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Chris Farley
Born	Christopher Crosby Farley February 15, 1964(1964-02-15) Madison, Wisconsin, U.S.
Died	December 18, 1997 (aged 33) Chicago, Illinois (Accidental Overdose)
Occupation	Actor, Comedian
Years active	1990-1997

Christopher Crosby "Chris" Farley (February 15, 1964 – December 18, 1997) was an American comedian and actor. He was a member at Chicago's Second City Theatre¹ and later went on to the cast of the American sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live. He starred in a string of successful comedic films in the 1990s before his death of a drug overdose in late 1997.

Early life

Farley was born in Madison, Wisconsin. His family consists of four brothers (Tom Farley, Jr., actors Kevin and John), his sister, Barbara, and his parents, Mary Anne, a homemaker, and Thomas, Sr., who owned an oil company.²³

Farley graduated from Edgewood High School where he played football. He also attended La Lumiere School, in Indiana, for one semester in his junior year, after a brief suspension for misbehavior.^{citation needed} He then went on to graduate from Marquette University, in 1986, with a concentration in communications and Theater.⁴ Many of his summers were spent as a camper and as a counselor at Red Arrow Camp, outside of Minocqua, Wisconsin. After Marquette, he worked with his father at the Scotch Oil Company, in Madison.⁵ Farley got his start in professional comedy at the Ark Improv Theatre, in Madison, and at the Improv Olympic theater, in Chicago. He then went on to perform at Chicago's Second City Theatre. He was initially part of Second City's touring group, but was eventually promoted to their main stage. While working at Second City, he was discovered by Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels.⁶

Career

Saturday Night Live

Farley playing Matt Foley, Motivational Speaker

Farley was one of two new SNL (Saturday Night Live) cast members announced in the spring of 1990, the other being Chris Rock.³⁶ On the show, Farley frequently collaborated with fellow cast members David Spade, Chris Rock, Adam Sandler, and Rob Schneider, among others. This group came to be known as the "Bad Boys of SNL."⁷ Popular characters performed by Farley included himself on "The Chris Farley Show" (a talk show in which Farley would often "interview" the guest and get very nervous and ask very simple-minded or irrelevant questions like what there favorite sock brand was), an over-the-top motivational speaker named "Matt Foley" (who constantly reminded other characters that he lived in "a van down by the river"),⁸ Todd O'Connor of Bill Swerski's Superfans (a group of stereotypical Chicagoans who constantly yell out "da Bears!")⁹, a Chippendale's dancer (in a famous skit that paired him with guest host Patrick Swayze)¹⁰, one of the "Gap Girls" (who hung out together at a local mall), a stereotypical lunch lady (to the theme of Lunchlady Land performed by Adam Sandler)¹¹ and Bennett Brauer (a Weekend Update commentator who would often divulge his personal and hygienic problems via air quotes). Some of these characters were brought to SNL from his days at Second City. Farley also performed impersonations of Tom Arnold (who gave the eulogy at his funeral), Andrew Giuliani, Jerry Garcia, Meat Loaf, Norman Schwarzkopf, Dom DeLuise, Roger Ebert, Carnie Wilson, and Newt Gingrich.¹²

Off-screen, Farley was well-known for his pranks in the offices of Saturday Night Live. A March 13, 1995, New York magazine article references Farley and Adam Sandler making late-night prank phone calls from the SNL offices in Rockefeller Center, with Sandler speaking in an old woman's voice and Farley then farting into the phone, as well as Farley mooning cars from a limousine.¹³¹⁴ Live From New York: An Oral History of Saturday Night Live also mentions an incident where Farley defecated out an open window onto the ice rink at Rockefeller Center, many stories below.

Film career

Farley started his film career making cameo appearances in several comedy films, including Wayne's World in 1992, Coneheads in 1993, Wayne's World 2 in 1993, Airheads in 1994 and Adam Sandler's Billy Madison in 1995.

After Farley and most of his fellow cast members were released from their contracts at Saturday Night Live following the 1994-1995 season, Farley focused on his film career. His first two major films co-starred fellow SNL cast member and close friend David Spade. Together, the duo made the films Tommy Boy and Black Sheep in consecutive years 1995 and 1996. These two films were successes at the domestic box office, earning around $32 million each and gaining a large cult following on home video.¹⁵¹⁶ These films established Farley as a relatively bankable star and he was given the sole leading role in 1997's Beverly Hills Ninja, which finished in first place at the box office on its opening weekend.¹⁷ However, drug and alcohol problems began interfering with his work and production of his final film, Almost Heroes, was held up several times so Farley could attend rehab.¹⁸ After his sudden death in December 1997, his last completed films, Almost Heroes and Dirty Work, were released posthumously.

Unfinished projects

Farley had recorded vocals for the title character in the Dreamworks film Shrek, but his death necessitated that the role be recast. He was replaced by his former SNL castmate Mike Myers. At the time of his death, Farley had also been in talks to costar with Vince Vaughn in the film The Gelfin and also to star in a biopic film about Fatty Arbuckle. ¹⁹

Death

In early 1997, a decline in Farley's health was frequently noted in the press. Following his guest appearance on SNL for the last time on October 25, 1997,²⁰ his hoarse voice and apparent perspiration were the subject of public scrutiny.²¹²² In the years before his death, Farley had attempted to seek treatment for alcohol and drug abuse on seventeen separate occasions, as well as numerous visits to weight reduction treatment centers.²³

On December 18, 1997, his younger brother John found Farley dead in his apartment on the sixtieth floor of the John Hancock Center in Chicago. ²⁴ An autopsy later revealed that Farley had overdosed on a combination of cocaine and morphine²⁵ with atherosclerosis cited as a "significant contributing factor" in his death.¹⁸ Farley's death was similar to the death of John Belushi, a comedian and actor who, like Farley, starred in Saturday Night Live. Both died at age 33 of a drug overdose.¹⁰

Funeral

Farley's funeral was held at Our Lady Queen of Peace Catholic Church in Madison, Wisconsin, on December 23, 1997. He was buried at Resurrection Catholic Cemetery, also located in Madison, Wisconsin. Over five hundred people attended his funeral, and many of these were actors who worked with Farley in the past such as Vince Vaughn, Adam Sandler, Lorne Michaels, Dan Aykroyd, Robin Williams, Jim Carrey, Eddie Murphy, Chris Tucker, John Goodman, George Wendt, Norm Macdonald, Rob Schneider, Chris Rock, Tom Arnold, and his wife.²⁶ Attending their friend's funeral proved to be unbearable for some; most notably absent was his former SNL castmate and frequent film co-star David Spade. Spade was later quoted as saying that he did not attend Farley's funeral because he "could not be in a room where Chris was in a box."¹² However, Spade did appear on the special 25th Anniversary episode of Saturday Night Live to call for a moment of remembrance for Farley.

Legacy

On August 26, 2005, he was awarded the 2,289th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The star is located in front of Improv Olympic West.²⁷ In Adam Sandler's 2000 film Little Nicky, Little Nicky's mother, an angel played by Reese Witherspoon, is mentioned at the end of the film to be dating her new fitness instructor in Heaven, who turns out to be Chris Farley.

In his book Gasping for Airtime, former castmember Jay Mohr recalled a surreal moment involving Farley and fellow castmember Phil Hartman. In the SNL cast's goodbye song-and-dance performance to Hartman, the final scene featured Farley (in his Matt Foley costume) and Hartman embracing each other as the latter sang "Goodbye" to the camera.²⁸ They died within six months of each other. This can be seen on the "Best of Chris Farley" SNL special.

On May 6, 2008, the authorized biography of Chris Farley was published. The book, titled The Chris Farley Show (Viking Press), was written by Farley's' brother Tom Farley Jr. and Tanner Colby.²⁹

Filmography

Awards and nominations

References

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Chris Farley

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