Chris Farley
Actor / Comedian
Chris Farley got his early comic training with Chicago's famous Second City comedy troupe. Later he became the popular big-pudgy-guy cast member of TV's Saturday Night Live and then moved into feature films. He was known for his collaborations with comedian David Spade; they appeared together in the films Tommy Boy (1995), Black Sheep (1996) and Coneheads (1993). Farley was found dead in his Chicago apartment in December of 1997; an autopsy indicated he died of an accidental overdose of cocaine and morphine, with coronary atherosclerosis -- a narrowing of the heart arteries -- a contributing factor.Extra credit: Farley's best-known character on Saturday Night Live was clumsy motivational speaker Matt Foley, who warned kids they could end up living "...in a van down by the river!"
Farley appears with John Belushi in our loop on the alleged Saturday Night Live Curse. Both men star with Elvis Presley in the loop Died Plump.
Blog posts mentioning Chris Farley:
Four Good Links
Dave's Chris Farley Page
Fan site; good Letterman show transcripts
The Chris Farley Foundation
Family-connected outfit fighting substance abuse through comedy
Farley Died From Overdose
CNN's 1998 report on Farley's autopsy, with a link to their earlier obituary
The Chris Farley Show
2008 New York review of a bio by Farley's brother, with a few naughty words
Vital Stats
Birth
Birthplace
Death
18 December 1997
(drug overdose, age 33)
Best Known As
Star of TV's Saturday Night Live
