Matthew Perry died at his Los Angeles home in the early hours of Saturday, October 28, 2023. He was 54. TMZ reported that he drowned in his hot tub, and other reports said police found no sign of foul play.
His family put out a statement through People. “We are heartbroken by the tragic loss of our beloved son and brother,” it read. “Matthew brought so much joy to the world, both as an actor and a friend. You all meant so much to him, and we appreciate the tremendous outpouring of love.”
Warner Bros. Television, the studio behind Friends, called him “an incredibly gifted actor and an indelible part of the Warner Bros. Television Group family.” It added that “the impact of his comedic genius was felt around the world.”
Tributes came from well beyond Hollywood. Abhishek Bachchan, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Vir Das, Vivek Agnihotri and Bipasha Basu were among the Indian stars who posted about him.
The career
Perry was the world’s Chandler Bing, the wisecracking friend in the sitcom Friends. But the résumé ran longer. Earlier television work included Boys Will Be Boys, Growing Pains, Silver Spoons, Charles in Charge, Sydney and Beverly Hills, 90210. Later came Ally McBeal, The West Wing, Scrubs, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Go On and The Odd Couple.
Off screen
Chandler was upbeat and easy to like. Perry’s own life was harder. He battled addiction to Vicodin for years and went in and out of rehab while the cameras kept rolling. In his memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, published the year before his death, he wrote about that period, including the weight swings that viewers could see across the seasons of the show.
