Matthew Perry was among the list of unforgettable actors honored at the 2024 Screen Actors Guild Awards on Saturday during the “In Memoriam” segment.
Naomi Watts introduced the segment, praising the late actors for their contributions to the profession and their lasting impression.
“We have lost so many extraordinary actors in the past year, but because they touched the world with their talent, we all share their loss,” she said. “To those of us who worked with them, alongside them, we feel their loss and their absence deeply. Of course, their memory will live on in our recollections of the precious times we shared together.”
Set to the tune of Dean Lewis’ “How Do I Say Goodbye,” the SAG Awards saved the Friends star and actor-activist Harry Belafonte as the final late figures honored during the touching tribute. The video montage showed Perry in The West Wing and then played a clip of him as Chandler Bing in Friends.
Belafonte, the beloved EGOT winner who died in April at 96, was also prominently featured to end the segment. The montage showed Belafonte’s time in front of the camera, as well as being at the forefront of the Civl Rights movement. The Emmy and Tony Award-winning actor’s credits include Uptown Saturday Night, Island in the Sun, Odds Against Tomorrow, Carmen Jones, The World, the Flesh and the Devil, White Man’s Burden, and Spike Lee’s 2018 film, BlacKkKlansman.
Andre Braugher was also prominently featured, from his time in Glory and Brooklyn 99. Braugher died in December after a brief illness. He was 61.
Among the many late stars who were honored during Saturday’s telecast were Richard Roundtree, Angus Cloud, Jim Brown, Dick Butkus, Julian Sands, Burt Young, Suzanne Shepherd, Ron Cephas Jones, Maurice Hines, Chita Rivera, Suzanne Somers, Treat Williams, Tina Turner, Paul Reubens, Lance Reddick, Tom Sizemore, Ryan O’Neal, Alan Arkin and Carl Weathers and Tom Wilkinson.
Perry died suddenly in October. He was 54. The beloved actor’s cause of death was listed as acute effects of ketamine, with contributing factors including drowning, coronary artery disease, and the effects of buprenorphine.
Following his death, co-star Jennifer Aniston told ET that fans can remember Perry by celebrating him.
Throughout his career, Perry won one SAG Award with the cast of Friends, which includes Aniston, Lisa Kudrow, Courteney Cox, David Schwimmer and Matt LeBlanc, for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series. He was nominated seven other times.
The 2024 Screen Actors Guild Awards is on Saturday, Feb. 24, at 5 p.m. PT/8 p.m. ET and is streaming live on Netflix from the Shrine Auditorium & Expo Hall in Los Angeles. Follow along at ETonline.com for full coverage from the awards show, including red carpet arrivals, winners and more.
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