For younger audiences, John Belushi was that fat guy from SNL, the one who may or may not have been Chris Farley, he had a TV show According to John or something.
Not quite.
John Belushi, at the time of his death, was a huge star.
His meteoric rise to fame made him a common face on TV, in film and on the cover of Rolling Stone.
He appeared in the first ever sketch on SNL, he created iconic characters (Joliet Jake Blues, Samurai, Marlon Brando) and catchphrases repeated ad nauseam (“Cheeseburger, cheeseburger, cheeseburger”, “But nooooo!”) and stole the movie National Lampoon;s Animal House with a minor role.
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| National Lampoon Magazine co-founder/ Animal House screenwriter Doug Kenney (Stork), Belushi (Bluto), Lampoon writer/Animal House screenwriter Chris Miller (Hardbar) and Stephen Furst (Flounder) |
Animal House is a Belushi movie, even though his role is smaller.
Why?
When he was on screen, it was as though Animal House had no ensemble cast. John Belushi epitomized that there are no small parts, only big personalities.
Belushi brought focus back on blues music, he made an album that went double platinum. Hell, the guy called in a favor and got FEAR to play on SNL in one of the great scenes of chaos on any live show. He was a crazy guy with childlike eyes who would do anything for a laugh.
On the flip side, his life-of-the-party persona meant that he was willing to do anything.
Recently, director Penny Marshall, a friend of Belushi’s, told The Hollywood Reporter, “”I swear, you’d walk down the street with him, and people would hand him drugs. And then he’d do all of them — be the kind of character he played in sketches or Animal House.”
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| Chevy Chase, Dan Aykroyd, Belushi and SNL creator Lorne Michaels |
The glorification of the 60’s counterculture, turning on and tuning out, freeing one’s mind, these were all things that lead to the ultimately turbulent party-lifestyle of the 1970’s that took a lot of beloved icons down with it. Cocaine, heroin, speed, these were no longer the doings of rebels and the forgotten; these were mainstream like shots of Jack or Screwdrivers for breakfast. Truman Capote was doing coke at Club 33, Elvis Presley was subsisting on sleeping pills and fried banana sandwiches,
Leading up to Belushi’s unfortunate and infamous overdose, he was living at the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles, trying to put together a script for a movie deal with Paramount. He was being paid by then Paramount exec, Michael “Disney CEO” Eisner, $2400 a week in expenses…no questions asked.
“Do all the drugs you want, actor. We just want to be able to make a profit off you, at some point and at whatever expense. Love, Hollywood” — World’s worst Hallmark card.
In a semi-self loathing downward spiral, John was allowed to “be bad” as long as it meant he didn’t lose his edge. He’d tried to go sober, to clean up his system, but Hollywood was always ready with a little taste of something,… ya know, just in case he changed his mind about “being clean”.
Well, it’s all fun and games, until John Belushi gets hurt.
When it was reported that Belushi had died of an overdose, administered by a junkie acquaintance, much changed.
After all, this huge, unstoppable force that was John…had stopped.
Many actors who were living equally in the fast lane, suddenly paused and began to reconsider things. Robin Williams, who had been at Belushi’s suite the night of March 5th, recalled the last thing he said to John, “If you ever get up again, call.” After the news, Williams quit coke and booze cold turkey and remained sober for over two decades.
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| Bill Murray places a flower on Belushi’s coffin; director John Landis (Animal House, Blues Brothers) stands behind him to the left) |
Longtime friend and co-conspirator, Dan Aykroyd, said of John, “He was a good man, a kind man, a warm man, a hot man. What we are talking about here is a good man – and a bad boy.”
For Aykroyd, it meant a definitive change and far more than just party habits. Two scripts he’d written with John in mind as star, now had to be reimagined and reworked to fit another actor. It’s hard not to wonder what Ghostbusters would have been like with Belushi as Dr. Venkman.
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| Aykroyd, Penny Marshall and Belushi |
Would Belushi gone on to become the indie-film staple that Bill Murray is, today? Would he have become the booming voice of reason and prevent a Blues Brothers 2000 to even be made? More importantly, would the world had still been subjected to the moderate-at-best talent of Jim Belushi were it not for Hollywood trying to mend its own guilt?
Live fast, die hard, leave a moderately attractive, but overweight corpse. That was Belushi’s mindset. Unfortunately, he was part of a business that perpetuated that mindset and one that very rarely showed compassion or concern.
Chris Farley found this out, ask him.
A fitting sign was left at his grave on Martha’s Vineyard: “He Could Have Given Us A Lot More Laughs But NOOO. “
