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

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

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 unique 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 changing into a family title, he struggled with drug habit behind the scenes.

“We had every little thing going for us, and but due to these rattling medication, every little thing simply obtained uncontrolled,” Belushi’s highschool sweetheart and spouse, Judy Belushi-Pisano, advised 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 excellent,” Judy, who died in July 2024, advised PEOPLE in 2020. “However he was a full human being — caring and adventurous and sort. And he not solely made individuals snort. He made them really feel.”

From the chaotic final hours of his life to the legacy he left behind, right here is every little 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 job in his dying, in line with the coroner’s report shared in The New York Instances, the hours main as much as the tragic discovery advised a unique 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 “ingesting closely” at On the Rox, a non-public membership on the Strip, The New York Instances reported. After the golf equipment closed, Belushi continued to occasion again on the Chateau Marmont, Rolling Stone reported.

“John was at all times the man who went slightly too far and needed to remain too lengthy on the occasion,” Belushi’s spouse, Judy, advised PEOPLE in 2020.

After the night time of partying and drug use, Belushi started to complain of cold and hot flashes earlier than finally 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 number of days later, Belushi’s official explanation for dying was listed as “acute cocaine and heroin intoxication,” per The New York Instances.

Although there have been sufficient medication in Belushi’s system to kill a wholesome particular person, in line 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 advised PEOPLE in 2024, “That is a chunk of trauma that will probably be with me ceaselessly. 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 line with The New York Instances.

“I’m having bother waking John up,” Wallace advised 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 stated.

Wallace then contacted paramedics, who declared Belushi lifeless at 12:45 p.m., The New York Instances 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 lodge the place he had been staying since Feb. 28, 1982, in line with The Hollywood Reporter.

Earlier that winter, he had spent greater than a month as a resident on the lodge, engaged on the script for Noble Rot, a romantic comedy he hoped can be his subsequent hit. Nonetheless, Belushi’s rising drawback 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 closing (and in the end deadly) journey to L.A.

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

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

“Guilt may be very sophisticated,” she advised PEOPLE. “A part of it’s making your self extra necessary than you actually are—considering ‘I may have stopped this.’ As I started to appreciate 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 largest 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 line 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 night time and early morning: A back-up singer named Cathy Smith, in line with Rolling Stone. In accordance with her later testimony, Smith drove Belushi again to his lodge from the Hollywood nightclubs, partied and injected him with medication through 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 can even in the end destroy him,” SNL author Michael O’Donoghue stated a number of years previous to Belushi’s dying, in line with a 1982 PEOPLE cowl story on the comic. “He’s a type of hysterical personalities that may by no means be full.”

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

What had been John Belushi’s final phrases?

Belushi reportedly uttered his final phrases to Smith, with whom he spent his closing 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 advised Rolling Stone. After he drank the water, Smith requested him if he wanted the rest.

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

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

“In actuality, I’m the one individual on the planet who was there, maybe, when he died. I’m not fairly positive when he died,” Smith advised 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 had been well-known amongst his interior 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 stunning loss as “a intestine punch.”

“After which it was like I used to be thrown into the middle of a twister,” she advised 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 website on Martha’s Winery to pay their respects — turning the small Chilmark cemetery right into a vacationer attraction. His grave obtained so many guests (many leaving liquor, beer cans, cigarette butts and marijuana joints) that Judy was compelled to maneuver his burial location from the middle of the cemetery to close the doorway, The Ledger reported.

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

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

Smith, who was with Belushi the night time 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 line with the Los Angeles Instances. Shortly after, Smith left L.A. for her native Toronto.

However reporters tracked Smith down and she or he agreed to a paid interview with Tony Brenna of the Nationwide Enquirer. On June 29, 1982, she appeared on the duvet of the tabloid beneath the headline “I Killed John Belushi.” Within the story, Smith admitted to being liable 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 advised the Nationwide Enquirer.

Because of the tabloid story and her taped interview with Brenna (which the Enquirer was compelled 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 night time 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 Instances.

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 line with The New York Instances.

What’s John Belushi’s legacy?

Belushi’s legacy lives on not solely on the planet of comedy and leisure but additionally 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 horrifying,” Williams, who turned sober shortly after his pal’s dying, advised PEOPLE in 1988. “His dying scared an entire group of show-business individuals. It triggered an enormous 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 advised 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 stated on My Subsequent Visitor Wants No Introduction with David Letterman.

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

Aykroyd has stored the reminiscence of his pal and collaborator alive by means of a number of of his initiatives — together with the 1984 traditional 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 pal.

Aykroyd additionally based the Home of Blues chain of eating places and stay 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 take pleasure in these locations the place we have now the gods of Blues on the wall, the ceiling?’ “Aykroyd advised PEOPLE in 2024. “You might be positive I’ve a drink and I toast a Crystal Head Vodka to him after I’m in these locations.”

Belushi can also be constantly remembered as a gifted actor and comic whose life and profession had been lower too quick.

“The underside line is he was a captivating man and an excellent performer,” director Landis stated about Belushi to The Guardian in 2019. “He was robust like a tractor and sensible like a bull and he actually may have gone on to do something.”