From his early acting days, and through the height of his fame, Farley struggled with obesity , alcoholism , and substance abuse. He died of a drug overdose at the age of His cousin Jim is chief executive officer at Ford Motor Company.
Many of his summers were spent as a camper and counselor at Red Arrow Camp, near Minocqua, Wisconsin. He graduated from Marquette University in , with a double major in communications and theater.
Farley made his way to Chicago, performing first at Improv Olympic. Popular characters performed by Farley included Matt Foley , an over-the-top motivational speaker who frequently reminded other characters that he was "living in a van down by the river!
The character's name came from a longtime friend of Farley's who became a Catholic priest and currently serves as pastor at St. Some of the mannerisms of the character were a combination of the positions Farley noticed his rugby teammates took on the pitch coupled with his high school football coach's habit of squatting down when giving pep talks and the voice his father used when he was angry.
Off-screen, Farley was well known for his pranks in the offices of Saturday Night Live. Sandler and Farley would make late-night prank phone calls from the SNL offices in Rockefeller Center , with Sandler speaking in an old woman's voice and Farley farting into the phone and mooning cars from a limousine, and even once defecating out a 17th floor window.
