Chris Farley
Chris Farley got his early comic training with Chicago's famous Second City comedy troupe. Later he became the popular big-pudgy-guy cast member of TV's Saturday Night Live and then moved into feature films. He was known for his collaborations with comedian David Spade; they appeared together in the films Tommy Boy (1995), Black Sheep (1996) and Coneheads (1993). Farley was found dead in his Chicago apartment in December of 1997; an autopsy indicated he died of an accidental overdose of cocaine and morphine, with coronary atherosclerosis -- a narrowing of the heart arteries -- a contributing factor.
Extra credit: Farley's best-known character on Saturday Night Live was clumsy motivational speaker Matt Foley, who warned kids they could end up living "...in a van down by the river!"
Farley appears with John Belushi in our loop on the alleged Saturday Night Live Curse. Both men star with Elvis Presley in the loop Died Plump.