Matthew Perry, Emmy-nominated 'Friends' star, has died at 54, reports say
Los Angeles (AP) (PTI): Matthew Perry, who starred as sarcastic-but-sweet Chandler Bing in the hit series "Friends," has died. He was 54.
The Emmy-nominated actor was found dead of an apparent drowning at his Los Angeles home Saturday, according to the Los Angeles Times and celebrity website TMZ, which was the first to report the news. Both outlets cited unnamed sources confirming Perry's death.
His publicists and other representatives did not immediately respond to messages from The Associated Press seeking comment. Asked to confirm police response to what was listed as Perry's home address, LAPD Officer Drake Madison told AP that officers had gone to that block "for a death investigation of a male in his 50s."
Perry's 10 seasons on "Friends" made him one of Hollywood's most recognizable actors, starring opposite Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Matt LeBlanc, Lisa Kudrow and David Schwimmer as a friend group in New York.
As Chandler, he played the quick-witted, insecure and neurotic roommate of LeBlanc's Joey and a close friend of Schwimmer's Ross. During the show's hijinks, he could be counted on to chime in with a line like "Could this BE any more awkward?" or another well-timed quip.
By the series' end, Chandler is married to Cox's Monica and they have a family, reflecting the journey of the core cast from single New Yorkers trying to figure their lives out to several of them married and starting families.
The series was one of television's biggest hits and has taken on a new life and found surprising popularity with younger fans in recent years on streaming services.
"Friends" ran from 1994 until 2004, winning one best comedy series Emmy Award in 2002. The cast notably banded together for later seasons to obtain a salar of
1 million per episode for each.
Unknown at the time was the struggle Perry had with addiction and an intense desire to please audiences.
"'Friends' was huge. I couldn't jeopardize that. I loved the script. I loved my co-actors. I loved the scripts. I loved everything about the show but I was struggling with my addictions which only added to my sense of shame," he wrote in his memoir, "Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing." "I had a secret and no one could know."
"I felt like I was gonna die if the live audience didn't laugh, and that's not healthy for sure. But I could sometimes say a line and the audience wouldn't laugh and I would sweat and sometimes go into convulsions," Perry wrote. "If I didn't get the laugh I was supposed to get I would freak out. I felt that every single night. This pressure left me in a bad place. I also knew of the six people making that show, only one of them was sick."
He recalled in his memoir that Aniston confronted him about being inebriated while filming.
"I know you're drinking," he remembered her telling him once. "We can smell it," she said, in what Perry called a "kind of weird but loving way, and the plural we' hit me like a sledgehammer."
An HBO Max reunion special in 2021 was hosted by James Corden and fed into huge interest in seeing the cast together again, although the program consisted of the actors discussing the show and was not a continuation of their characters' storylines.
Perry received one Emmy nomination for his "Friends" role and two more for appearances as an associate White House counsel on "The West Wing."
Perry also had several notable film roles, starring opposite Salma Hayek in the rom-com "Fools Rush In" and Bruce Willis in the the crime comedy "The Whole Nine Yards."
He worked consistently after "Friends," though never in a role that brought him as much attention or acclaim.
In 2015, he played Oscar for a CBS reboot of "The Odd Couple" that aired for two seasons. He told AP that playing Oscar Madison, the character originally made famous in the 1960s series by Walter Matthau, was a "dream role." He also said he was surprised how much he enjoyed being filmed again in front of a live audience.
"I didn't realize I missed it really until it actually happened, til we actually shot the pilot and there was a studio audience there and I realized, Wow, I really like this. This is nice,'" he said. "You kind of ham up for the people in the audience. My performance never got better than when there was an audience there."
Perry was born Aug. 19, 1969, in Williamstown, Massachusetts.
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Rahul to contest LS polls from Rae Bareli, his loyalist KL Sharma from Amethi
New Delhi (PTI): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will contest the Lok Sabha election from the Rae Bareli seat, the constituency held by his mother Sonia Gandhi earlier.
Kishori Lal Sharma, a close aide of the Gandhi family, has been fielded from the Amethi Lok Sabha seat, the party said in a statement on Friday.
Sharma was the key person who looked after the two prestigious constituencies in the absence of the Gandhis.
Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi, its current chief Mallikarjun Kharge, and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will be in Rae Bareli during the nomination filing, the party said.
Rahul and Sharma will file their nomination papers on Friday, the last date for the filing of nominations for the seats.
The two seats will go to polls on May 20 in the fifth of the seven-phase general election.
Ending days of suspense, the party announced the candidates from the two seats early Friday.
Deliberations had been on in the party since Thursday on the names of the contenders for the two seats, which have been traditionally held by the members of the Gandhi-Nehru family.
The BJP had on Thursday announced Dinesh Pratap Singh as its candidate from Rae Bareli. He had lost to Sonia Gandhi in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
Posters and banners of Rahul Gandhi and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav were also brought late last evening to the Congress office in Gauriganj.
BJP leader Smriti Irani has already filed her nomination papers from Amethi.
The Uttar Pradesh leadership of the Congress had earlier called upon the Gandhi family to contest both the seats.
