Actress Miriam Margolyes has paid tribute to fellow thespian, the late Matthew Perry, weeks after expressing her regret at the one question she shouldn’t have asked him.
During the talk show, Margolyes had Norton and the audience in stitches while Perry, quite taken aback at her overshare about getting Lawrence Olivier’s autograph, squirmed in his seat.
She wrote, “RIP Matthew Perry. You will be missed by so many. A great man.”
Perry and Margolyes fans commiserated with the actress expressing their sadness at the actor’s untimely passing and thanking her for sharing such a wonderful memory.
In her 2023 memoir, Oh Miriam! Stories from an Extraordinary Life, Margolyes recalls the exchange but also expresses her regret at asking Perry if he was an alcoholic.
She said: “On reflection, I really wish I hadn’t,” and described the episode as “one of the few times” she “didn’t quite ‘mesh’ with another guest” on a chat show.
On the contrary, Perry was quite open about his long battle with addiction and alcohol throughout his career. Last year he revealed the true extent of his pain in a tell-all memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing.
News of his passing spread last Saturday when he was reportedly found unresponsive on his hot tub around 4pm.