Celebrity deaths are frequent but as the old adage goes there are only two things certain in life - death and taxes. Well there should be a third one and that is friends. In any walk of life, they will come into your life perhaps fleetingly or cement themselves in your ether, or they may leave just as quickly as they arrive due to circumstances beyond your control in this weird spectrum of life.
These friends may be people you grow to cherish or resent depending upon the attachment you have, or they may be people you do care about due to what they mean to you. The latter applies to celebrities and sportspeople - you grow this unhealthy at times attachment to a person you may never meet in person for fear of having your expectations broken. You watch a show religiously and the character the person depicts may become your favourite person and when that show ends you give that actor the benefit of the doubt and hope they can strike gold again.
For all six members of the Warner Bros television show, Friends, which first aired in September 1994, nobody could have forseen the universal popularity of a simple premise of a show of six people (three men, three women) who live in each other's pockets constantly. A sitcom of simplicity that grew into a juggernaut of world domination and changed the lives of all six fairly unknown (though Courtney Cox had done film work) into household names and the most recognisable six-person group since the Chicago Bulls.
Everybody has their favourite Friend, be it dipsy Phoebe, hunky Joey or lovesick Ross, but for me and many my favourite was Chandler Bing, portrayed by Matthew Perry. Chandler was handsome, clever and most importantly the funniest most sarcastic character ever committed to screen. Before Chandler arrived on our screens, we had witty people - perhaps Seinfeld and Frasier Crane - but this was a character whose sarcasm hid so much trauma underneath the surface, and a deflection mechanism to combat his hopelessness with women that it was no surprise he ended up falling for someone who already knew him pretty well.
His sarcastic streak was something, this writer, as a teenager when the show began was something I aspired to - that zeal to hit a one-liner, to be the funniest guy in the room but also the nicest guy in the room. Be honest sometimes to your detriment and be left dancing alone by the end of the night, but be somebody that people can rely upon when needed and valued. I saw so much of me in Chandler growing up as I navigated my own strange
Perry though was a different breed of actor. Growing up in Canada, he was an established tennis player at junior level with aspirations for the pro tour before the acting bug got him and the road to stardom began. Perry had an ease about his performance that was reminiscent of say Cary Grant or James Stewart, he made it look easy in his delivery and style from those early season bowling shirt combo he along with Rachael and her hair-do became to me a fashion icon. And the best chemistry he had on the show was not with his screen wife, Courtney Cox, but with Matt Le Blanc as room-mate Joey. Their partnership and love for each other was an integral part of the show's stratospheric success, you need only look at the episode where they swap apartments with Monica and Rachael, the same episode that announces Phoebe's pregnancy (Lisa Kudrow's real-life pregnancy utilised for effect), a great episode 'The One With The Embryos' (Season 4, Episode 12)
Which makes the tumultuous middle years of the series when he succumb to pain medication abuse and painkiller addiction all the more sad. Perry became someone you worried for as much as a real-life friend, so to see him during the Friends Reunion looking a bit dishevelled and not half as witty as in previous years was all such a shame.
As with all the other cast members, the reach for film stardom did not come easy, he starred opposite Bruce Willis in The Whole Nine Yards; a hit-man comedy which was a box-office hit and yet the films dried up. His best film performance was in Fools Rush In, where opposite Selma Hayek he had some decent chemistry as Alex Whitman and his everyman appeal was played to the fore, yes he is a bit Bing-lite but the film is quite good if you have ever seen it.
After Friends finished in 2004, he starred in Aaron Sorkin's Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, which sadly only ran for one series but showed his ability to skate between comedy and drama. His timing as always was so spot on and yet as he found out, people could only see him as Chandler.
He wrote his autobiography and that was heralded for its openness and truth, and his retelling of being unable to remember three years of the series due to his addiction problems. The abuse sadly has taken a hold on him seemingly and has cut short a life that was not lived fully.
Another talented individual has left us too early, could I be anymore sad? Yes I can.
No comments:
Post a Comment