Remembering Cory

For some reason, I have been unable to fall asleep, decided to go online and find such devastating news about Cory. I'm heartbroken for his family and his friends.

Cory was an actor I vaguely knew of.

In that I had heard of him.

This is all still a shock.

I started crying when I saw Mark's tweet.

Cory was a brilliant actor, and was one from the cast that I wanted to see have a career after Glee.

I loved Finn, no matter how they wrote him, because Corey still made me still care about Finn.

Cory was like everyone's big brother.

He was a part of the magic of Glee.

He was one of my favourite actors and characters on the show, I find it hard to believe. He was only 31, wow.

My heart is aching right now. No one should die at 31. Cory should have been entertaining us for another 60 years. My heart goes out to his family, Lea, cast mates, and friends.

No words, really... I still can't believe it!
I'm still hoping someone will tell us this is a joke.

Man, I didn't even really know the guy, and I feel so hollow. Man, 31 years old. It's just pointless.

I just woke up. What absolutely horrible news to wake up to. I'm sitting here in tears. My heart breaks for Lea... cannot imagine what she's going through right now. Thirty one year old... shit...

Cory was one of the best actors on Glee and managed to make me care about Finn even when Finn was unsympathetic. That's not an easy thing to do. His career should have been a glorious one and now it's cut short. What an absolute crime.

I've decided that as a tribute to Cory, I would split the discussion about his sad death to a seperate thread. I wanted to give us all an opportunity to share our grief, and more importantly, I wanted all of us to have the opportunity to celebrate the joy Cory brought to our lives through Glee and his other work.

For now, I will keep this thread here on the Chris on Television board, but will move it over to the Gathering Place in a week or two.

Richard Branson posted a wonderful tribute to Cory on his blog:

http://www.virgin.com/richard-branson/cory-monteith

Jellyrolls wrote:Richard Branson posted a wonderful tribute to Cory on his blog:

http://www.virgin.com/richard-branson/cory-monteith

That was just beautiful and sad as well.

Ranwing wrote:

This just breaks me.

I'm stunned. Cory was one of the best things about Glee. He was a great actor, and seemed like a great person. His family, friends, and castmates must be devastated.

RIP, Cory.

feel so bad for this guy. lots of talent and good heart but life cut short. you just never know.

i am going to make my family a fancy meal today. life is short. might as well enjoy it to the fullest

Someone please tell me this is a joke. I'm crying right now, and I hate crying. I liked Cory! He was one of the best actors on the show!

I just read about this somewhere else, and I'm shocked. Is still unbelievable he's dead, how? I thought everything was better with his life, only a couple of weeks ago he did the photoshoot with the rest of the cast... how?

You know, this makes me feel very sad because as I mentioned in other posts, he's one of my favorites and was so a talented actor.

I've gone through this before, when a much loved actor dies while their project is in production and there's no easy resolution for everyone. Those who had worked with Cory from the very beginning are going to be deeply impacted and facing his memory each and every time they set foot on the set. No one more so than Lea, who lost not only her cast mate but her love as well. Her future with Cory, whatever it might have been, is gone and I cannot imagine what she must be feeling right now. I only hope that she's got friends and family with her to help her though this devastating time.

And I don't want to downplay how painful this is for the fans. Most of us did not know Cory or ever met him, but we were all impacted by his work. I found his character to be at turns inspirational, frustrating, obnoxious and very much the kind of everyman that you don't often really see. In a cast where some characters are by design supposed to be exceptional in some way, Finn was the common kid in high school. The one of more modest talents and dreams He spoke to people as profoundly as Kurt did. We are also in mourning and it's not unreasonable for us to feel depressed and a bit lost now that both Cory and Finn are gone. And like Cory, Finn's story will forever remain unfinished.

When I was in high school, and actor named Jon Erik Hexum died in an accident on set during production of his tv series and it was devastating for his fans. I'll never forget what Glen Lawson, the producer of that show said and I'll paraphrase it here because it's so appropriate.

"They say when a star dies, its light continues to shine across the universe for millenniums. Cory Monteith died in July of this year, but his light will continue to brighten our lives forever...and ever."

Ranwing wrote:
"They say when a star dies, its light continues to shine across the universe for millenniums. Cory Monteith died in July of this year, but his light will continue to brighten our lives forever...and ever."

That so beautiful that I'm weeping at this moment. And I've been reading different sites, mostly twitter and you know, despite of the bipolar feelings people have toward Finn, everyone agree Cory was an exceptional person, and such a talented boy who had a promising future. And personally, is still hard for me to understand why people like Cory, who I really think he deserved the best in his life, die. It seems unfair to me.

I remember when Kurt Cobain died, and some of my classmates were so devastated that they had to leave school for the day, they were crying so hard. I had no knowledge or interest in his music at the time, but I never forgot how hard it was for his fans.

I do remember how I felt when Michael Jackson died (I was out with the same friend-visiting-from-abroad as I was out with last night, in fact). Stunned. I remember how much it hurt to learn that Glenn Quinn had died. I remember feeling sorry about Cory Haim, even though I had seen enough of his life to know he was headed to a very bad place.

I never liked or identified with Finn Hudson. I have hated where they took his character. Sometimes, that got in the way of me enjoying the show. Cory, however, gave a good performance, and my respect for his acting abilities rose exponentially in Season Four, even as we watched his weight drop. For months, forums I visit have speculated that something was wrong. Then he entered rehab. When he came out and started dropping weight again, started wearing camouflaging layers and stripes and getting veneers, and disappeared into Canada for such a long period of "rest" I got worried. I speculated that RIB must be quite concerned, and even that his sudden trip to visit Groff on the set of The Normal Heart was a chance for Ryan Murphy to check up on him.

Because I watched, and I saw someone who was not healthy. I saw someone who I thought had gone to Canada to have a binge outside the spotlight before the new season began, or to hide from the camera and try to put on enough weight to report to set.

Now I feel so terrible, because I wanted so badly to be wrong. I wanted SO badly to be wrong. And please, please don't hate me for expressing my grief in this way. I have a younger cousin who is an alcoholic, who is only 23 and has probably been an alcoholic like his dad since his teens, and I spent YEARS telling my family that he was drinking. It wasn't until a year ago, when he got a DUI, that anyone heard me. And just the other weekend, I was at a wedding with him--wanting to hold my arms open, even though his mind is arrested somewhere around the age of 16 (that often happens with addicts--they miss out on a certain amount of maturing, because of the cloud of drugs)--and saw him drinking again. And his MOTHER brought him one, gave him permission.

So before you hate me for this post, please understand that I am watching Cory and I am thinking of my cousin. I am hurting, too. And I wish so badly that people haven't pretended that he was OK for the year up until rehab, that the PR machines hadn't made him a hero, that we hadn't been led to believe it wasn't serious (because it WAS, or he would not have left three episodes before the end of the season). I wish that people had opened their eyes, that they acknowledged the seriousness of what he was struggling with, that *he* (and my cousin) would be able to beat whatever horrible thing it is that makes addiction so very hard to escape.

On Tumblr, there is a quote from Gawker going around, and it seems apropos:

…but it did bother me that when he entered rehab the reaction of the world was congratulatory rather than horrified. Everybody seemed to agree, loudly and publicly, that Cory Monteith was a stand-up guy for admitting he had a problem and independently checking himself in. It’s like Hollywood was just reassuring itself that everything was going to be fine, because rehab! Few if any people expressed disappointment or horror that someone so young,with such a squeaky-clean image, the star of a show pitched at teens and pre-teens, was struggling with an addiction to drugs. In Hollywood, rehab = happily ever after. Maybe if we had all been a little less optimistic, we would have realised he was in a pretty dark place, and only at the beginning of long battle.

I agree.

I feel terrible grief for Cory. I think of those I love who have struggled with addiction and won, and those who are still fighting, and those who have refused to fight. I think of Glee, and of Finn--a character who I do not love at all--and I feel such sorrow. I don't know how I'll ever be able to watch again--because I will always see the man behind the character, and feel a terrible compassion, a terrible sorrow, and a feeling of loss.

In middle school, my friend Susan went home sick, weeping because a rockstar died. We were thirteen years old and I thought it was rather strange. Now, I have had a sleepless night and a very sad morning (the first words I said to my husband when I woke up were "Cory Monteith is dead." And he asked me if I was actually awake, if I knew what I was saying . . . I wish I hadn't been).

I think I understand her reaction now. I am 33 years old, and my heart is heavy (God, what a cliche) because of the pain I see in the fandom, the pain I imagine his family, friends, and co-workers are feeling, and a terrible sense of helplessness. I was here, on the sidelines, watching a terrible accident unfold, with no power to stop it, no way to speak up, and no trust that anyone would believe me if I said "Guys, the PR is bullshit, this guy is sick."

Because no one believed me when I said that my cousin was an alcoholic. Because he is not winning the battle. And because somehow, insidiously, Cory Monteith and Finn are intertwined in my mind with my family member (they are the same "type" of character). Because, even aside from that, I have felt passionate about Glee. Because . . . because . . .

I think I have finally run out of words. Please--if my reaction is not a standard-issue, pretty one, be compassionate. I feel quite alone. My husband is on a plane to Alabama, and I have no one to talk to. I had sat up so long, that all I managed to say coherently before he left this morning was:

"Cory Monteith is dead."

and

"I love you, I'll miss you."

before I stumbled back into bed, pulled the sheet over my head, and held my cat in a death grip (fortunately, he took it for petting and purred me back to sleep).

This feels so unreal. I obviously don't know these people, and in reality this changes nothing in my day to day life, but it is so very sad when any young person leaves this world too early. He seemed a lovely calm presence, full of talent and potential. I still look back fondly how he played big brother the Chris in the first year. I also remember when Jon Erik died, from simply goofing off with a prop gun. My thoughts to those who knew and loved him.

@AnneNeville, don't feel bad for expressing your feelings. As hours have passed, I starting to think more clearly about what happened, and until the autopsy says otherwise, sadly I believe that Cory probably didn't make it in his last rehab. And even though I was someone who applauded him for getting in rehab, by other side it surprised me, because I thought he was fine, but then I realized there might be some addictions some people have to deal with all their life.

...Cory's death have made me questioning lots of things.

I'm a lot older than most of you here. When I go to memories of someone gone too soon and it being shocking - it was John Lennon. I remember waking up in the morning to my alarm and the radio was playing John Lennon continuously. I got up and talked to my mom - she gave me the news. I cried for hours that day - even at work. It was just so sad and unbelievable that someone so talented could be taken so young. I also remember Kurt Cobain. That was just tragic. He was so unhappy and in constant pain.

Cory couldn't conquer his addiction and I'm so sorry that he was unable to. He was such a talented actor and even though I couldn't stand Finn in the last few seasons - Cory made the story work. He also seemed like a very sweet, caring man. The cast, crew and producers of Glee are going to have a very tough time making the show without him.