How Did John Belushi Die? Contained in the ‘SNL’ Star’s Ultimate Days, 43 Years Later

John Belushi burst onto the comedy scene as one of many authentic forged members of Saturday Night time Dwell in 1975. However simply seven years later, the proficient younger comic and actor was discovered lifeless at a Hollywood resort.

Belushi moved to New York in 1973, and by 1975, he had caught the eye of Lorne Michaels and was forged as one of many authentic stars of Saturday Night time Dwell. Whereas on the sketch present, he and Dan Aykroyd fashioned the long-lasting duo, the Blues Brothers — and collectively toured the nation as a musical act, launched a double-platinum album and made a film.

By the point The Blues Brothers was launched in 1980, Belushi was a bona fide star. However whereas the comic was turning into a family identify, he struggled with drug habit behind the scenes.

“We had every thing going for us, and but due to these rattling medication, every thing simply received uncontrolled,” Belushi’s highschool sweetheart and spouse, Judy Belushi-Pisano, instructed PEOPLE in 1990.

On March 5, 1982, Belushi was discovered lifeless of an obvious drug overdose. The comic was 33 years previous.

“John wasn’t good,” Judy, who died in July 2024, instructed PEOPLE in 2020. “However he was a full human being — caring and adventurous and type. And he not solely made folks giggle. He made them really feel.”

From the chaotic final hours of his life to the legacy he left behind, right here is every thing to find out about John Belushi’s dying.

How did John Belushi die?

On March 5, 1982, Belushi was discovered lifeless in his room on the Chateau Marmont by his private coach, Invoice Wallace, who was there to ship a typewriter to him, per The Hollywood Reporter. Although police didn’t initially suspect that foul play or medication performed a task in his dying, in accordance with the coroner’s report shared in The New York Occasions, the hours main as much as the tragic discovery instructed a special story.

The night previous to Belushi’s dying, the Animal Home actor reportedly dined on the Sundown Strip with Robert De Niro, attended a comedy present on the Improv in West Hollywood after which listened to music whereas “consuming closely” at On the Rox, a non-public membership on the Strip, The New York Occasions reported. After the golf equipment closed, Belushi continued to get together again on the Chateau Marmont, Rolling Stone reported.

“John was all the time the man who went slightly too far and wished to remain too lengthy on the get together,” Belushi’s spouse, Judy, instructed PEOPLE in 2020.

After the evening of partying and drug use, Belushi started to complain of cold and warm flashes earlier than ultimately falling asleep round 8 a.m., per the coroner’s report. Inside 4 hours of going to sleep, he was discovered unconscious and never respiratory by Wallace.

Regardless of the Los Angeles Police Division initially reporting that Belushi’s dying gave the impression to be by “pure causes,” needle marks discovered on his arms pointed to an overdose. In accordance with the coroner’s report, launched a couple of days later, Belushi’s official reason behind dying was listed as “acute cocaine and heroin intoxication,” per The New York Occasions.

Although there have been sufficient medication in Belushi’s system to kill a wholesome particular person, in accordance with Rolling Stone, the post-mortem additionally discovered that the comic was in poor bodily well being regardless of his younger age — affected by congestion of the lungs, liver and spleen, a swollen mind, an enlarged coronary heart, clogged arteries, a distended bladder and weight problems.

Aykroyd was the primary to inform Judy that her husband had died. He instructed PEOPLE in 2024, “That is a bit of trauma that will likely be with me eternally. I lament that he isn’t round. It is greater than wistfulness: it is a true lamentation.”

When did John Belushi die?

Belushi was discovered unresponsive by Wallace at round 12:30 p.m. on March 5, 1982, in accordance with The New York Occasions.

“I’m having hassle waking John up,” Wallace instructed Belushi’s agent, Bernie Brillstein, in a cellphone name, per The Hollywood Reporter. After making an attempt CPR, a second cellphone name to Brillstein revealed the gravity of the scenario: “There’s one thing actually mistaken with John,” Wallace mentioned.

Wallace then contacted paramedics, who declared Belushi lifeless at 12:45 p.m., The New York Occasions reported. In accordance with the police and the coroner’s report, Belushi had died someday between 10:15 a.m. and 12:45 p.m.

The place did John Belushi die?

Belushi died in Bungalow No. 3 on the Chateau Marmont, the well-known Hollywood resort the place he had been staying since Feb. 28, 1982, in accordance with The Hollywood Reporter.

Earlier that winter, he had spent greater than a month as a resident on the resort, engaged on the script for Noble Rot, a romantic comedy he hoped could be his subsequent hit. Nonetheless, Belushi’s rising downside with medication was derailing his progress and inflicting issues in his marriage. In consequence, Belushi’s spouse, Judy, opted to not accompany him on that ultimate (and in the end deadly) journey to L.A.

“He was abusing cocaine once more, and that interfered with every thing in our life,” she instructed PEOPLE in 1990. “I knew he couldn’t deal with himself in L.A.; he by no means might.”

In consequence, Judy revealed she spent years engaged on forgiving herself for Belushi’s dying — for permitting him to journey to L.A. solo understanding his self-destructive tendencies.

“Guilt could be very difficult,” she instructed PEOPLE. “A part of it’s making your self extra vital than you actually are—considering ‘I might have stopped this.’ As I started to understand I couldn’t do something about it, I let go of the guilt.”

Who was with John Belushi when he died?

Belushi spent the ultimate hours of his life within the firm of a few of Hollywood’s greatest names. After leaving On the Rox and returning to his bungalow on the Chateau Marmont, Belushi was visited by Robin Williams, who had simply carried out a comedy set, in accordance with The Hollywood Reporter.

De Niro, who had dined with Belushi earlier within the night and was additionally staying on the Chateau Marmont, additionally reportedly stopped by the comic’s bungalow within the early morning hours of March 5.

However one particular person was with Belushi for a lot of the evening and early morning: A back-up singer named Cathy Smith, in accordance with Rolling Stone. In accordance with her later testimony, Smith drove Belushi again to his resort from the Hollywood nightclubs, partied and injected him with medication in the course of the early morning hours and remained with him till about 10 a.m., when she left the Chateau Marmont in Belushi’s automobile.

In accordance with Smith, she “actually didn’t know” if Belushi was sleeping or lifeless when she left the bungalow that morning.

How previous was John Belushi when he died?

Belushi was solely 33 years previous when he died.

“The identical violent urge that makes John nice may even in the end destroy him,” SNL author Michael O’Donoghue mentioned a couple of years previous to Belushi’s dying, in accordance with a 1982 PEOPLE cowl story on the comic. “He’s a type of hysterical personalities that can by no means be full.”

Animal Home director John Landis echoed an analogous sentiment about Belushi, per the Los Angeles Occasions: “He abuses his physique in ways in which would kill bulls,” Landis mentioned a couple of years earlier than Belushi’s dying. “If he doesn’t burn himself out, his potential is limitless.”

What have been John Belushi’s final phrases?

Belushi reportedly uttered his final phrases to Smith, with whom he spent his ultimate hours.

In accordance with Smith’s account of the morning, Belushi took a bathe and fell asleep at round 8 a.m., per Rolling Stone. Nonetheless, he was wheezing and shivering whereas he slept. Smith turned involved about Belushi’s respiratory and woke him to drink a glass of water at round 9:30 a.m., she instructed Rolling Stone. After he drank the water, Smith requested him if he wanted the rest.

“Simply don’t depart me alone,” Belushi mentioned to her, which is believed to be the actor’s final phrases.

Smith, nonetheless, left the resort room about half-hour later. When she returned at round 2 p.m., Belushi’s physique had been found and the resort was swarming with police and press.

“In actuality, I’m the one particular person on this planet who was there, maybe, when he died. I’m not fairly certain when he died,” Smith instructed Rolling Stone. “I do know I’m the final one that noticed him alive.”

What was the general public response to John Belushi’s dying?

Although Belushi’s drug use and partying habits have been well-known amongst his internal circle, it didn’t soften the blow of his premature dying — which left his followers, family and friends devastated. Judy, his spouse and highschool sweetheart, described the surprising loss as “a intestine punch.”

“After which it was like I used to be thrown into the middle of a twister,” she instructed PEOPLE in 2020.

A part of that whirlwind was the general public response to Belushi’s dying. Following his passing, Belushi’s followers clamored to go to his burial web site on Martha’s Winery to pay their respects — turning the small Chilmark cemetery right into a vacationer attraction. His grave acquired so many guests (many leaving liquor, beer cans, cigarette butts and marijuana joints) that Judy was pressured to maneuver his burial location from the middle of the cemetery to close the doorway, The Ledger reported.

Related occasions occurred on the Chateau Marmont. Lodge workers utterly reworked Bungalow 3 after the comic’s dying, within the hopes of deterring curious followers, in accordance with The Hollywood Reporter.

Have been expenses ever filed in John Belushi’s dying?

Smith, who was with Belushi the evening he died, was briefly questioned and detained by police after she returned to the Chateau Marmont on the day his physique was found. Police discovered a syringe and a spoon in her purse, however launched her, in accordance with the Los Angeles Occasions. Shortly after, Smith left L.A. for her native Toronto.

However reporters tracked Smith down and he or she agreed to a paid interview with Tony Brenna of the Nationwide Enquirer. On June 29, 1982, she appeared on the quilt of the tabloid beneath the headline “I Killed John Belushi.” Within the story, Smith admitted to being chargeable for Belushi’s dying — describing how the comic was afraid of needles, so she would inject him with cocaine and heroin.

“At 3:30 a.m., I shot up John for the final time,” she instructed the Nationwide Enquirer.

Because of the tabloid story and her taped interview with Brenna (which the Enquirer was pressured to show over to L.A. prosecutors), the Los Angeles District Legal professional’s workplace leveled expenses towards Smith in reference to Belushi’s dying.

In March 1983, she was indicted on one rely of second-degree homicide and 13 counts of administering cocaine and heroin. After a variety of Belushi’s companions testified that they witnessed Smith inject Belushi with medication a number of occasions on the evening of his dying, Smith pleaded no contest to involuntary manslaughter and three counts of offering and administering medication. She was sentenced to 3 years in jail, per the Los Angeles Occasions.

Smith served 15 months in jail and was launched on parole in March 1988. She later died in September 2020 on the age of 73, in accordance with The New York Occasions.

What’s John Belushi’s legacy?

Belushi’s legacy lives on not solely on this planet of comedy and leisure but in addition within the many actors he impressed to get sober after his dying.

The comic has been credited with inflicting a shift within the function medication performed in Hollywood within the Nineteen Eighties and past. “The Belushi tragedy was scary,” Williams, who turned sober shortly after his buddy’s dying, instructed PEOPLE in 1988. “His dying scared an entire group of show-business folks. It induced a giant exodus from medication.”

Greater than 40 years later, Belushi’s story continues to have an effect. In 2024, John Mulaney spoke about how SNL creator Michaels instructed him about Belushi’s tragic dying to assist him overcome his personal struggles with drug and alcohol habit.

“He goes, ‘I knew John Belushi for seven years. I’ve been speaking about him for 48 years, as a result of that is the shrapnel that occurs when somebody goes down like that,’ ” Mulaney mentioned on My Subsequent Visitor Wants No Introduction with David Letterman.

He continued, “And he goes, ‘You recognize, John didn’t wish to die. You recognize, he didn’t plan to. Simply because it’s a narrative, simply because it’s form of set in stone like historical past, folks don’t wish to die from this.’ ”

Aykroyd has saved the reminiscence of his buddy and collaborator alive by way of a number of of his initiatives — together with the 1984 basic Ghostbusters, which he was writing on the time of Belushi’s dying. Aykroyd initially wrote the function of Peter Venkman (who was performed by Invoice Murray) for Belushi, however after his dying, he normal the inexperienced ghost Slimer after his late buddy.

Aykroyd additionally based the Home of Blues chain of eating places and reside music halls in honor of his former Blues Brother.

“Each time I stroll right into a Home of Blues, I feel, ‘John, why aren’t you round to get pleasure from these locations the place now we have the gods of Blues on the wall, the ceiling?’ “Aykroyd instructed PEOPLE in 2024. “You could be certain I’ve a drink and I toast a Crystal Head Vodka to him after I’m in these locations.”

Belushi can be persistently remembered as a proficient actor and comic whose life and profession have been minimize too brief.

“The underside line is he was a captivating man and a superb performer,” director Landis mentioned about Belushi to The Guardian in 2019. “He was robust like a tractor and good like a bull and he actually might have gone on to do something.”