Chris Farley
Chris Farley was a wild, 300-pound comic actor who gained recognition for his physical antics on "Saturday Night Live" as well as such movies as "Tommy Boy" and "Black Sheep."
Farley's death in 1998 at the age of 33 prompted unavoidable parallels to John Belushi, another "Saturday Night Live" alumnus whom Farley grew up wishing to emulate. Belushi, who also struggled with his weight, died of a drug overdose in 1982.
Farley, known for working himself into a sweaty frenzy during performances, joined the Second City touring company and was performing in Chicago when invited to audition for "Saturday Night Live," joining the cast in 1990.
Farley spent four years on the show — popularizing such characters as inspirational speaker Matt Foley — before moving on to feature films. He scored a surprise hit with "Tommy Boy," which he followed with "Black Sheep" and "Beverly Hills Ninja."
Friends and associates had long expressed concern about Farley's health and excessive behavior, and the comic acknowledged battling his own outrageous tendencies. The year he died an Us magazine article titled "Chris Farley: On the Edge of Disaster" quoted Farley's manager as saying he feared the comic actor would "go the route of John Candy" if he wasn't careful. Candy died of a massive heart attack in 1994, at the age of 43.
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