ays at Second City.

Farley also performed impersonations of Tom Arnold, who gave Farley's

eulogy at his private funeral; Andrew Giuliani, Jerry Garcia,Meat Loaf, Norman
Schwarzkopf, Dom DeLuise, Roger Ebert, Carnie Wilson, Newt Gingrich, Mindy Cohn, Mama
Cass, Hank Williams, Jr., and Rush Limbaugh were among the celebrities and real-life
figures he portrayed.[16]
Off-screen, Farley was well known for his pranks in the offices of Saturday Night Live. This
would refer to Sandler and Farley making late-night prank phone calls from the SNL offices
in Rockefeller Center, with Sandler speaking in an old woman's voice and Farley farting into
the phone and mooning cars from a limousine. He was also known to frequently get naked
and do various stunts for laughs. Chris Rock once claimed that he probably saw Farley's
private parts more than Farley's girlfriend did. [17][18][19] Sandler told Conan O'Brien on The
Tonight Show that NBC fired him and Farley from the show in 1995.[20]

Film career[edit]
During his time on SNL, Farley appeared in the comedy films Wayne's
World, Coneheads, Airheads, and uncredited in Billy Madison. He also appeared in the Red
Hot Chili Peppers music video for "Soul to Squeeze" which was a song featured on
the Coneheads soundtrack.
After Farley and most of his fellow cast members were released from their contracts
at Saturday Night Live following the 19941995 season, Farley began focusing on his film
career. His first two major films co-starred his fellow SNL colleague and close friend David
Spade. Together, the duo made the films Tommy Boy and Black Sheep. These were a
success at the domestic box office, earning around $32 million each and gaining a large cult
following on home video.[21][22]
The two films established Farley as a relatively bankable star and he was given the title role
of Beverly Hills Ninja, which finished in first place at the box office on its opening
weekend.[23] However, drug and alcohol problems interfered with Farley's film work, and
production of his final film, Almost Heroes, was held up several times so Farley could enter
rehab.[24] After his death on December 18, 1997, his final completed films,Almost
Heroes and Dirty Work, were released posthumously.

Unfinished projects[edit]
Farley was originally cast as the voice of the title character in the movie Shrek, recording
about 8090% of the character's dialogue, but died just before recording was finished. A
story reel featuring a sample of Farley's recorded dialogue was made public in August
2015.[25] In August 1998, he was replaced by one of his SNL colleagues, Mike Myers.[12]

Farley was slated for another voice role in Dinosaur as a young male brachiosaurus named
Sorbus who, despite his gigantic nature, was frightened of heights. After his death, the
character was rewritten as Baylene, an elderly female Brachiosaurus played by stage
actress Joan Plowright.[26] At the time of his death, Farley had also been in talks to co star
with Vince Vaughn in the film The Gelfin, and a biographical film aboutRoscoe "Fatty"
Arbuckle.[27][28] Jim Carrey's role in the 1996 film The Cable Guy was originally intended for
Farley, but scheduling conflicts forced him to decline.[29]
Farley was slated to appear in a third Ghostbusters film, which was at the time intended to
be about a new trio of Ghostbusters taking on overpopulation in Hell.[29][30] Dav Pilkey, author
of the children's book seriesCaptain Underpants, had wanted Farley to play the title role in a
potential television series based on the books, but discarded the idea after Farley's death.[31]
Farley had also been in talks for the lead in an adaptation of the novel A Confederacy of
Dunces.[32] Farley even expressed interest in portraying Atuk in an adaptation of the
novel The Incomparable Atuk.[33] Both of these shelved projects, along with the Arbuckle
biopic, have been alleged to be cursed as Farley, John Belushi, and John Candy were each
attached to all three roles, and all three died before any of the films entered production.[29][34]

Death and funeral[edit]

Farley's grave in 2010

Following his final guest appearance on SNL on October 25, 1997 there was a visible decline
in Farley's health. Farley's hoarse voice and flushed skin were the subject of public
scrutiny.[35] In the final years of his life, Farley had sought treatment for obesity and drug
abuse on 17 occasions.[36] On December 18, 1997, he was found dead by his younger
brother, John, in his apartment in the John Hancock Center in Chicago.[37]
An autopsy later revealed that Farley had died of a cocaine and morphine overdose early
that morning.[38] Advanced atherosclerosis was cited as a "significant contributing
factor."[24] Farley's death is often compared to that of his SNL idol John Belushi, who also
died at age 33 of an accidental drug overdose consisting of cocaine and heroin.[14]

Farley's private funeral was held at Our Lady Queen of Peace Catholic Church in his
hometown of Madison, Wisconsin. Over 500 people attended his funeral, including many
comedians who had worked with him on Saturday Night Live and on film.[39] Absent was
Farley's former SNL castmate and close friend David Spade, who was later quoted as saying
that he declined to attend Farley's funeral because he "could not be in a room where Chris
was in a box."[16] Farley's remains were entombed at Resurrection Catholic Cemetery.

Legacy[edit]
On August 26, 2005, Farley was posthumously awarded the 2,289th star on the Hollywood
Walk of Fame, which is located in front of iO West.[40] In his memoir Gasping for Airtime, Jay
Mohr recalled a moment involving Farley and his SNL idol Phil Hartman.[30]
In the show's cast's goodbye song-and-dance performance to Hartman, the final scene
featured Farley and Hartman embracing each other as the latter sang "Goodbye" to the
camera.[41] The authorized biography of Farley, The Chris Farley Show, was written by his
brother Tom, Jr. and Tanner Colby. The song "Purple Stain" from the Red Hot Chili Peppers
1999 album, Californication, contains the lyric "Farley is an angel and I can prove this" as a
tribute to Farley.
In 2013, the official Chris Farley Facebook page announced that a documentary on the life of
Farley was in production by Network Entertainment and Hodgee Films, called I Am Chris
Farley. The film was directed byBrent Hodge, director of A Brony Tale, What Happens
Next? and Cameron's House Rules and Derik Murray, director of I Am Evel Knievel.[42][43] On
August 10, 2015 the documentary made its television debut.

Filmography[edit]
Film

Year

1992

1993

Title

Wayne's
World

Coneheads

Role

Security Guard

Ronnie the Mechanic

Notes

Film

Year

1993

Title

Wayne's
World 2

Role

Notes

Milton

1994

Airheads

Officer Wilson

1995

Billy Madison

Bus Driver [44]

uncredited

1995

Tommy Boy

Thomas "Tommy"

MTV Movie Awards Best On-Screen

Callahan, III

Duo (Shared with David Spade)

1996

Black Sheep

1997

Beverly Hills
Ninja

Mike Donnelly

Haru

1998

Almost Heroes Bartholomew Hunt

1998

Dirty Work

Jimmy No-Nose

Nominated MTV Movie Awards Best

Comedic Performance

Released five months after Farley's

death

Uncredited; final film[45]