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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EC transferred over 50 officials, it's political interference of highest order: Mamata
Kolkata (PTI): West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday expressed alarm over the "arbitrary removal of more than 50 senior officials" in the poll-bound state, terming it a "political interference of the highest order".
Continuing with her tirade against the Election Commission, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo claimed that such action amounted to "systematic politicisation of institutions" and a "direct assault on the Constitution".
After announcing the schedule for the assembly polls, the Election Commission has ordered several reshuffles of senior officers, including the transfer of Chief Secretary Nandini Chakravorty, Home Secretary Jagdish Prasad Meena, and the removal of DGP Peeyush Pandey and Kolkata Police Commissioner Supratim Sarkar.
On Wednesday, the poll body ordered a fresh reshuffle of senior officers, posting two secretaries to other poll-bound states as observers, and deploying 13 IAS and five IPS officers in key poll management roles.
Slamming the poll body, Banerjee took to X to claim that more than 50 senior officials had been "summarily and arbitrarily removed" even before the formal notification of elections.
"The manner in which the Election Commission has singled out and targeted Bengal is not just unprecedented -- it is deeply alarming.
"Even before the formal notification of elections, more than 50 senior officials... have been summarily and arbitrarily removed. This is not administrative action; this is political interference of the highest order," she said.
Banerjee alleged that senior officers from agencies such as IB, STF and CID were being "selectively removed" from the state.
She further alleged "contradictions" in the poll panel's actions, claiming that officers removed from their posts were being assigned as election observers.
"This is not governance. It reflects chaos, confusion, and sheer incompetence being passed off as authority," she said.
Describing the situation as "nothing short of an undeclared emergency", Banerjee alleged that there was a "deliberate design to seize control of West Bengal through coercion and institutional manipulation".
"I stand in complete solidarity with every officer of the Government of West Bengal and their families… Bengal has never bowed to intimidation, and it never will," she added.
Along with the post, the chief minister also attached images of the Election Commission's notifications, ordering the removal and transfer of top state officials to substantiate her claims.
The TMC supremo described the special intensive revision of electoral rolls as "deeply flawed" and went on to say that at a time when the process is underway and "over 200 lives have already been lost, the conduct of the commission reflects a clear bias and an uncomfortable submission to political interests".
Banerjee also claimed that supplementary electoral rolls were yet to be published "in clear disregard of the Supreme Court's directions..
Questioning the intent of the ruling BJP at the Centre, she said, "Why is the BJP so desperate? Why this relentless targeting of Bengal and its people? What satisfaction do they derive from forcing citizens, even after 78 years of Independence, to stand in queues and prove their own citizenship?"
