SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher took to Instagram to express her condolences over the passing of Friends star Matthew Perry.
While Friends was the big hit over at NBC during the ’90s, over at CBS, Drescher’s sitcom, The Nanny, was the Tiffany network’s comedy pillar. Perry was a 7x SAG Award nominee, winning for Best Ensemble Comedy Series in 1996 for Friends.
“So sad that on the eve of the brightest moon we lost one of our brightest stars” wrote Drescher in a post that had a piano accompaniment of “Auld Lang Syne”.
“A brilliant comedian but a sad clown,” added Drescher, “I didn’t know him but as Chandler he will always be a ‘friend’.
“May you RIP dear one. Your talent will continue to make us laugh… health is wealth,” the SAG-AFTRA leader wrote.
Perry died at his Los Angeles home on Saturday afternoon; the actor found unconscious by first responders who were unable to revive him. An autopsy is underway into cause of death.
Drescher together with the SAG-AFTRA Negotiating Committee and the guild’s Chief Negotiator and National Executive Director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland were busy in virtual talks with the AMPTP throughout yesterday as we first told you, looking to hammer down a new deal for streaming revenue residuals and AI rights for actors. Saturday’s virtual session was described as “a deep dive” per sources. No major studio CEOs were in attendance.
This morning, Friends co-creators/executive producers Marta Kauffman and David Crane and the series’ executive producer/director Kevin Bright have issued a statement about Perry’s death, saying, “We will always cherish the joy, the light, the blinding intelligence he brought to every moment – not just to his work, but in life as well,” the trio said, ending their tribute with a somber take on Friends‘ famous episode titles, “This truly is The One Where Our Hearts Are Broken.”
