Friends Actors Who've Sadly Passed Away

Rachel's overbearing father Dr. Leonard Green may only appear in four "Friends" episodes, but he casts a huge shadow over the show, especially Rachel's character. Dr. Green was extremely well-to-do in his career but equally hands-off with his children, and as a result his three daughters have become absolute spoiled brats who have no idea how the world works at all. 

When we finally meet gruff Dr. Green in season 2's "The One With the Two Parties," so much about Rachel's upbringing and current neuroses becomes clear. We also have some moments of empathy for Rachel, who is desperately trying to break out of the old entitled patterns that no longer serve her as a wannabe self-sufficient career woman. While Dr. Green was a character we loved to hate, we all could agree with him on one thing: Ross is a jerk and Rachel could do better. 

Actor Ron Leibman had a long and distinguished career across movies, television, and the stage that included a Tony Award for his work in "Angels in America." Leibman passed away in December of 2019 of pneumonia complications at the age of 82. 

Before lovesick-for-Rachel Central Perk manager Gunther (James Michael Tyler), for a brief moment in "Friends" history we had Terry, the surly coffee shop owner whose tongue was as sharp as his black coffee. While only on screen for two episodes, Terry offers one of the most cruel descriptions of Phoebe's music that is so dreadfully mean it somehow comes all the way back around to funny: "It's not that your friend is bad. It's that she's so bad she makes me want to put my finger through my eye into my brain and swirl it around." Yikes, Terry. 

Thankfully Phoebe never hears these words and continues on her merry weird musical way, albeit outside the coffee shop as long as Terry has anything to say about it. It's also courtesy of Terry that we have one of the show's most memorable cameos, as Chrissie Hynde from the Pretenders plays an open mic set at the café and eventually Phoebe even teaches her the chorus of her infamous ditty "Smelly Cat." While actor Max Wright might be better known for his turn as Mr. Tanner on "ALF," his mark on "Friends" as Terry is indelible. Wright passed away at the age of 75 in June 2019 after a long struggle with cancer.

A key part of Monica's character arc finds her chasing her lifelong dream of being a chef, and on her difficult road down that path she writes a review of Allesandro's Italian restaurant for the Chelsea Reporter, one that absolutely eviscerates the establishment to such a degree that its owner, Allesandro, actually comes to Monica's apartment to chew her out, pun intended. While there, Monica learns that the reason the food was so bad was because Allesandro doesn't actually know how to cook. Also, he's not even Italian — he's Lebanese. 

After tasting Monica's food, a begrudging Allesandro invites Monica to be his new head chef, which turns into another huge conflict as the old head chef was literally related to everyone else on staff, so their anger turns to her until she concocts shenanigans with Joey in order to get her new staff to take her seriously. Actor Taylor Negron, who memorably brought Allesandro to life, was diagnosed with liver cancer in 2008 and succumbed to the illness in January 2015 at the young age of 57.

There were so many ongoing gags that made "Friends" surprising and fun for the entirety of its run, from Phoebe's weird little songs to Ross and Rachel drama that took some really strange turns along the way. But one of the other narrative tricks that kept things lively was also the overwhelming number of celebrity cameos, with A-listers often playing love interests for the gang. One of the rare non-romantic cameos comes courtesy of Robin Williams and Billy Crystal as Thomas and Tim in "The One With the Ultimate Fighting Champion." 

Thomas and Tim find themselves on the gang's couch in Central Perk on a particularly busy morning as a hysterical Thomas tries to figure out who might be having an affair with his wife. As it turns out, the cuckolder is Tim himself, which unfolds in dialogue that was improvised by Williams and Crystal on set, according to Screen Rant. The gang is in awe, and rightfully so, watching these two comedic masters at work. Heartbreakingly, absolute mensch Robin Williams died by suicide on August 11, 2014, after a long struggle with a number of physical and mental health issues.

If you or anyone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline​ by dialing 988 or by calling 1-800-273-TALK (8255)​.

As she settles into life in the Big City, Rachel's first and most convenient job becomes coffee slinger at Central Perk — that is, when she actually remembers someone's correct order, an inability that should have gotten her fired immediately. But because Gunther has an enormous crush on her, her terrible tenure at the coffee shop lasts until Joey gets her a new gig in her preferred field: fashion. As she celebrates making her last cup of coffee (and giving it to Chandler, who ordered tea), Rachel gets a new shock on her first day working with Mr. Kaplan to find out her main duty will be... making coffee to his exact specifications. Oh, Rachel. 

But as aggrieved as she might have been about her new not-so-dream job in fashion, it does end up being a stepping stone for her eventual career with Bloomingdales, so we can thank Mr. Kaplan for giving Rachel her first break, even though it wasn't what she expected. Legendary stand-up comedian and longtime stage and screen character actor Shelley Berman passed away in September of 2017 due to Alzheimer's complications at the age of 92.

Frances might only be in one "Friends" episode, but that episode is a key one for Phoebe's character, changing her entire arc mostly for the better (but also a lot for the weird, as to be expected). Frances was Phoebe's adoptive grandmother, although Pheebs didn't actually know that she and her sister had been adopted at all; all the photographs of her "father" around Frances' house were actually the placeholder images that came with the picture frames, explaining why Phoebe insists for the rest of the series that her grandmother is in Hell. 

Thankfully, though, before Frances' death she guides Phoebe to her actual father, Frank Buffay (Bob Balaban). Phoebe also finds out about her brother, Frank Jr. (Giovanni Ribisi), which sets up many new character arcs for the most eccentric of the Friends and her even stranger family, like the time when she carries her brother and his much older wife's triplets. Frances was played by Audra Lindley, iconic for her role as Mrs. Roper on "Three's Company." She died in October of 1997 after a long struggle with leukemia, meaning she never had a chance to see how her small appearance on the show would in fact change pop culture history.

"Friends" didn't often go into dream territory, rarely exploring any alternate avenues for the characters or offering fresh perspectives on the past and future of the story. But thankfully, we do have the two-part "The One That Could Have Been," which dives into an alternate universe in which Rachel married Barry, Monica never lost all that weight, Joey stayed on at "Days of Our Lives," Chandler is an aspiring comedian, Ross and Carol remain unhappily married, and in the biggest twist of all, Phoebe is an investment banker who chain smokes, rather than a floopy vegetarian masseuse with excellent fashion sense. 

It's in Phoebe's portion of the story that Paul Gleason, perhaps best known as Vice Principal Vernon from "The Breakfast Club," appears as her concerned boss Jack after Phoebe loses millions of dollars on a bad deal and has a heart attack. Gleason passed away in May 2006 at the age of 67 after struggling with mesothelioma and lung cancer complications caused by asbestos exposure.

If "Friends" had a seventh friend, or a character most familiar to even casual viewers beyond the tight-knit titular six, it was Gunther, the manager of the gang's coffee shop hangout. He was often seen flitting around in the background at Central Perk, waiting on customers and pulling espresso shots while invariably rocking a tie, a loud shirt, and tightly-cropped, bleached-blond hair. On the occasion that Gunther spoke in one of his more than 150 appearances, it was to quietly and forlornly express his unrequited love for former coworker Rachel, or to deliver a blistering barb against her on-again, off-again boyfriend Ross.

In real life, to help pay the bills between gigs in addition to his continuing role as Gunther, actor James Michael Tyler worked at a Hollywood coffee shop called The Bourgeois Pig. "I was one of their first baristas — I think I started there in 1990 or so," he told BuzzFeed in 2014. He appeared on HBO Max's long-awaited, long-delayed "Friends" reunion special in 2021, but via Zoom because of health concerns. Tyler told NBC's Today that he'd been diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer in 2018, and the disease had spread to his bones. In October 2021, the 59-year-old actor died, per NBC News. "'Friends' would not have been the same without you," Jennifer Aniston said in an Instagram post. "Thank you for the laughter you brought to the show and to all of our lives. You will be so missed."

The "Friends" Season 3 installment, "The One Where No One's Ready," is a classic "bottle episode" – almost the whole thing takes place in near-real time in Monica's living room while the gang argues and experiences numerous delays while preparing to go to a classy event at Ross's university. They finally get out the door and, during the credits scene, there's a quick interaction between Ross and esteemed academic Sherman Whitfield of the London Institute, who effusively praises Ross on a paper he wrote about fossils. But then Whitfield gets in a fight with Chandler who accuses him of stealing his seat.

Peter Dennis had big voice roles in "Beowulf" and "Shrek," while also turning up in "Sideways" and in "ER" and "Alias." According to the Associated Press (via Variety), Dennis' best-received work was "Bother!," a one-person theatrical show in which he would read from and perform A.A. Milne's "Winnie the Pooh" stories. In April 2009, Dennis died of cancer. He was 75 years old.

In the Season 2 episode, "The One with the Lesbian Wedding," Phoebe's massage client, Mrs. Adelman, dies on her table. She comes to believe that the woman's spirit is inhabiting her body, and so she meets with Mrs. Adelman's husband who tells Phoebe that his wife can't rest until she's seen everything. Phoebe shows her ghost guest a good time, and reports back to Mr. Adelman. He then tries to get her to go to bed with him for one last fling with his wife who apparently laughs at the suggestion inside Phoebe's head.

Recognizable, prolific character actor Phil Leeds began his career as a stand-up comic but didn't work for a decade when he wound up on the Hollywood "blacklist" for not calling out communists during Sen. Joseph McCarthy's "Red Scare." But from the '60s on, he was a constant presence on TV, popping up in "The Dick Van Dyke Show," "The Monkees," "Maude," "Barney Miller," and "Night Court." After "Friends," he played Judge Happy Boyle in "Ally McBeal," and the character was written off when Leeds died in real life of pneumonia at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles in August 1998 (per Playbill). He was 82.

Joey often speaks about his large Italian family and his grandmothers in particular. Season 5's "The One Where Ross Can't Flirt" introduces Nonnie. Joey invites her over to hang with his friends and to see him on an episode of "Law and Order." However, his scenes ended up getting cut, so he scrambles to film a fake "Law and Order" episode to trick his Nonnie, who reportedly doesn't know any English other than the name "Sam Waterston" and enough to eavesdrop on an embarrassing conversation involving Ross.

French actress Lilyan Chauvin played Joey's grandma on "Friends." In the years before that appearance, she regularly featured in "The Young and the Restless," "Days of Our Lives," and "Falcon Crest" and hosted and produced the show business cable TV talk show, "Hollywood Structured." After "Friends," Chauvin guest-starred in "Ugly Betty," "Frasier," and "Malcolm in the Middle." According to Chauvin's Los Angeles Times obituary (via Legacy), the actor died in June 2008, four decades after a breast cancer diagnosis, due to congestive heart disease. She was 82.

In the "Friends" Season 5 episode, "The One Where Phoebe Hates PBS," struggling actor Joey thinks he's landed a plum gig as the host of a public television pledge drive telethon. He puts on a tuxedo and reports to the studio only to learn he's just working in the phone bank with a number of other people. The real hired host is veteran TV personality and prolific host, Gary Collins.

Collins played a fictional version of himself in the show and does what he usually did — host something. Primarily an actor in the '70s in projects like "Airport" and the TV series "Born Free" and "The Sixth Sense," Collins moved into hosting in the '80s, presiding over the Miss America pageant, "Hour Magazine," and "The Home Show." Collins died in Harrison County, Mississippi in October 2012, which the coroner attributed to natural causes, according to CNN. Collins was 74 years old.

The Season 1 episode, "The One with Two Parts: Part 2," finds the gang at a busy New York hospital for a variety of reasons. Their progress in receiving medical care is tempered and hindered by a hospital gatekeeper, a nurse listed in the credits as "The Admissions Woman." She is not a big fan of the group — she won't admit Ross' pet monkey Marcel (who swallowed a Scrabble tile), chastises Rachel (who has possibly broken her ankle taking down Christmas lights) for waiting until February to take down her decorations, and calls Monica an idiot when she attempts to commit insurance fraud.

Anyone watching Alaina Reed Hall's scene-stealing performance as an outspoken admitting nurse who recognizes the actress probably knew her from one of two projects. Reed Hall played Rose Lee Holloway for the entire run of the '80s sitcom, "227," and before and concurrently portrayed friendly adult Olivia Robinson in "Sesame Street," from 1976 up until 1992. According to the Los Angeles Times, seven years after a breast cancer diagnosis, Reed Hall died at a hospital in Santa Monica, California in 2014. She was 63 years old.

Throughout the first season of "Friends," Monica and Rachel engage in a tense, ongoing fight with a guy known only as Mr. Heckles. His apartment is directly below theirs, and he never seems to leave the place, shuffling around in a bathrobe, forever cranky and complaining about some slight, real or imagined, on the part of his much younger upstairs neighbors. In the Season 2 episode, "The One Where Heckles Dies," the gang finds out that the old man died of a heart attack. Not only that but they're visited by his low-rent attorney Buddy Doyle, who executes Mr. Heckles' will, giving the women possession of everything in his client's apartment.

Danny Dayton wrapped up his long acting career about the time of his sole "Friends" episode, following it with guest slots in "The Nanny" and "Mad About You." An award-winning commercial director and prominent theatrical director (per Variety), Dayton also had recurring roles in classic TV shows like "All in the Family" and "The Phil Silvers Show." Dayton's publicist told the New York Times that the actor died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles in February 1999, due to emphysema. Dayton was 75 years old.

"Friends" fans were shocked when news broke on October 28, 2023, that Matthew Perry had died at the age of 54. Although the cause has yet to be determined, news outlets like NBC News and TMZ have reported an apparent drowning in a hot tub in his Los Angeles home. He was best known for his role as Chandler Bing, the quick-witted and sarcastic comic relief of the "Friends" friend group. When in doubt, Chandler could always be counted on to deliver a clever quip or provide unwavering support, no matter the situation the group found themselves in.

Over the course of the show's 10-season run, Chandler experienced some of the best character development out of all six of the friends. In the beginning, he was the embodiment of a noncommittal man-child and corporate slave — but what 20-something isn't? By the time he began his relationship with Monica at the end of Season 4 and into Season 5, he showed signs of maturity and responsibility. The two marry in Season 7, Episode 23, "The One With Monica And Chandler's Wedding," and welcome a pair of twins in the series finale, "The Last One." Perry continued his career in television with prominent roles in Aaron Sorkin's "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" and his own revival of "The Odd Couple." He also published his bestselling memoir "Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing," in which he detailed years of health and addiction issues.

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