Biography of John Belushi

The blues and its excesses

24 January 1949 5 March 1982 John Adam Belushi was born on January 24, 1949 in Chicago, Illinois. Son of Adam Belushi, restaurateur, Albanian immigrant, John Belushi is an actor symbol of excess. His short life was reckless, marked by nights vagabonde, passed through depression and stages of exaltation; through the use of heavy drugs to seek the utmost condition. His brother Jim Belushi will embark on an acting career, becoming one of the famous faces of Hollywood, however will remain always in the shade than John. As a boy John Belushi cultivates three passions: baseball, theater and rock 'n' roll. At school John Belushi is a model student; He graduated in 1967 at the Wheaton Central High School, whose football team's captain. This is the period when he falls in love with Judith Jacklin, his future bride. He attended the University of Wisconsin for one year, then abandoned. Passes at College of Dupage where he sort of Bachelor of arts. Her career began at only 22 years old when after a specimen is recruited by "Second City Comedy", historical society of Chicago dedicated to improvised sketch. In recent years John Belushi knows Toronto Dan Aykroyd, with whom he established a solid working relationship and a deep friendship. In 1975 NBC brings to life a transmissions destined to revolutionize American television: "Saturday Night Live". Having made himself known for his zany comedy in theater shows before, and on the radio then, John Belushi is recruited into the cast of "Saturday Night Live" and its popularity rises. On the same stage alternate rock stars, actors and comedians in an informal atmosphere. Belushi updates to bet bet his repertoire of characters. On the evening of April 22, 1978 John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd appear before the camera as Joliet Jake and Elwood, with suit and tie black, sunglasses and hat model "fedora": they sing a blues piece accompanied by frantic ballets and somersaults. It would have been the prelude of the worldwide phenomenon "Blues Brothers". In his film career are five movies in which his name remained bound by a double strand; two of these have become real cult: "Animal House" (1978) and "The Blues Brothers" (1980), both directed by John Landis. In the first John Belushi plays the part of repellent Bluto Blutarski, leader of a gang of goliards, the second is Jake, ex-con, with whose brother Elwood (Dan Aykroyd) is dedicated to the blues and to charities ("on a mission on behalf of God"); to help make legend the latter film are the investments of giants of musical genre such as James Brown, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin and John Lee Hooker. In the other three John Belushi movie does not put its iconic masks for which he is remembered. In these film roles more land: in "1941: alarm in Hollywood" (1979) by Steven Spielberg's a pilot, "continental divide" (1981) by Michael Apted, plays the role of a reporter from Chicago in love with an ornithologist, and finally "the neighbors" (1981) by John Avildsen, plays a paranoid tended to defending his privacy. The actor died just 33 years. On the morning of March 5, 1982 John Belushi was found in a bungalow of a hotel complex. Already in poor physical condition due to obesity and excess alcohol, death came because of a lethal injection of cocaine and heroin. His body rests in the "Abel's Hill Cemetery on Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts.
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