February 15 marks what would have been comic actor Chris Farley’s 61st birthday.
And though his issues with drugs and addiction have been well documented (the Saturday Night Live star died of an overdose of cocaine and morphine in Chicago at age 33 in 1997), a documentary about Farley released last year, titled I Am Chris Farley, revealed a side to him that wasn’t very well known.
He was a ladies man.
His brother John Farley says in the doc that beautiful women were his achilles heel — but he wasn’t just sitting on the sidelines looking at them.
“Some of the most beautiful women in Hollywood would come to the studio to visit him, because he was nice to everybody,” recalled Dan Aykroyd. “He was funny, sweet, and a gentleman.”
He also dated Victoria’s Secret model Lorri Bagley, who recalled that he just had incredible charisma.
And, he also had dance moves that rivaled his one-time Saturday Night Live sketchmate Patrick Swayze.
Actor Bob Odenkirk, who was a writer for SNL at the time, said in the doc that Farley was nervous about taking his shirt off and being typecast as “the fat guy” in the sketch about sexy Chippendales dancers.
Odenkirk told him to go out and be the funniest fat guy he should be — which Farley naturally did.
Comedian Will Sasso also said Farley’s moves were an inspiration. “As a fat kid in high school… he was my hero, especially since Farley was as good a dancer as Swayze,” Sasso said.
Though Farley’s career and life were cut tragically short, he left a lasting impact on the world of comedy. He is widely remembered as one of the comedy greats and earned a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame in 2005, seven years after his untimely death.
“Everyone still has a real nice place in their hearts for him, they still remember him,” good friend David Spade said about his close friend at his Walk of Fame ceremony, per Today. “He goes down as one of the greats. And I still think about him every day.”
Farley’s friends in the comedy world have kept his spirit and memory alive in the decades since his death, including Adam Sandler writing and performing a tribute song for him as well as Spade and Dana Carvey releasing a two-part tribute special on their Fly on the Wall podcast around the 25th anniversary of Farley’s death in 2022.
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Actor Josh Gad is also slated to direct an upcoming biopic on Farley’s life, starring Paul Walter Hauser as the late star. The movie will be based on the book The Chris Farley Show: A Biography in Three Acts, written by Farley’s brother Tom with Tanner Colby. SNL creator Lorne Michaels is producing.
On Instagram Friday, April 12, Hauser wrote of the project: “This is a glory story. Not a tale from the crypt. Ready to honor Christopher.”
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