Matthew Perry, who died on Saturday at age 54, was buried on Friday at a Los Angeles cemetery in a service attended by relatives and castmates from the well-known 1990s television sitcom Friends, show business media reported, quoting photographs.
Grievers gathered at the Forest Lawn cemetery in the Hollywood Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, less than a mile from the Warner Bros studio where the show was filmed. It is also the last resting place of considerable Hollywood A-listers including Michael Jackson, Lucille Ball, and Elizabeth Taylor.
Perry, who played wise-cracking Chandler Bing on Friends 1994-2004, was discovered dead in his Los Angeles home, causing an outpouring of sorrow from fanatics and fellow celebrities.
The five co-stars of the show, Friends, paid tribute on Monday to Perry in a joint message mourning his death as an “unfathomable loss”.
Media including TMZ and the New York Post’s Page Six reported Friday’s event, posting long-distance and aerial photos of people in attendance.
All five Friends co-stars – Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, and David Schwimmer – were attending the funeral, TMZ said.
Page Six said Perry’s father, John Bennett Perry, and his stepfather, Keith Morrison, were also attending the funeral.
In all, nearly 20 people dressed in black attended and gathered around a burial plot, TMZ said.
Forest Hills did not respond to a Reuters request for confirmation.
The Friends co-stars issued a joint statement on Tuesday, saying they were “utterly devastated by the loss”, adding that they would have more to say in time.
The reason and manner of Perry’s death are yet to be disclosed by the Los Angeles County medical examiner’s office, following completion of an autopsy with toxicology tests.
Perry’s death came one year after the publication of his memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, which chronicled his decades-long struggle with addiction to prescription painkillers and alcohol. At the time, Perry said he had been sober for almost 18 months.
A foundation in Perry’s name was launched on Friday to help people struggling with addiction.
