It could be said that the casting of Matthew Perry in the role that made him a superstar was divinely inspired. Perry, who died on Saturday at the age of 54, last year revealed that, three weeks before his audition for the role of Chandler Bing on the comedy series Friends, he was in his tiny Los Angeles apartment reading in the newspaper about actor Charlie Sheen.
“This happened to be the year Friends was shot, but I was off the market because I had taken a job on a pilot called LAX 2194 that was about baggage handlers at LA Airport in the year 2194.” Then a script for a show, then called Friends Like Us, came along, he said. “It was hilarious and great,” Perry said. “There was this part that was perfect for me, and it was making me crazy that I couldn’t go up for it because the baggage handlers show. I was losing my mind.