He became famous as the sarcastic joker Chandler Bing in the US cult series “Friends”: Now the actor Matthew Perry has died at the age of 54. Emergency responders found Perry lifeless in a hot tub at his Los Angeles home on Saturday, the Los Angeles Times reported. Fellow actors reacted with shock to the news.
A police spokesman told the AFP news agency that the police were notified at 4:10 p.m. (local time). It was the death of a “man in his 50s,” said the spokesman, without confirming Perry’s name. A fire department spokesman said firefighters had been called to a “water emergency.” However, he did not want to confirm that Perry had drowned.
According to the LA Times and celebrity website TMZ, which first reported Perry’s death, there were no signs of foul play.
Perry rose to fame in the 1990s for his role as Chandler Bing in the globally popular television series “Friends.” “Friends” was filmed from 1994 to 2004 and won numerous awards. Matthew Perry played one of the six main characters alongside Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer.
The series was about six New York friends and their relationships with each other. At the end of the extremely popular sitcom, the actors were paid a million dollars per episode. The series remains popular, even among viewers too young to remember the original broadcast. In 2021 there was a reunion of the six main actors in a special episode.
Perry suffered for years from drug and alcohol addiction and spent several stays in rehab clinics. In his autobiography, “Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing,” published last year, the actor wrote that he went through rehab 65 times and spent about $9 million to get sober .
Perry was born in Massachusetts and grew up in Canada before moving to Los Angeles. His mother was a Canadian journalist who worked as press secretary for then Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. Perry’s father was also an actor. Before his son decided on the same career, he made a name for himself as a tennis star in Canada as a teenager.
In the 1980s, Perry had guest roles in television series such as Our Noisy Home. His role in “Friends” was that of the sarcastic and quick-witted, but also sometimes insecure Chandler. He was nominated five times for the US television award Emmy, but did not win any of the trophies. Perry has never been married.
In addition to “Friends”, he appeared in films such as “Fools Rush In” alongside Salma Hayek and “No Half Measures” with Bruce Willis.
TMZ reported that no drugs were found when Perry’s body was found. Accordingly, the actor was found by an employee.
Actress Mira Sorvino, who starred alongside Perry in the 1994 film “Parallel Lives,” wrote online: “Oh no! Matthew Perry! You dear, troubled soul!” And: “May you find peace and happiness in heaven, and make everyone laugh with your unique wit.” Actor Josh Charles, who starred with Perry on The Good Wife, wrote: “Terrible news. Rest in peace brother.”
The production company Warner Bros TV, which produced “Friends,” said it was “devastated” by the news of Perry’s death. “He was a real gift for all of us.”
