Remembering Matthew Perry: The Highs & Lows of a Beloved Actors Life
By Mack Carlyle on November 9, 2023
By Mack Carlyle
In late October, it was announced that actor Matthew Perry had passed away. He was found in his hot tub in his home in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, and was later pronounced dead by the LA County Medical Examiner’s Office. Today, I want to celebrate the life and career of Matthew Perry, the highs and lows, and what I will always remember him for.
Matthew Perry was born in Williamstown, Massachusetts. His parents divorced when he was one years old, and he moved to live in with his mother in Ottawa, who was press secretary for then Prime Minister, Pierre Trudeau. He spent most of his childhood in Canada, attending school, and practicing Tennis, becoming a top-ranked junior player in Canada. By age 10, Perry started smoking, his grade slipped and he and a friend beat up future Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (who attended the same school as Perry). He started drinking at age 14, and by 18 he was drinking daily. At age 15 he moved to LA to live with his father, American actor John Bennet Perry. He started studying acting and started his journey into the world of acting… but also delved deeper into the world of addiction.
Perry had said when he passed away, he didn’t want to be remembered for his time on Friends. He wanted to be remembered for his work with addiction. Perry struggled most of his life with addiction. He started drinking and smoking at a young age, and after a jet-ski accident, he became addicted to the painkiller Vicodin. Perry suffered a lot on the set of Friends, showing up extremely hungover, sometimes sweating and shaking. Castmates tried to help him, even staging an intervention, but it was unsuccessful. His addiction got so bad he couldn’t remember filming three years of Friends. Perry was in and out of rehab many times, and his health suffered greatly. He had alcohol-induced pancreatitis and had to have numerous surgeries. When he became sober he stated that he had spent about $9 million on his addiction. He started his philanthropic work in 2011, working as a celebrity spokesperson for the National Association of Drug Court Professionals, working towards funding drug courts. He received the Champion Of Recovery award in 2013, from the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy for opening Perry House. A rehabilitation center in his former mansion in Malibu.
Perry is most well known for playing Chandler Bing on the hit show Friends. He was in all 234 episodes of the show, but I never watched Friends. I tried a few times to watch the series, but I just didn’t click with it. What I will remember Matthew Perry for was his only venture into videogame voice acting, his role as Benny in the 2011 game Fallout: New Vegas.
Fallout is a post-apocalyptic video game series. The world was destroyed by nuclear war, and you play a character trying to survive the irradiated wasteland. Fallout: New Vegas is set in Nevada, where numerous factions fight for control of the dystopian Las Vegas Strip.
The game starts with Matthew Perry monologuing, we meet his character as he is trying to rob the player, and promptly shoots them in the head.
The player wakes up in a doctor’s office, and they fix up the player. The first half of the game is centred around finding Benny. You follow his footsteps through this world until you eventually find him on the Vegas strip where you can get your revenge. Matthew Perry gives a phenomenal performance in the game, with Benny being a fan-favourite character, remembered fondly by many New Vegas players to this day.
Fallout: New Vegas was released in 2010, and to this day it is my favourite game of all time. I put countless hours into this game, and I played it when I was both a kid and a teenager, so I have core memories of this game and story. Matthew Perry also shared a love for the Fallout games! During an interview on Ellen, Perry stated he played the game Fallout 3 so much that he suffered a hand injury, resulting in him needing injections in his hands to deal with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.
With the passing of Matthew Perry, I hoped to celebrate his life with this article. He did a lot of amazing work with addiction and rehabilitation and helped a lot of people deal with substance abuse. He was in many memorable films and TV series, including 17 Again, Mr. Sunshine and of course Friends. I will always remember Matthew Perry for his role in Fallout: New Vegas, all the hours I spent playing the game, talking to his character in the game, and playing for hours during my formative years. To properly remember Matthew Perry, I believe I will be playing through Fallout: New Vegas again, to properly celebrate the career of Matthew Perry, and to relive a beloved game once more.