Report: DRUG OVERDOSE KILLED FARLEY

CHICAGO--Chris Farley's friends say he knew he had a drug problem and
wanted to quit. It killed him before he could.

The Cook County medical examiner announced Friday that the 33 -year-old
comedian died from an accidental overdose of morphine and cocaine. Farley's
body was found in his Chicago apartment Dec. 18 by his brother.

A narrowing of the arteries supplying the heart muscle also was a
significant contributing factor in the death of the 296 -pound, 5 -foot/8
actor, Medical Examiner Dr. Edmund Donoghue said in a statement.

"He knew he was having problems -he was getting nosebleeds. I think he
thought he would just stop," said Charna Halpern, a close friend and
director of the Improv Olympic theater school in Chicago where Farley
studied during the 1980s.

Farley's big appetite, wild lifestyle and over-the-top comedy prompted
inevitable comparisons to his idol, John Belushi. And now so does his death
- -both died of an overdose at age 33. "The only comparison to Belushi is the
100 percent commitment to everything they did, and unfortunately that
included their indulgences," Halpern said.

After the Improv Olympic, Farley went to Chicago's Second City comedy
troupe, where Belushi also honed his talent. In 1990 it was on to NBC's
"Saturday Night Live," where Belushi gained fame more than a decade
earlier, before branching out to movies; Farley played witless but lovable
slobs in the films "Tommy Boy," "Black Sheep" and "Beverly Hills Ninja."

Belushi, the plump-but-energetic star of movies such as "The Blues
Brothers" and "Animal House," died March 5, 1982, in a Hollywood hotel from
a combination of heroin and cocaine. In the weeks since Farley's death,
news and tabloid accounts have featured numerous reports that he was
drinking heavily at Chicago bars and using drugs in his last few days.

A woman who identified herself as stripper Heidi Hauser was quoted as
saying she was called to perform for Farley at his apartment and saw him
use cocaine and heroin hours before his body was discovered.

She claims Farley passed out shortly before she left his apartment but was
still alive. She said she had told her story to police. They refused to
comment, saying only that the investigation is continuing.

Blood tests found Farley also had taken the antidepressant Prozac, and an
antihistamine, but those did not contribute to his death, Donoghue said. It
was not known if he had a prescription for Prozac.

Traces of marijuana also were found in his body, but no alcohol. The
comedian's father, Thomas Farley, had little to say about the coroner's
report. "I'm just getting over it," he said from his home in Madison,
Wis., where the comic grew up. "I know he's in God's hands now."

Copyright Los Angeles Times