John Belushi: Those were the last hours before his drug death

On March 5, 1982, actor John Belushi died of a drug cocktail of cocaine and heroin. The then 33-year-old had an overdose of the mixture known as "speed ball" administered at the notorious hotel Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles.

Hollywood historian Shawn Levy now tracks down the final days and hours of the actor's cult status with the movie "Blues Brothers" - and wants to reveal some new details about Belushi's last night on Earth.

Levy's book, "The Castle on Sunset: Life, Death, Love, Art, and Scandal at Hollywood's Chateau Marmont," actually does not appear until May 7th. As the title suggests, it is not a biography of the actor. Described is the turbulent history of the hotel.



The industry magazine "The Hollywood Reporter" has now published an excerpt from it. Amongst other things, Levy reports about the condition of Belushi's hotel room. "The living room was in ruins - it was not just messy, but really devastated, like after a tantrum."

Between pizza and wine bottles

The night before Belushi's death, actor Robert De Niro (75, "Heat") paid a visit to his colleague. When he arrived at Belushi, he found in his room a "hard-hearted woman with an icy cold look called Cathy, loitering in the middle of discarded pizza boxes, wine bottles, and dirty laundry." De Niro was relieved when Belushi suggested he visit a nightclub and later come back to him, Levy writes.



A little later, Belushi was visited by Robin Williams (1951 - 2014, "Good Will Hunting"), who exchanged a few words with him. Also Williams should have been disgusted by the scenery and was gone shortly thereafter. At around three o'clock in the morning, De Niro was back at Belushi, but also left the room quickly.

The next morning at eight o'clock, a hotel clerk brought breakfast to Belushi, which received the woman De Niro had run for, Cathy Smith, who was later sentenced to 15 months' imprisonment for negligently killing Belushi. Smith had breakfast, cleared the room, "especially the drug paraphernalia," looked at Belushi, "who snored loudly in bed," and left.

And De Niro cried

Around noon, the insensate Belushi was then found by his bodyguard Bill Walace. All resuscitation measures were in vain. The summoned paramedics did not even try to get Belushi back, writes author Levy. When De Niro called the hotel a little later to inquire about Belushi, he is said to have burst into tears after hearing of his death.



Levy not only describes the night Belushi had taken the fatal overdose. Belushi's drug problems were well known to his community: "The people around him were planning to take him to New York, where his wife Judy and his partner and best friend Dan Aykroyd thought to help him with a withdrawal and thus work productively back to him to let."

Aykroyd had previously visited Belushi at Chateau Marmont - at the time he was writing the script for the legendary ghost-hunter comedy "Ghostbusters." Already there it was almost impossible to find Belushi even for a conversation.

"He moved aimlessly between nightclubs, friends' houses, restaurants, guitar shops of his favorite sauna, and appointments with drug dealers, occasionally even leaving his rental limousines to drive away with a new acquaintance," it says. "He was a wreck and he was increasingly losing access to anyone who could have helped him."

The Final 24 - John Belushi (March 2024).



Hollywood, Robin Williams, Cocaine, Heroin, Los Angeles, The Hollywood Reporter, John Belushi, Death, New Details, Drugs, Book, The Castle on Sunset