Matthew Perry laid to rest in Los Angeles among Friends cast members and family – latest

Actor and Goop founder Paltrow remembered how Perry “hoped his break was around the corner” when she met him in 1993 at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in Massachusetts, in a touching tribute on Instagram.

Alongside a photograph of Perry taken in the Noughties, she wrote: “We were both there for most of the summer doing plays. He was so funny and so sweet and so much fun to be with. We drove out to swim in creeks, had beers in the local college bar, kissed in a field of long grass.

“It was a magical summer,” the Iron Man actor continued. “He had shot the pilot of Friends but it had not aired yet. He was nervous, hoping his big break was just around the corner. It was.”

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The Friends star’s performances were a masterclass in comic timing. And in his life outside of Chandler Bing, he was disarmingly honest about his frailties and his struggles with addiction. Fiona Sturges pays tribute

There are other icons who have passed, but Perry was that exact right combination of just-young-enough and not-quite-as-young-as-you-remember to make you really reflect on what his death means to you, Ryan Coogan writes

In a podcast interview with Tom Power last year, Perry revealed that he aspired to be remembered not for his iconic role in the sitcom Friends but for his efforts in supporting people struggling with addiction.

He said: “I’ve had a lot of ups and downs in my life but the best thing about me, bar none, is that if an alcoholic or drug addict comes up to me and says, ‘Will you help me?’ I will always say ‘Yes, I know how to do that. I will do that for you, even if I can’t always do it for myself.’ So I do that, whenever I can. In groups, or one on one.”

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In the wake of Matthew Perry’s tragic death, fans and collaborators of the 54-year-old actor have reflected on the star’s comic talents beyond the stage.

Despite Friends producers having kept an open door policy to the writers’ room, only Perry regularly contributed to scripts – often happily pitching up to ten jokes an episode while his co-stars unwound backstage.

Matthew Perry hoped to work again with his 17 Again co-star Zac Efron on a biopic about his own life, the late actor’s friend has said.

Perry starred in the 2009 comedy as a man in his late thirties who magically turns back into his 17-year-old self, played by Efron.

Speaking to People, Perry’s friend Athenna Crosby – who saw the actor just one day before his death – the Friends star had “wanted to make a movie about his life and have a biopic made”.

The model added that Perry had “wanted Zac Efron, who’s played him already to play him again because he said he did such a good job”.

A few days after Perry’s sudden death, actor John Stamos honoured the Friends star in an Instagram post.

“Matthew and I had been friendly long before Friends, so when I guest starred as Zach, the prospective sperm donor for Chandler (Perry) and Monica (Courteney Cox), I hung with him a lot,” the Full House star wrote.

Alongside a clip of a scene from the show’s episode titled “The One with the Donor”, in which Monica and Chandler grill Zach about his family’s health history, Stamos recounted Perry’s unforgettable act of kindness on set.