John Belushi

John Belushi (born January 24, 1949, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.—died March 5, 1982, Los Angeles, California) was an American comic actor and musician best known as an original cast member of the sketch comedy and variety television series Saturday Night Live (1975–79). He is also known for portraying the hard-partying fraternity member John (“Bluto”) Blutarsky in the college comedy film National Lampoon’s Animal House (1978) and for playing bluesman-on-a-mission “Joliet” Jake Blues in the musical comedy film The Blues Brothers (1980). He died of a drug overdose in Los Angeles at age 33.

Early life

Belushi was born in Chicago, the eldest son of Albanian-American parents Agnes Demetri (née Samaras) Belushi, who worked in a pharmacy, and Adam Anastos Belushi, a restaurant owner. When he was six years old, the family settled in Wheaton, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago. Belushi attended Wheaton Central High School, where he met his future wife, writer and actress Judy Jacklin. He served as a cocaptain for his high school’s gridiron football team, and he was named homecoming king in his senior year. He graduated in 1967 and, after receiving encouragement from his drama teacher, decided to pursue an acting career.

While he was working toward an associate’s degree at the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, he helped found the West Compass Players improvisational comedy troupe, which was modeled after the renowned Second City comedy troupe in Chicago. He joined Second City in 1971, where he met actor Dan Aykroyd, who became a lifelong friend and collaborator. Belushi moved to New York City in 1972 and joined the cast of National Lampoon: Lemmings, an Off-Broadway rock music stage revue that was originally scheduled to run for six weeks but played for nearly 10 months.

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Career

Belushi’s big break came in 1975, when television producer Lorne Michaels cast him in the groundbreaking late-night sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live (SNL). His physical comedic style and manic character work made him a star on the show, where he played characters such as a belligerent samurai warrior and an anthropomorphic killer bee. He also performed impressions of notable public figures from the mid-1970s, including U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin.

He teamed up with Aykroyd to create the characters “Joliet” Jake and Elwood Blues, blues- and soul music–obsessed brothers who became known as the Blues Brothers. In 1978 the Blues Brothers made their debut as musical guests in an episode from SNL’s third season, performing renditions of rhythm and blues (R&B) singer Floyd Dixon’s “Hey Bartender” and R&B singer Willie Mabon’s “I Don’t Know.” Later that year, Belushi and Aykroyd took the concept a step further by assembling the Blues Brothers band, which featured Belushi on lead vocals and Aykroyd on harmonica and backing vocals. They were supported by a star-studded backing band that included musical director and keyboardist Paul Shaffer, bassist Donald Dunn, and legendary R&B guitarists Steve Cropper and Matt Murphy. The band recorded their debut live album Briefcase Full of Blues (1978) at the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles, while opening a show for comedian Steve Martin. Briefcase Full of Blues reached number one on the Billboard 200 album chart and featured the band’s takes on “Soul Man” by R&B duo Sam and Dave and “Rubber Biscuit” by the doo-wop vocal group The Chips.

Belushi’s performance in actor-director Jack Nicholson’s Western comedy film Goin’ South (1978) attracted the attention of director John Landis, who cast Belushi in the college fraternity spoof film National Lampoon’s Animal House. He earned wide acclaim for playing John (“Bluto”) Blutarsky, a seventh-year undergraduate student who has not yet passed a college course. The film was the top-grossing comedy of 1978, and Belushi appeared in character as Bluto on the cover of Newsweek magazine, accompanied by the headline “College Humor Comes Back.”

Belushi left SNL in 1979 to pursue film projects, appearing in the drama Old Boyfriends (1979) and the Steven Spielberg–directed historical comedy 1941 (1979). He went on to star with Aykroyd in The Blues Brothers in 1980. The pair, clad in cheap suits, fedoras, and dark sunglasses, embark on “a mission from God” to save the orphanage in which they were raised. The film features musical cameos from R&B and jazz luminaries Aretha Franklin, James Brown, Ray Charles, Cab Calloway, and John Lee Hooker. The Blues Brothers film grossed more than $115 million in theaters worldwide and has become a cult classic in the years since its release. In 1981 Belushi portrayed newspaper reporter Ernie Souchak in the romantic comedy Continental Divide, and he starred as family man Earl Keese opposite Aykroyd in the dark comedy Neighbors.

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In March 1982, while working on a screenplay for the film project Noble Rot, Belushi died of a drug overdose at a rented bungalow in Los Angeles. In June of that year, the National Enquirer tabloid newspaper published a story titled “I Killed John Belushi,” which quoted a woman named Cathy Smith admitting she had injected Belushi with a mixture of heroin and cocaine. In 1983 a Los Angeles County grand jury indicted Smith for second-degree murder and 13 counts of administering a dangerous drug. She eventually pleaded no contest to involuntary manslaughter and three drug counts, and she served 15 months of a three-year prison sentence.

Belushi shared an Emmy Award for outstanding writing in a comedy-variety or music series with his fellow SNL cast members and writers in 1977. His younger brother, Jim Belushi, also pursued an acting career and performed as an SNL cast member from 1983 to 1985. Belushi was honored posthumously with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2004.