Matthew Perry death: Family speak out as Friends co-stars pay tribute – latest

“Hi, my name is Matthew, although you may know me by another name,” he wrote in the book’s opening passage. “My friends call me Matty. And I should be dead.”

Matthew Perry’s family have spoken out on his “tragic” death.

“We are heartbroken by the tragic loss of our beloved son and brother,” the family said in a statement to People. “Matthew brought so much joy to the world, both as an actor and a friend.

“You all meant so much to him and we appreciate the tremendous outpouring of love.”

The Inbetweeners actor Blake Harrison has recalled how Friends star Matthew Perry was a “huge inspiration” as he was growing up, indirectly encouraging him to “pursue acting”.

Perry, most well known for appearing on the sitcom Friends where he played funny guy Chandler Bing, died aged 54 after an apparent drowning, according to the Los Angeles Times and celebrity website TMZ.

Harrison, 38, who played Neil on British comedy series The Inbetweeners about four boys navigating their way through school, is among those who have remembered what it was like to grow up watching the US TV programme in which Perry starred.

In a post to Twitter, formerly X, Harrison said: “Matthew Perry was a huge inspiration to me growing up.

“My friends & I would come into school having memorised his sarcastic one-liners, speech patterns, even Chandler’s dance.

“He brought me so much joy & without knowing it he encouraged me to pursue acting. Thank you.”

Friends co-stars Maggie Wheeler and Morgan Fairchild have remembered Matthew Perry for the joy he “brought to so many” following his “shock” death age 54.

The actor, who became a superstar playing funnyman Chandler Bing during 10 seasons of the US hit comedy, died after an apparent drowning at his Los Angeles home.

Wheeler, who played Perry’s on-off girlfriend Janice Hosenstein during the early series of the TV show and often appeared to perform her catchphrase “Oh! My! God!”, paid tribute to Perry on Instagram.

“What a loss,” Wheeler captioned a picture of the pair. “The world will miss you Matthew Perry. The joy you brought to so many in your too short lifetime will live on.

“I feel so very blessed by every creative moment we shared.”

Meanwhile Fairchild, who played Perry’s on-screen mother and erotic novel writer Nora Bing, said on Twitter: “I’m heartbroken about the untimely death of my ‘son’, Matthew Perry.”

The 73-year-old US actress added: “The loss of such a brilliant young actor is a shock. I’m sending love and condolences to his friends and family, especially his dad, John Bennett Perry, who I worked with on Flamingo Road and Falcon Crest.”

Thousands of fans are sharing their favourite memories of Matthew Perry, following his sudden death aged 54.

Among them is this fantastic clip of Perry being interviewed on The Graham Norton Show along with the always-iconic Miriam Margolyes, and fellow actor Gemma Arterton.

Unfortunately for Perry, who might not have been aware of Margolyes’s love of over-sharing, the Harry Potter star decided to tell the tale of the moment she met her idol, Sir Laurence Olivier.

Upon hearing the NSFW story, Perry joked (or perhaps he wasn’t joking) that this was the “most uncomfortable” moment of his entire life.

We’ll let the clip do the rest of the talking.

When Matthew Perry was a teenager in Ottawa, Canada, he developed a dryly sarcastic manner of talking that was a big hit with his friends. At high school, he had discovered that he could use humour to get people’s attention – and attention and validation were what he craved. Muttering behind the back of a particularly belligerent teacher, he would say, “Could he be any meaner?”, to hoots of laughter.

Ten years later, reading the early scripts for Friends, a series about a group of twentysomething New Yorkers who lived in and out of each other’s apartments, Perry found a kindred spirit in the character of Chandler Bing, who used humour to send up his own insecurities and whose sarcastic one-liners – “Could she be more out of my league?” – would become his trademark.

Read this wonderful tribute to Matthew Perry by Fiona Sturges: