'He'd always smile': Tom Selleck remembers working with 'most talented' friend Matthew Perry on 'Friends'
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Tom Selleck, who made a major guest appearance on 'Friends' as Dr Richard Burke, Monica's lover, believes Matthew Perry was "a raw talent" when they collaborated on the NBC sitcom.
Selleck formed a bro link with Chandler (Perry) and Joey (Matt LeBlanc) after joining the comedy in Season 2 as ophthalmologist Richard Burke, a romantic interest of Courteney Cox's character Monica Geller.
Selleck said that Perry, who died on October 28, 2023 at 54, and the other cast members welcomed the former 'Magnum, PI' star with open arms.
Selleck is currently the lead character on 'Blue Bloods', which is set to premiere its 14th and final season on CBS, per the New York Post.
Tom Selleck remembers time spent with Matthew Perry and 'Friends' cast
Tom Selleck claimed that he was able to join the 'Friends' cast, which included co-stars Jennifer Aniston, David Schwimmer, and Lisa Kudrow, because of his acquaintance with Perry's father, actor John Bennett Perry.
In an interview with USA Today, Selleck said, "Everybody couldn’t have been nicer to me. But every day I’d see Matthew, and I’d ask him, ‘How’s your father?’ And he’d always smile and we’d catch up."
"I got to know his father when I was a young struggling actor. Almost any commercial or pilot I went out on, there was John. We became real good friends," the 'Blue Bloods' star added.
Selleck recounted his time spent filming 'The One Where Old Yeller Dies', an episode where Matt LeBlanc's Joey and Chandler's Perry transform into Selleck's Richard and vice versa.
"[Perry] walked onto the set, and that brought the house down," Selleck remembered the moment Perry delivered Richard's line, saying, "Nice mustache, by the way. When puberty hits, that thing’s really going to kick in."
Selleck referred to Perry and went on, "He was raw talent. Matthew’s gone, so it’s easy to say this, but it’s true. I think he was the most talented of a very talented group of people."
Perry, 54, died tragically on October 28, 2023. He was found unconscious in his Los Angeles home's hot tub. He died from "the acute effects of ketamine," per a subsequent report from the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner's Office.
Tom Selleck recalls how Matthew Perry helped him in 'Friends'
Speaking with USA Today, Selleck recalled how Perry helped him deliver a line in a way that was credible for Chandler when he was working with the 'Friends' cast on that 'The One Where Old Yeller Dies' episode.
The actor said that Perry's delivery of his lines made it easier for him to mimic them and that listening to Perry's delivery was crucial to his ability to sarcastically remark, "Could that shot be any prettier?"
Selleck recalled, "We had this role reversal thing going, where (Richard) tried to be like them, and them like me.... Matthew had this speech pattern that I hadn't been aware of."
"Matt told me: 'It's a joke, Tom. It's the way he says it.' But during that whole show, I kept going up to him asking, 'Can you say it again?' and he'd do the line. That was his signature."
What Selleck cherishes most about his time spent on the 'Friends' set is the togetherness among the cast members.
"There are no bad stories. No star stuff. Nothing like that there," Selleck remembered.
"You’d sit down to get notes on rehearsal, and it was fascinating. Courteney would be sitting on somebody’s lap and then someone else’s the next time. They all just got along," he said.
He further added, "I think it’s because all these actors had failures on other shows. And now they’re in this hit. They all realized how lucky they were," per Deadline.
The news of Perry's death in 2023 was a tragic blow to the 'Friends' ensemble.
However, the comedian's many noteworthy Chandler moments from 'Friends'—including his exchanges with guest characters—will live on forever.
