a multi-episode guest spot on “Growing Pains” in 1989, where he played Tracey Gold’s boyfriend who dies in a drunk-driving accident.
“You have been my friend. That in itself is a tremendous thing,” Gold wrote on Twitter, alluding to E.B. White’s “Charlotte’s Web.”
After stints on several short-lived sitcoms, he was cast on “Friends,” and was 24 when the pilot was shot, making him the youngest member of the cast.
“He was a brilliant talent,” executive producers Marta Kaufman, David Crane and Kevin S. Bright said in a statement. “It’s a cliche to say that an actor makes a role their own, but in Matthew’s case, there are no truer words. From the day we first heard him embody the role of Chandler Bing, there was no one else for us.”
After its premiere in September 1994, Perry, Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt Le Blanc and David Schwimmer catapulted to fame. The show would go on to become not only the No. 1 comedy on television at the time, but has remained popular in syndication and streaming internationally in the two decades since it went off the air. Its May 2004 finale was watched by 52.5 million Americans, and by its final two seasons each cast member was pulling in $1 million per episode. In 2002, Perry was nominated for an Emmy for lead actor in a comedy series.
His character, Chandler, was so popular that his speech pattern became English-language lexicon, particularly his emphasis on the word “be,” most famously parodied by Le Blanc with the line, “Hi, I’m Chandler. Could I be wearing any more clothes?”
Recurring guest star Aisha Tyler, who played Charlie Wheeler in seasons nine and 10, noted in an Instagram post that she “learned how to tell a joke perfectly just by watching him work.”
“The loss of such a brilliant young actor is a shock,” Morgan Fairchild, who played Perry’s mother on the show, said. “I’m sending love and condolences to his friends and family, especially his dad.”
Maggie Wheeler played his on-again, off-again girlfriend Janice on “Friends,” prior to the character’s relationship with Monica Gellar (Cox).
“The joy you brought to so many in your too short lifetime will live on. I feel very blessed by every creative moment we shared,” she said.”
Perry also starred in successful films, including “Fools Rush In,” “The Whole Nine Yards” and “17 Again.” He was Emmy-nominated for his recurring role on “The West Wing.” Following “Friends” he starred on several series, including Aaron Sorkin’s “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip,” “Mr. Sunshine,” “Go On” and a reboot of “The Odd Couple.”
His last appearance was in “Friends: The Reunion” in 2021, and he opened up on the special about the anxiety he felt working in front of a studio audience.
“To me, it felt like I was going to die if they didn’t laugh. It’s not healthy, for sure, but I would sometimes say a line and they wouldn’t laugh and I would sweat and just go into convulsions if I didn’t get the laugh I was supposed to get. I would freak out,” Perry said.
