John Belushi- A Legend!
John Belushi is best known for his performance in the Blues Brothers. But he first got famous in SNL, where he did parodies on
many famous people such as Ray Charles, Joe Cocker and Beethoven.
John, the son of Adam and Agnes Belushi, was born January 24, 1949. He graduated from Wheaton Central High School,
which is in Illinois, in 1967. He was very popular, being voted the Homecoming King and Most Humorous. He was the
co-captain of the football team and at 5' 9" tall and170 lbs, an all-conference middle linebacker known to his teammates
as"Killer Belushi." While in high school, John did a a variety show in which he played a Nazi camp counselor. His performance
caught the eye of Judith Jacklin, who not only became his high school sweetheart, but his wife as well.
John turned down a football scholarship at Western Illinois and decided to attend Illinois Wesleyan. He wasn't accepted there
and ended up at the University of Wisconsin at White water.
He stayed there for a year and in the Summer of 68 came back to Wheaton. In the fall he enrolled at the College of Dupage,
which is a 2 year junior college. On January 5, 1970 he graduated with an associates of the arts degree in general studies.
John's father , Adam, came to America from Albania in 1934. He owned and operated two restaurants which took up most of
his time. Adam believed it to be tradition for the father to give his son the family business. He had offered them to John several
times but he refused. John had other things in mind.
In February of 1971, John went to Chicago to audition for the Second City Comedy Troupe. Second City gotits start in Hyde
Park in 1955, in 1959 they began use the name Second City.
They did shows that featured rehearsed skits followed by an improvisation hour. John got the job and at 22 years old was the
youngest ever. The other members of the Troupe soon realized that John could easily steal a scene. He played many different
characters ranging from the mayor of Chicago to Hamlet. As John would say as Hamlet:
"To be, to be
Sure beats the shit
out of not to be."
In the fall of 1971, John was getting a lot of attention. His impression of Joe Cocker was flawless, filled with jerky body
movements and great facial expressions, it alone was paving the road for things to come. John did the Second City show six
days a week, and was experimenting with drugs. He tried marijuana, LSD, mushrooms, amphetamines, peyote, and acid.
Belushi didn't seem to be using any more drugs then anyone else that was in his generation. Everyone was experimenting. John
was now the star of the show.When a former Second City actor asked John how he was so totally relaxed on stage, John
replied, "Because that is the only place I know what I am doing." The Spring of 1972 marked 14 months with Second City, it
was time to move onto other things.
In October of 1972, Tony Hendra, from National Lampoon Magazine, came to see John at Second City. Tony had heard
about Belushi's Cocker performance and was looking for more help for his Lemming's show. Lemming's was a parody show
that spoofed popular musicians and about everything else. To say the least, he was impressed. He offered John a job with
National Lampoon. John accepted and was off to New York.
Also hired into the Lemming's cast was Chevy Chase, who would later work with John again. On January 25, 1973 the Cocker
performance brought the house down! For months Lemmings continued to draw sell out crowds and John had turned into the
main attraction. He was also working with the National Lampoon Radio Hour.
John went to Toronto to visit the Second City Comedy Troupe there. He met a very talented man named Dan Aykroyd, who
later would become more than just John's best friend. John offered Dan a job at National Lampoon, but Dan had to refuse due
to prior commitments. The left with a promise to keep in touch.
SNL
On February 11, 1975, NBC gave Lorne Michaels a call. NBC was looking for a show to fill the 11:30 to 1:00 am slot on
Saturday nights. The show was to be directed to the younger audience.
Michaels agreed to do it as long as he was guaranteed it would be live. Now it was up to Lorne to find a cast to make his show
work. Some of the first hired were Chevy Chase, Dan Aykroyd, Gilda Radner, and Garrett Morris. Lorne was urged to hire
John but was reluctant because he thought John was too loud, too hard , and too self-centered. But, John did manage to get an
audition for the show.
John had been practicing a mute Japanese samurai character. His only sounds were grunts and phony but enthusiastic sounding
Japanese phrases. He would put his hair back into a pony tail, get into an old bathrobe, and use a makeshift sword to give the
character a realistic look. John showed up for the audition in his old bathrobe and had that audience and Lorne rolling with
laughter. He had hit a home run with his Samurai pool hustler skit and now Lorne didn't have much choice but to hire him.
On October 11, 1975 fifteen minutes before the start of the show, John finally signed his contract to NBC. From studio 8H in
NBC's Rockefeller Plaza Don Pardo shouted: "Live from New York It's Saturday Night!" Comedian George Carlin hosted the
show in a 3 piece suit and a T-shirt.
The show was almost live as there was a 6 second delay on the monologue. The execs were paranoid the Carlin would slipup
and say something he shouldn't. The show went over well and Chevy Chase got good praise for his "Weekend Update"
segment.
John was finally happy now. But there was no time to rest as the next show had to be completed by the weekend. The second
show was hosted by Paul Simon, who sang with his old partner Art Garfunkel. Critics accused this being a promo for their solo
albums and John was angry that he hadn't been the focus of a single sketch Something good was needed for the third show.
Rob Reiner was the host of show #3. Midway through the show Rob came out and looked into the camera. "You never know
he is going to show up. A guy just flew in from London. He is a super rock star. He needs no introduction. Ladies and
gentlemen, here he is!"
John came out as Joe Cocker. His voice a perfect imitation, his body movements were erratic and quick. As many times as
Lorne Michaels had seen this in rehearsal he was still amazed. As he sang he poured beer down his shirt and laid down and spit
it up in the air. To say the least, John nailed that one! In the next scene, John comes out in the Bee costume (which he hated) .
Rob Reiner is upset because he has to work with the bees, well John goes crazy and expresses his feelings to playing a bee as
well. The audience roared and whether John liked it or not, the bee's were here to stay. John was great in show #3 showing
everyone at NBC that he was worthy of being there.
John went on to play many interesting and hilarious characters. His Samurai skit debuted on December 13, 1975, with a little
help from Richard Pryor. Ranging from Beethoven to Captain Kirk, John could do it all.
John and Dan's friendship grew and soon the were more than best buds. They still had the idea of the Blues Brothers in the
back of their heads and it was time for them do some music on the show .
John and Dan did their first musical skit in the Bee
costumes. On January 17, 1976, John uttered those now famous words: "I'm a king bee, buzzing round your hive.."
At 11:30 p.m. on April 22, 1978 Paul Shaffer looked into the camera and announced " In 1969, Marshal Checker,of the
legendary Checker's Records, called me on a new blues act that had been playing in the small, funky clubs on Chicago's South
Side...Today they are no longer an authentic blues act, but have managed to become a viable commercial product, lets join
Joliet Jake and his silent brother Elwood---the Blues Brothers." John and Dan performed "Hey Bartender" and from now on,
would be known as Jake and Elwood, the Blues Brothers were born.
John continued to do the show until September of 1979. After four seasons and 87 shows both he and Aykroyd were tired.
They decided that they were ready to move on to other things, which just happened to be the Blues Brothers movie.
Animal House
In the summer of 1977, a young director named John Landis first met Belushi. Landis had just finished up his first film, The
Kentucky FriedMovie,which was a low budget satire of other films and TV. Landis wanted John to play the part of Bluto
Blutarsky in National Lampoon's AnimalHouse, and had already sent John a script.
The movie was about a naughtyboy fraternity, the Delta "Animal House," which had waged a war against taste, sobriety,
society, grades, the dean, woman, and just about everything else!
Universal Studies had issued Landis an ultimatum: Get Belushi to play Bluto or their would be no movie. John agreed to do the
movie and signed a contract for $35,000 not bad considering he had no real film experience.
Their was originally a part of John's bud Aykroyd as D-Day. The motorcycle riding fanatic, and John really wanted him to take
that role. But, Dan wanted to write and turned it down. While waiting for filming to begin John signed a contract to do Going
South, directed by and starring Jack Nicholson.
John Landis set out to find a college campus to begin filming, since they couldn't afford an expensive Hollywood set. After over
50 colleges had turned them down, The University of Oregon at Eugene finally gave them permission. They had 30 days to
finish the on- location shooting, that meant a 6 day work week, if they wanted to stay within budget.
Landis wanted John to use his facial expressions for its full effect, he even cut lines from John so that he would have to rely
upon them even more.When John entered a scene he took it over, and Landis started to adjust the movie around Bluto's exits
and entrances. John played the role of Bluto to perfection . Animal House was about to launch John into super stardom. The
movie premiered on July 28, 1978, and went on to become the highest grossing comedy of its time.
John's Death
Dan and John spent one afternoon on the beach talking and the subject of their deaths came up. It was one of those
conversations that good friends have sometimes. They were listening to a tape by the Vultures "2000-pound bee." The song
was full of hard sounding guitars and it was the kind of music that was popular in the 60's with just a touch of punk. Aykroyd
had one favor to ask of John. "You got to promise me something, " Aykroyd said. "If I die before you do, you have to play this
tape at my funeral....because its..." Dan laughs..."Wouldn't it be great to lay this noisy, heavy tape on a church full of people!"
"Sure," John replied, "and you do the same for me." He was serious.
"Absolutely," Aykroyd promised. "Absolutely."
John loved the night life. He loved to party, to be wild, and to make people laugh. The late 1970's and early 80's was filled with
drug use in Hollywood. Everywhere you looked drugs were there. The producers, the directors, and the other actors all
seemed to be using them. John was no exception.
March 5, 1982. It was just another night for John, he was in his Chateau Bungalow #3 with some friends working on a movie
script. Tonight John decided he wanted something to take him further than he had ever been. John shot up a speed ball. The
mixing of heroin and cocaine that night had a cumulative effect on the brain, slowing down John's breathing and finally causing
complete respiratory failure.
On Tuesday, March 9, John was buried in Abel's Hill Cemetery on Martha's Vineyard. Dan Aykroyd, who was in a black
leather jacket and black jeans, led the funeral procession to the cemetery on his motorcycle. As the snow began to fall, James
Taylor sang "That Lonesome Road."
On March 11, about 1,000 of John's family and friends attended a memorial service in New York at the Cathedral of Saint
John Divine. As promised, Aykroyd took out a tape player and held it to the microphone and played "2000-pound bee" The
audience was stunned at first but then began to laugh.
His Movies!
1.Best of the Blues Brothers, The (1993) (V) .... Jake Blues
2.Best of John Belushi, The (1985) (V)
3.Continental Divide (1981) .... Ernie Souchak
4.Neighbors (1981) .... Earl Keese
5.Blues Brothers, The (1980) .... Joliet Jake
6.1941 (1979) .... Wild Bill Kelso
7.Old Boyfriends (1979) .... Eric Katz
8.Animal House (1978) .... John 'Bluto' Blutarsky
... aka National Lampoon's Animal House (1978)
9.Rutles, The (1978) (TV) .... Ron Decline
... aka All You Need Is Cash (1978) (TV)
10.Goin' South (1978) .... Hector
11.Things We Did Last Summer (1977) (TV)
12."Saturday Night Live" (1975) TV Series .... Himself (1975-1979)
... aka "NBC's Saturday Night" (1975)
... aka "SNL" (1975)
... aka "Saturday Night" (1975)
13.Tarzoon, la honte de la jungle (1975) (voice) (English version) .... Craig Baker, the
19-year-old Perfect Master
... aka Jungle Burger (1975)
... aka Shame of the Jungle (1975) (USA)
JOHN BELUSHI REST IN PEACE
This information have I taken from the
