John Belushi

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

John Belushi
University of Wisconsin, Whitewater
Occupations
  • Comedian
  • actor
  • musician
Years active1972–1982
Known for
Spouse
Judith Jacklin
​
(m. 1976)​
Relatives
AwardsEmmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series
Comedy career
Medium
  • Film
  • television
  • music
Genres

John Adam Belushi (

original cast members of the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live (SNL).[1] Throughout his career, Belushi had a personal and artistic partnership with his fellow SNL star Dan Aykroyd, whom he met while they were both working at Chicago's Second City comedy club.[2]

Born in Chicago to

National Lampoon's Animal House, 1941, The Blues Brothers, and Neighbors. He also pursued interests in music: with Aykroyd, Lou Marini, Tom Malone, Steve Cropper, Donald "Duck" Dunn, and Paul Shaffer, he founded The Blues Brothers
, which led to the film of the same name.

Belushi struggled with heavy drug abuse that threatened his comedy career; more than once, he was dismissed from SNL due to his behavior (and then rehired). In 1982, he died from combined drug intoxication at the age of 33, after a drug dealer, Cathy Smith, injected him with a mixture of heroin and cocaine (known as a speedball) at the Chateau Marmont.[3] He was posthumously honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2004.

Early life

Belushi as a senior at Wheaton Central High School (1967)

John Adam Belushi was born to Agnes Demetri (née Samaras) Belushi[4][5] and Adam Anastos Belushi[6][7] in Humboldt Park, a neighborhood on the West Side of Chicago, Illinois. Agnes, a pharmacy worker,[4] was born in Ohio to Albanian immigrants from Korçë,[8] while Adam was an Albanian immigrant from Qytezë, who owned the Fair Oaks restaurant on North Avenue in Chicago, and later established a restaurant in the Chicago suburb of Wheaton, Illinois.[9][8][10]

Belushi was raised in Wheaton along with his three siblings – younger brothers Billy and

Wheaton Central High School, where he met his future wife, Judith Jacklin.[13]

In 1965, Belushi formed a band, the Ravens, together with four fellow high-school students (Dick Blasucci, Michael Blasucci, Tony Pavilonis, and Phil Special). They recorded one single, "Listen to Me Now/Jolly Green Giant". Belushi played drums and sang vocals. The record was not successful, and the band broke up when he enrolled at the College of DuPage. He also attended the University of Wisconsin–Whitewater for a year, which inspired the Animal House scene of D-Day driving a motorcycle up the stairs.[14] Belushi acquired the iconic "College" crewneck, worn by his character in Animal House, at a print shop when visiting his brother Jim, who attended Southern Illinois University.[15]

Career

The Second City and National Lampoon

Belushi started his own comedy troupe in Chicago, the West Compass Trio (named after the improvisational cabaret revue Compass Players active from 1955 to 1958 in Chicago), with Tino Insana and Steve Beshekas. Their success piqued the interest of Bernard Sahlins, the founder of The Second City improvised comedy enterprise, who went to see them performing in 1971, and asked Belushi to join the cast.[2] At Second City, Belushi met and began working with Harold Ramis, Joe Flaherty, and Brian Doyle-Murray.[2]

In 1972, Belushi was offered a role, together with

National Lampoon magazine.[16] Cast members on the shows produced by Belushi included Ramis, Flaherty, Guest, Brian Doyle Murray, his brother Bill Murray, Gilda Radner, and Richard Belzer. In 1974, Belushi and Chevy Chase voice acted on a Lampoon LP record, the Official National Lampoon Stereo Test and Demonstration Record. And, during a trip to Toronto in 1974, to check out the local Second City cast, Belushi met Dan Aykroyd.[1] Jacklin became an associate producer for the show, and she and Belushi were married on December 31, 1976. "The National Lampoon Show" toured the country in 1974; it was produced by Ivan Reitman. Lampoon owner Matty Simmons
was offered a TV show on NBC at this time, but declined the offer.

Saturday Night Live

In 1975, Chase and writer Michael O'Donoghue recommended Belushi to Lorne Michaels as a potential member for a television show Michaels was about to produce for NBC called NBC's Saturday Night, later Saturday Night Live (SNL). Michaels was initially undecided, as he was not sure if Belushi's physical humor would fit with what he was envisioning, but he changed his mind after giving Belushi an audition.[1] He appeared alongside O'Donoghue in SNL's first sketch (subsequently titled "the Wolverines") which aired on October 11, 1975.[17]

Over his four-year tenure at SNL Belushi developed a series of successful characters, including the belligerent Samurai Futaba; Henry Kissinger; Ludwig van Beethoven; the Greek owner (Pete Dionisopoulos) of the Olympia Café; Captain James T. Kirk; and a contributor of furious opinion pieces on Weekend Update, during which he coined his catchphrase, "But N-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O!"[1] With Aykroyd, Belushi created Jake and Elwood, the Blues Brothers. Originally intended to warm up the studio audience before broadcasts of SNL, the Blues Brothers were eventually featured as musical guests.[18] Belushi also reprised his Lemmings imitation of Joe Cocker. Cocker himself joined Belushi in 1976 to sing "Feelin' Alright?" together.

Like many other SNL cast members and writers, Belushi began using drugs heavily and attended concerts with many of the popular artists of the era including

drug abuse.[19]

In Rolling Stone's February 2015 appraisal of all 141 SNL cast members to that time, Belushi received the top ranking. "Belushi was the 'live' in Saturday Night Live", they wrote, "the one who made the show happen on the edge ... Nobody embodied the highs and lows of SNL like Belushi."[20]

Cinema

In 1978, Belushi performed in the films

Hollywood studios tried to copy the film's success without the satire, resulting in a string of "nerds vs. jocks" films in the 1980s with cheap sight gags involving nudity and gross-out humor. Meatballs and Stripes, both starring Bill Murray, followed this formula and even included motivational speeches in their last acts, much like the one given by Belushi's character Bluto. Both films were directed and produced by Ivan Reitman, who had served as a producer for Animal House.[22]

Following the success of the Blues Brothers on SNL, Belushi and Aykroyd, with the help of pianist-arranger

double platinum
. Two singles were released: "Rubber Biscuit", which reached number 37 on the Billboard Hot 100, and "Soul Man", which reached number 14.

In 1979, Belushi left SNL with Aykroyd to film

John Avildsen), and most notably The Blues Brothers (directed by John Landis). Released in the U.S. on June 20, 1980, The Blues Brothers received generally negative reviews.[25] It earned just under $5 million in its opening weekend, and went on to gross $115.2 million in theaters worldwide before its release on home video. The Blues Brothers band toured to promote the film, which led to a third album (and second live album), Made in America, recorded at the Universal Amphitheatre
in 1980. The track "Who's Making Love" peaked at number 39.

The only film Belushi made without Aykroyd following his departure from SNL was the romantic comedy Continental Divide (directed by Michael Apted). Released in September 1981, it starred Belushi as Chicago hometown hero writer Ernie Souchack (loosely based on newspaper columnist and long-time family friend Mike Royko), who gets an assignment researching a scientist (played by Blair Brown) who studies birds of prey in the remote Rocky Mountains.

By 1981, Belushi had become a fan and advocate of the punk rock band

sensationalistic details of the event the following day.[26]

At the time of his death, Belushi was pursuing several movie projects,

drug trafficking film in a High Times tribute article from 1982: "Belushi wanted to give these daring captains courageous of consciousness the credit they deserved, he told me. He wanted to star in a major marijuana movie to be called Kingpin. He wanted to play the title role."[28]

Belushi made a "guest-star appearance" on an episode of the television series Police Squad! (1982) by the creators of Airplane!. The opening of the show featured a running joke that featured a sight gag with the guest star dying right away. Belushi died shortly before the episode was to air, so the scene was cut and replaced by a segment with William Conrad.[29]

Death

Belushi struggled with drug addiction during most of his adult life. He began using cocaine (both snorting and freebasing) in the early to mid 1970s. He had managed to refrain from drug use for a brief period during the production of Continental Divide, but severely relapsed during the production of Neighbors. Less than four months after the filming on Neighbors ended, on the evening of February 28, 1982, Belushi moved out of his house and checked in to a bungalow at the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles.[30] For several days, he did drugs in his bungalow and wandered from nightclub to nightclub on the Sunset Strip and on Santa Monica Blvd.[30]

On March 4, 1982, Belushi visited the Los Angeles office of his long-time manager Bernie Brillstein and asked him for money. Brillstein declined, suspecting that Belushi wanted money for drugs.[31] Later that day, Belushi returned and again asked for money while Brillstein was in a meeting with someone. Brillstein was reluctant to rebuke Belushi in front of the other person and gave him the money. In the early morning hours of March 5, Belushi, while in his Chateau Marmont bungalow, was visited separately by friends Robin Williams and Robert De Niro, as well as drug dealer Cathy Smith.[32][33][30]

Around 12:00 pm

Bill Wallace arrived at Belushi's bungalow at the Chateau Marmont to deliver a typewriter and audio cassette recorder because Belushi had requested them the previous day. Wallace found Belushi dead, with no one else present in the bungalow.[34] Neither law enforcement nor a representative of the coroner's office revealed any details for almost six days. On the morning of March 11, Los Angeles County coroner Thomas Noguchi announced that the cause of death was combined drug intoxication involving cocaine and heroin, a drug combination known as a speedball.[35]

Belushi's death was eventually investigated by

forensic pathologist Michael Baden who determined his death was caused by heroin.[36]

Cathy Smith was arrested by the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) on March 5, 1982, because she was under suspicion for possession of narcotics, not because of Belushi's death.[37] Later in 1982, Rolling Stone magazine described the circumstances of her arrest as follows: "On the afternoon of March 5th, Cathy Evelyn Smith had appeared driving the wrong way into the one-way exit of the Chateau Marmont Hotel on Sunset Strip behind the wheel of John Belushi's rented red Mercedes ... At that moment, a hundred feet away, Belushi lay naked and dead on the floor of his $200-a-day bungalow. The police who had cordoned off the area were reflexively insisting it had been 'death from natural causes'."[37] The LAPD released Smith after questioning.[37]

In an interview with the

involuntary manslaughter
, and she served fifteen months in prison.

Smith, 39, pleaded no contest June 11, 1986, to involuntary manslaughter and three counts of furnishing and administering controlled substances to Belushi, 33, in the hours before he was found dead on March 5, 1982, in a bungalow at the Chateau Marmont hotel in West Hollywood.

John Belushi would not have died when he died except for the heroin that was furnished and administered by the defendant.— LA county prosecutor's office[38]

In 1982, Belushi's widow Judith arranged for a traditional Orthodox Christian funeral that was conducted by an Albanian Orthodox priest.

Burial

Belushi was interred at Abel's Hill Cemetery in Chilmark, Massachusetts, on Martha's Vineyard.[39] Belushi's tombstone has a skull and crossbones with the inscription, "I may be gone but Rock and Roll lives on."

After the success of The Blues Brothers, Belushi had seen his fame elevate, which further escalated after his death. Members of his family, along with Chilmark officials, gradually became more concerned over his gravesite becoming a tourist attraction like that of Jim Morrison. Reports increased of excess noise, damaging grass and disturbing the peace of others buried there, along with fans paying bizarre tributes by littering his gravesite with liquor bottles, beer cans, and even drugs and drug paraphernalia.

On May 27, 1983, more than a year after his initial burial, three cemetery workers exhumed Belushi's wooden casket, discovering that moisture had entered the grave, further compounded by heavy rainfall that day. Upon raising the casket, the bottom began to splinter until it separated completely from the upper portion. The bottom then fell back into the grave along with Belushi's corpse. His remains, which were still intact despite the incident, were placed in a bronze casket and reinterred in an unmarked grave near the original site. [citation needed]

[40] The tombstone of Belushi's mother at Elmwood Cemetery in River Grove, Illinois, has Belushi's name inscribed on it and thus serves as a cenotaph.[41]

Belushi was scheduled to present the first Best Visual Effects Oscar at the 1982 Academy Awards with Dan Aykroyd. Aykroyd presented the award alone, and stated from the lectern: "My partner, he would have loved to have been here tonight to present this award, since he was somewhat of a visual effect himself."[42]

When Elizabeth Taylor learned that drug use had led to Belushi's death, she remembered his comedic impersonation of her on Saturday Night Live in 1978 when she had been overweight. She wryly remarked that he had gone "to such great lengths to satirize my excesses and then died of his own."[43]

Tributes, legacy, and popular culture

A 2008 stamp from Albania

During the first live SNL episode following Belushi's death with host Robert Urich and musical guest Mink DeVille, airing live on March 20, 1982, cast member Brian Doyle-Murray gave a tribute to him.[44] During the preproduction of Ghostbusters, Reitman remarked that Slimer bore a resemblance to Belushi's character Bluto from Animal House.[45] Since then, Slimer has been described as "the ghost of John Belushi" by Aykroyd in many interviews.

Belushi's life was detailed in two books: the 1984 biography Wired: The Short Life and Fast Times of John Belushi by Bob Woodward, the accuracy of which has been questioned by journalists and by people close to Belushi,[46] and the 1990 memoir Samurai Widow by his widow Judith. Woodward's book was adapted into a film of the same name in 1989, which was denounced by Aykroyd and Judith, and was given poor reviews by critics. Belushi's career and death were prominently featured in the 1999 memoir of his manager Bernie Brillstein, who wrote that he was haunted by the comedian's overdose and had since learned how to better deal with clients who abuse drugs or alcohol.[31]

Eddie Money wrote "Passing by the Graveyard (Song for John B.)", from his 1982 album No Control, in tribute to Belushi. The two became friends after Money was a musical guest on SNL during the show's third season.[47] The thrash metal group Anthrax penned a song about Belushi on their 1987 album Among the Living, titled "Efilnikufesin (N.F.L.)."[48] Polish rock band Lady Pank recorded a song "John Belushi" for their 1988 album Tacy sami, with references to his Albanian ancestry.

Belushi has been portrayed by actors Eric Siegel in Gilda Radner: It's Always Something, Tyler Labine in Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of Mork & Mindy (which also features his friendship with Robin Williams), Michael Chiklis in Wired, and John Gemberling in A Futile and Stupid Gesture. Chris Farley, who was heavily influenced by Belushi, died in 1997 at age 33 due to a drug overdose, which has fueled many comparisons between Belushi and Farley.[49]

Belushi's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

In 2004, Belushi was posthumously inducted into the

Biography Channel aired an episode of Final 24, a documentary following Belushi during the last 24 hours leading to his death. Four years later, Biography aired a full documentary of Belushi's life. In 2015, Belushi was ranked by Rolling Stone as the greatest SNL cast member of all time.[51]

Belushi's widow later remarried and is now Judith Jacklin Belushi Pisano. Co-biographer Tanner Colby and she produced Belushi: A Biography, a collection of first-person interviews and photographs of Belushi's life that was published in 2005.

According to SNL castmate

Women's Libber" and did not hate women.[54]

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
1975 Tarzoon: Shame of the Jungle Craig Baker English version, Voice
1978 Animal House John Blutarsky
Goin' South Deputy Hector
1979 Old Boyfriends Eric Katz
1941 Captain Bill "Wild Bill" Kelso
1980 The Blues Brothers Jake "Joliet Jake" Blues
1981 Continental Divide Ernie Souchak
Neighbors Earl Keese (final film role)

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1975–1980 Saturday Night Live Various Roles 79 episodes; also writer
1976 The Beach Boys: It's OK Cop #2 TV movie; also writer
1978 The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash Ron Decline TV movie

Others

Year Title Notes
1973
National Lampoon Lemmings
 		Stage
1973–1974 The National Lampoon Radio Hour Radio, also Creative Director
1975 The National Lampoon Show Stage

Discography

Comedy albums

See also

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 978-0879728212
    . Retrieved September 10, 2014.
  2. ^
    ISBN 978-1409051008
    . Retrieved September 10, 2014.
  3. ^ Stewart, Robery W. (September 12, 1985). "Either of 2 Drugs Could Have Killed Belushi--Coroner". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on October 11, 2020. Retrieved October 11, 2020.
  4. ^ a b "Mother of John, Jim Belushi Dies at 64". Tulsa World. Associated Press. December 23, 1989. Retrieved November 22, 2020.
  5. ^ "Denny-Mahoney – User Trees". Genealogy.com.
  6. ^ "Denny-Mahoney – User Trees". Genealogy.com. Retrieved June 15, 2017.
  7. ^ "Adam A. Belushi". Chicago Tribune. June 2, 1996. Archived from the original on November 22, 2020. Retrieved November 22, 2020.
  8. ^
    ISBN 978-1611791402
    . ... son of Agnes, a first generation Albanian-American, and Adam, an Albanian immigrant and restaurant operator who left his native village, Qyteze, in 1934.
  9. ^ Collins, Glenn (February 17, 1993). "Belushi Is No Stranger To a Bar Owner's Role Despite the Movie Image". The New York Times.
  10. ISBN 978-1610695961
    . Retrieved May 28, 2015.
  11. ^ "John Belushi". NBC.com. Archived from the original on February 6, 2009.
  12. ^ Broyard, Anatole (June 2, 1984). "Books Of The Times; Close-Up Of John Belushi". The New York Times.
  13. ISBN 978-1610695954
    .
  14. ^ "Famous people of Whitewater". Royal Purple. February 25, 2015. Retrieved October 1, 2020.
  15. ^ Bode, Gus. "Survey says:SIUC resembles Animal House'". Daily Egyptian. Retrieved January 3, 2021.
  16. ^ "The National Lampoon Radio Hour". NPR.org. November 17, 2003.
  17. ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdWAGFLnOUg&ab_channel=SaturdayNightLive
  18. ISBN 9781586481902
    . Retrieved September 10, 2014.
  19. ISBN 978-1118039021
    . Retrieved September 10, 2014.
  20. ^ "'Saturday Night Live': All 145 Cast Members Ranked". Rolling Stone. No. 1229. February 26, 2015. p. 32. Archived from the original on October 2, 2015. Retrieved February 3, 2018.
  21. ^ "100 Top Grossing Movies of All Time – Page 5 – 24/7 Wall St". Retrieved October 26, 2020.
  22. ISSN 0028-792X
    . Retrieved January 28, 2019.
  23. ^ "Steve Cropper". StaxRecords.com. April 10, 2019. Retrieved November 10, 2020.
  24. ^ In his biography of Belushi, Wired: The Short Life and Fast Times of John Belushi, Bob Woodward learned, from the numerous interviews he conducted, that Belushi recruited Cropper and Dunn by "alternating good-natured jokes and hard sell."
  25. ^ de Visé, Daniel (2024). The Blues Brothers: An Epic Friendship, the Rise of Improv, and the Making of an American Film Classic. Atlantic Monthly Press. pp. 293, 294.
  26. ^ "The Night John Belushi Booked the Punk Band Fear on Saturday Night Live, And They Got Banned from the Show". Open Culture.
  27. ^ Evans, Bradford (March 3, 2011). "The Lost Roles of John Belushi". Splitsider.com. Archived from the original on May 17, 2018.
  28. ^ "High Times Greats: John Belushi". High Times. January 22, 2021.
  29. ^ "John Belushi". IMDb.
  30. ^ a b c WEHO Online Community News article dated November 26, 2023
  31. ^ a b Brillstein, Bernie (1999) Where Did I Go Right? You're No One in Hollywood Unless Someone Wants You Dead. Little, Brown and Company.[ISBN missing] [page needed]
  32. ^ "Robin Williams". Biography. Biography Channel. July 7, 2006.
  33. ^ "John Belushi Dies at the Chateau Marmont". franksreelreviews.com.
  34. ^ "The Final Days of John Belushi: What Led to His Sudden Death? | Biography". www.biography.com. May 20, 2020.
  35. ^ "L.A. Coroner Is Suspended For 30 Days". The Washington Post. March 12, 1982. Retrieved April 6, 2022.
  36. ^ Chambers, Marcia (September 19, 1985). "Pathologist Cites Heroin in Death of Belushi". The New York Times.
  37. ^ a b c "John Belushi: Wrong Time, Wrong Place, Wrong People". Rolling Stone. May 13, 1982. Retrieved November 24, 2020.
  38. LA Times
    . September 3, 1986. Retrieved November 24, 2020.
  39. ISBN 978-0316391962
    – via Google Books.
  40. ^ "Top 10 Celebrity Grave Sites". Time. September 3, 2009 – via content.time.com.
  41. ISBN 978-0786479924
    – via Google Books.
  42. ^ "The Oscars of 1982". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on March 28, 2023.
  43. ISBN 978-0399132698
    – via Google Books.
  44. ^ "81n: Robert Urich / Mink De Ville". Saturday Night Live Transcripts. October 8, 2018.
  45. ISBN 0918432685
    . Joe Medjuck says: "One day, during preproduction, we were all sitting around talking about the Onionhead concept, and Ivan remarked that the character was sort of like Bluto in Animal House – like the ghost of John Belushi, in a way, Danny, who was obviously a good friend of John's, never argued with that. Even so, we never officially said that and we never mentioned it in the script. It was just one way to look at the character, because Onionhead's grossness is like Bluto's in Animal House. We certainly never expected anyone to recognize him as such, although somehow the word did get out and we received some calls from a few newspapers saying they'd heard we had the ghost of John Belushi in our movie."
  46. Slate
    . Retrieved March 13, 2013.
  47. ^ Tramel, Jimmie (November 13, 2017). "Jimmie Tramel: Rocker Eddie Money's best work came from dark place". tulsaworld.com. Retrieved October 28, 2020.
  48. ^ Prato, Prato (February 26, 2013). "Songfacts Interview with Charlie Benante by Greg Prato". Songfacts.com. Retrieved January 31, 2016.
  49. ^ Goldblatt, Henry (May 7, 2008). "'Chris Farley Show' stuffed with gossip". CNN. Retrieved June 8, 2008.
  50. ^ "Hollywood Walk of Fame – John Belushi". walkoffame.com. Hollywood Chamber of Commerce. Retrieved November 16, 2017.
  51. ^ Sheffield, Rob (February 11, 2015). "'Saturday Night Live': All 141 Cast Members Ranked". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on October 2, 2015. Retrieved March 25, 2015.
  52. ^ "John Belushi A Misogynist". Huffington Post. May 7, 2008. Retrieved June 8, 2008.
  53. ^ "Writer Anne Beatts on the original "SNL" cast". EmmyTVLegends.org. Archived from the original on October 28, 2021.
  54. ^ "Belushi – Q&A Judd Apatow talks to R.J. Cutler & Judith Belushi-Pisano". Film Independent Presents. Archived from the original on October 28, 2021.

External links

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