Michael J Fox looks back with deep appreciation on his friendship with the late Matthew Perry.
Fox, 62, shared a special memory of the celebrated comedic actor when he sat down with ET’s Cassie DiLaura on Saturday at this year’s A Funny Thing Happened On The Way to Cure Parkinson’s Gala – his annual fundraising benefit for the Michael J. Fox Foundation – held at Casa Cipriani in New York City.
“Matthew and I had spent some time together over the years,” Fox said. “He was a hockey player, a good hockey player, and we played hockey together.”
During a 2022 interview, Perry reflected on how, as a young, aspiring actor, he saw Fox’s career as inspiration for his own. According to Fox, the two got to know each other, and he reflected on the help Perry provided when Fox tried to start his charitable foundation.
Fox explained that to Perry and his colleagues Friends co-stars signed their record-setting contracts, Perry showed a lot of generosity to the Fox organization.
“I hope this isn’t indiscreet… but when they first made their big sale [on their Friends contracts] and became millionaires for the rest of their lives. He wrote a big check to the foundation,” he said. ‘We started very early and tried to find our feet. And it was such a vote of confidence.”
“And it wasn’t self-aggrandizing or anything, he just said, ‘Take it and do the best you can,’” Fox said. “I loved that.”
As for serving as an inspiration or influence on Perry, Fox simply said, “He was just a funny guy, and if I was ever as funny as him — I mean, he was the funniest — I’m glad I had an impact on him. He was a funny guy.”
In November 2022, while promoting the publication of his memoir — Friends, lovers and the big terrible thing — Perry sat down for a public conversation with Tom Power in Toronto, and he talked about Fox’s influence when he was a teenager.
“I was young, I had done a couple of school plays, and Michael J. Fox was it, man. When I was in ninth grade, Michael J. Fox had just done Back to the futureand I had smoke coming out of my ears, I was so jealous of this man,” Perry explained during their conversation. And he had the No. 1 TV show and the No. 1 movie at the same time at the time. So he was huge. And I don’t know anyone else who has done that but me.”
Perry was found dead in a hot tub at his home in Los Angeles, California on October 28. He was 54.
The actor was laid to rest at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Los Angeles, not far from Warner Bros. Studios where he filmed Friends. The funeral took place on Friday, November 3 and was attended by his family and friends, including his former cast members Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer.
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