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[[quoteright:245:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/john_belushi_1009.jpg]]
->''"Some comedians love their characters. I don't fall in love with mine. In fact, I get tired of them very fast. You have to be willing to throw it all away."''

Affectionately known as "America's Guest", John Adam Belushi (January 24, 1949 -- March 5, 1982) was a UsefulNotes/{{Chicago}}-born actor and comedian of [[UsefulNotes/{{Albania}} Albanian descent]]. He rose to fame in 1971, after joining the [[Creator/TheSecondCity Second City]] comedy troupe, where he became well known for his impersonations of Music/JoeCocker, resulting in his being cast in National Lampoon's ''Lemmings'', a parody of Film/{{Woodstock}}. It was while he was with the National Lampoon that John would meet fellow future ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' regulars such as Creator/ChevyChase, Creator/GildaRadner, Creator/BillMurray, and Creator/BrianDoyleMurray. His high school sweetheart Judith Jacklin, whom he later married, also worked for National Lampoon -- and, as a fun fact, can be seen dancing with him in ''Film/AnimalHouse'', which he starred in.

In 1975, John Belushi was accepted into ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'', alongside Creator/DanAykroyd, Chevy Chase, Gilda Radner, Creator/JaneCurtin, Creator/LaraineNewman, and Creator/GarrettMorris. (In fact, Belushi was the first Not Ready For Prime-Time Player to appear in the show, as part of the first episode's first sketch.) From here, he went on to work with Dan Aykroyd on a film based off their already highly successful musical act and band, ''Film/TheBluesBrothers'', which gained cult status, and a gross revenue of $115,229,890. John and Dan worked together in two other movies, ''Film/NineteenFortyOne1979'' and ''Neighbors''.

Belushi is hailed as a benevolent figure, often lending a helping hand to any who needed it. This ranged from aiding his little brother, Creator/JamesBelushi, in getting started in comedy, through to helping friends setting up businesses, and delivering an epiphany speech to Tim Kazurinsky (a cast member during Dick Ebersol's era who often felt frustrated and underused about being on the show due to the SpotlightStealingSquad that was Creator/EddieMurphy and Joe Piscopo) and assisting him in getting help when the stress of working at ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' became too much. He is also credited with choosing music for ''Film/TheBluesBrothers'' because he thought the original artists could do with the royalties.

Unfortunately, he didn't survive the lifestyle of the entertainment industry. Belushi was very into drugs during his career, and it was very severe to the point that it kept negatively impacting his career and his life. Creator/TimMatheson, who co-starred with Belushi in ''Animal House'', stated that he believed that Belushi actually got introduced to drugs as a result of being exposed to the music industry, which was very drug-heavy at the time, on a regular basis due to frequently dealing with music while performing on ''Saturday Night Live''. Belushi eventually passed away on March 5, 1982, following the administration of a cocaine-heroin mix known as a "speedball" (making that famous ''SNL'' short film about John Belushi being the ''last'' cast member to die and visiting the graves of his former cast members [[HarsherInHindsight a much sadder watch]]). Former singer Cathy Smith later admitted to giving Belushi the injection that killed him and served 15 months for involuntary manslaughter.

Belushi's legacy lives on, however -- for better and worse. He has since been awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Aykroyd also affectionately refers to Slimer in ''Film/{{Ghostbusters 1984}}'' as, "the ghost of John Belushi". [[note]]This is particularly poignant since Dan had written the role of Peter Venkman with John in mind.[[/note]] Creator/ChrisFarley, another ''SNL'' cast member known for being a BigFun party animal whose life was cut short due to drug abuse, was a fan of Belushi while he was a teenager, and a lot of similarities can be drawn between the two. Further, John's work still draws audiences and provides an influence to young and upcoming comedy talent such as Creator/DannyMcBride. In the wake of the dramatic political and medical crises of 2020 in the United States, [[Creator/JamesBelushi John's little brother]] wondered on Website/{{Twitter}} what John would think of modern times.

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!!Some of the films he appeared in includes:
* ''Music/TheBeachBoys: It's OK'' (1976).
* ''Music/TheRutles: All You Need is Cash'' (1978).
* ''Film/AnimalHouse'' (1978).
* ''[[Music/TheGratefulDead Grateful Dead]]: The Closing of Winterland'' (1978).
* ''Film/NineteenFortyOne1979''
* ''Film/TheBluesBrothers'' (1980).
* ''Film/ContinentalDivide'' (1981).
* ''Film/Neighbors1981''

!!My advice to you is to start troping heavily:
* BigOlEyebrows: He had thick but very expressive eyebrows which helped make his performance as Bluto a masterclass in silent comic acting.
* {{Biopic}}: As of 2014, he has been the only ''SNL'' castmember to be the basis of a biopic[[note]]In 2002, a [[MadeForTVMovie made for television]] film starring Creator/JamiGertz as Creator/GildaRadner was broadcast on [[Creator/AmericanBroadcastingCompany ABC]] called ''Gilda Radner: It's Always Something''.[[/note]], the 1989 film ''Film/{{Wired}}'' that was based on Bob Woodward's 1984 tell-all biography and starred Creator/MichaelChiklis. It was lambasted as a hatchet job by just about everyone who knew him, many of whom refused to let their names be used. Chiklis would later blame the film for derailing his career until ''Series/TheCommish'' pulled it back into place.
** One of the very few people who did allow his name to be used was Creator/DanAykroyd, who was so offended at the movie's portrayal of Belushi as nothing more than a strung-out addict that he blacklisted everyone who appeared in the film. When Aykroyd learned that J.T. Walsh (who played Woodward) was involved with the 1990 production of ''Loose Cannons'', he had him thrown out. (Ironically, not participating in the project probably helped Walsh in the long run, since ''Loose Cannons'' bombed hard and currently holds a 0% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.) Aykroyd did, however, eventually patch things up with Chiklis, who hated the film as well.
* LargeHam: He was a very energetic performer.
* NiceGuy: He wasn't called ''America's Guest'' for nothing, especially if saving both Brian Doyle-Murray and Marilyn Miller from real danger had anything to do with it. Accordingly, he was also very generous.
* PlatonicLifePartners: He started off with Gilda Radner as his first one, though Laraine Newman would become a second one during his SNL years.
* RealitySubtext: The bad blood between John and Jane Curtin was in part due to her own worst experiences with him and Dan Aykroyd, categorizing them as the ''bully boys'' of SNL and that in an interview with Creator/OprahWinfrey, Curtin claimed Belushi said that women didn't belong on SNL due to heated tensions between him, Anne Beatts and Rosie Shuster. The bad blood got worse by Curtin sneering at him whenever he misbehaved, though when words flew from him it turned into a point of verbal UnstoppableRage by both of them, forcing Creator/LorneMichaels to pair them together in some sketches as ''punishment''. After Michaels was unable to rein John in, things got bad to the point where Jane and ''Lorne'' didn't speak to each other unless '''Gilda''' was the intermediary.
** However, ''Samurai Widow'' and ''Belushi'' confirm from Judy that the main source of the hostility solely came from Curtin and that John was willing to put effort into female-written sketches by his family (primarily Marilyn Miller, the third female SNL writer at the time) and on one occasion, saving Miller's life by getting her somewhere safe. Despite him hanging around with the other males in the writing room who didn't like women, he could definitely be considered a HiddenHeartOfGold as well.
* RedOniBlueOni: The red to Dan Aykroyd's very placid blue, most of the time.
* WeUsedToBeFriends: Primarily from both Jane Curtin and Chevy Chase, the latter of whom was pretty remorseful about it in past interviews.
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