One of the original seven cast members of the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, John Adam Belushi was an American comedian, actor, and musician who passed away on March 5, 1982.
While both Belushi and fellow SNL cast member Dan Aykroyd were working as comics at Chicago’s Second City comedy club, they grew close. They stayed close throughout their professional lives and worked on projects together.
“The West Compass Trio” was founded by Belushi, Tino Insana, and Steve Beshekas. Tino Insana and Steve Beshekas reared Belushi in Chicago. After being spotted by Bernard Sahlins, he joined The Second City, where he met Aykroyd, Brian Doyle-Murray, and Harold Ramis.
In 1975, Lorne Michaels, the creator, and director of SNL met Belushi through Chevy Chase and Michael O’Donoghue. Michaels then hired Belushi after an audition as a new cast member of the show.
What was John Belushi’s addiction? The cocaine addiction that killed him explained
Belushi faced a major drug addiction in his personal life that endangered his comedy profession; as a result, he was regularly sacked from and rehired at SNL.
At the Chateau Marmont hotel in West Hollywood, California, in 1982, Belushi passed away from a mixture of drug intoxication that may have been caused by drug dealer Cathy Smith injecting him with a speedball, a combination of heroin and cocaine. He was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2004 as a posthumous honor.
