Chris Farley

At 33 years old, Chris Farley has this physical status:

Christopher Crosby Farley (February 15, 1964-1997) was an American actor and comedian.

Farley was known for his vivacious comedic style, and later appeared on Chicago's Second City Theatre as a cast member of the NBC sketch comedy program Saturday Night Live from 1990 to 1995.

He went on to pursue a film career, starring in films including Coneheads, Tommy Boy, Black Sheep, and Beverly Hills Ninja.

Farley died as a result of a heroin overdose at the age of 33.

Early life

Chris Farley was born in Madison, Wisconsin, on February 15, 1964, and grew up in Maple Bluff. Thomas John Farley Sr. (1936-99), a father, and his mother, Mary Anne (née Crosby), was a homemaker. He had four children: Tom Jr., Kevin, John, and Barbara. Jim McGuire, Jim's uncle, is Ford Motor Company's chief executive officer.

The Farleys are Irish Catholics. Chris attended parochial schools in Madison, including Edgewood High School of the Sacred Heart. Chris will "always make it to Mass," according to Joel Murray, a fellow Second City cast member.

Many of his summers were spent at Red Arrow Camp, near Minocqua, Wisconsin, as a camper and mentor. He graduated from Marquette University in 1986 with a double major in communications and theater. He played rugby union at Marquette and discovered a love of comedies.

He worked with his father at the Scotch Oil Company in Madison after college. At the Ark Improv Theatre in Madison, he first discovered the art of improvisational comedy.

Farley made his way to Chicago, where he came first at Improv Olympic. He attended Second City Theatre in Chicago, beginning as Stephen Colbert the day before, and then as part of Second City's touring company. He was eventually promoted to the main stage of three revues, The Gods Must Be Lazy, It Was Thirty Years Ago Today, and Flag Smoking Permitted in Lobby Only or Censorama.

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Career

Despite his height, Farley was well-known for his physical appearance/comedy and athleticism (similar to Curly Howard and Roscoe Arbuckle). This began and was used to great effect during his time on Saturday Night Live and was used in many of his films.

Farley, alongside Chris Rock, was one of the new Saturday Night Live cast members when he first appeared in early 1990. Farley worked on SNL with Chris Rock, Adam Sandler, Tim Meadows, Rob Schneider, and David Spade, among others. This group came to be known as the "Bad Boys of SNL."

Matt Foley, an over-the-top motivational speaker who often told others that he was "living in a van down by the river," he said. When Bob Odenkirk and Farley appeared at Second City, he and Farley were performers. The character's name derives from a long-time friend of Farley's who became a Catholic priest and now serves as head pastor at St. James Catholic Church in Arlington Heights, Illinois. Farley used other names in early renditions of the character before becoming aware of whom he was watching until Foley's name was used on the show and receiving praise, which caused Farley to abandon the character and refuse to change it. Any of the character's demeanors were a mash-up of several aspects, including Farley's technique of squatting down when giving pep talks and the voice his father used when he was angry.

Todd O'Connor of Bill Swerski's Superfans, a group of stereotypical Chicagoans who yelled "da Bears," was one of Bill Swerski's most popular Farley characters. "A would-be Chippendales dancer and his guest host Patrick Swayze, a stereotypical lunch lady who served together in a local mall; a contributor to Adam Sandler's "Lunchlady Land"; and himself on the Chris Farley Show, where Farley "interviewed" the guest with poorly thought or trailed off topics that were not relevant to the visitor.

Any of these characters were brought to SNL from Second City. Farley performed impersonations of Tom Arnold (who paid Farley's respects at his private funeral), Andrew Giuliani, Jerry Garcia, Meat Loaf, Norman Schwarzkopf, Dom DeLuise, Roger Ebert, Carnie Wilson, Newt Gingrich, Mindy Cass, Hank Williams Jr., and Rush Limbaugh.

Farley, who lived off-screen, was known for his pranks in the offices of Saturday Night Live's offices. Sandler and Farley will receive prank phone calls from the SNL offices in Rockefeller Center late at night, with Sandler talking in an old woman's voice and Farley leaping into the phone and mooning limousines from a limousine and also defecating out a 17th floor window. He was also known to get naked and perform various stunts for amusement, including imitating Jame "Buffalo Bill" Gumb from the then-current film The Silence of the Lambs. Rock once said he actually saw Farley's genitals more than Farley's girlfriend. Sandler told Conan O'Brien of The Tonight Show that NBC dropped him and Farley from the show in 1995.

Farley appeared in Wayne's World, Coneheads, Airheads, and Uncredited in Billy Madison during his time on SNL. He was also in the music video for the Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Soul to Squeeze," which was also on the soundtrack to Coneheads.

Farley and the majority of his co-cast members were fired from their roles at Saturday Night Live following the 1994–95 season, and he began focusing on his film career. Tommy Boy and Black Sheep were his first two major films, he starred with SNL colleague and close friend David Spade. These were a hit at the domestic box office, with each bringing about $32 million per capita and gaining a large fanbase following on home video.

Farley was established as a fairly wealthy actor, and he was given the title of Beverly Hills Ninja, which finished in first place at the box office on the first weekend.

Farley was particularly dissatisfied with Black Sheep, an attempt by the studio to resurrect Tommy Boy's chemistry, but the project was only 60 pages into the script when it was approved. As a result, he relapsed on the night of the premiere, requiring more rehab before he could resume work on Beverly Hills Ninja. Almost Heroes and Dirty Work, his last completed films since his death on December 18, 1997, were released in May and June 1998, respectively.

Farley was originally cast as the voice of the title character in the film Shrek, earning 85 percent (or 95%), but the character died just before recording was finished. The filmmakers felt that continuing the film with Farley's voice would be in poor taste, so Shrek's talk was re-recorded by former SNL castmate Mike Myers. In 2015, a story reel starring a sample of Farley as Shrek was published. According to his brother, Shrek's original version was more like Farley himself.

Farley was scheduled for another voice role in Dinosaur as a young male Brachiosaurus named Sorbus, who, despite his massive stature, was afraid of heights. The character was rewritten as Baylene, an elderly female Brachiosaurus portrayed by British actress Joan Plowright, after his death.

Farley had been in talks to costar with Vince Vaughn in The Gelfin and to star in a biographical film about comedian Fatty Arbuckle written by David Mamet at the time of his death. Jim Cary's role in the 1996 film The Cable Guy was originally intended for Farley, but scheduling conflicts led him to his absence. Farley was also in possession of Ishmael (eventually played by Randy Quaid) in Kingpin, but He was also offered the role of Ishmael but was later forced to cancel due to his commitment to the role in Black Sheep.

Farley was supposed to appear in a third Ghostbusters film, which was supposed to be about a new trio of Ghostbusters battling overpopulation in Hell at the time. Farley wanted to be the head coach in a potential television series based on the books, according to Dav Pilkey, the creator of the children's book series Captain Underpants.

Farley had been in talks for the lead in a Dunces-based adaptation of the book A Confederacy of Confederation. Farley has also expressed an interest in seeing Atuk in a version of the book The Incomparable Atuk by Farley. Both of these shelved films, as well as the Arbuckle biopic, are said to be cursed, as Farley, John Belushi, and John Candy were all attached to both roles, and none of them were to either project before any of the films were released.

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