Farley autopsy results delayed

Associated Press

CHICAGO -- The results of an autopsy conducted yesterday on comedian Chris Farley were withheld pending completion of toxicology tests.

The body of the former "Saturday Night Live" star was found Thursday by his brother on the floor of Farley's apartment, clad in pajama bottoms. He was 33.

There was no sign of foul play or drugs, police said.

Farley was found with a red-tinged fluid coming from his nose and a white, frothy fluid coming from his mouth, the medical examiner's office said.

Such fluids are common on corpses and may result from a wide variety of causes, Dr. Gregory J. Davis, a board member of the National Association of Medical Examiners, said yesterday.

They include drug or alcohol use, sudden heart failure, fluid in the lungs or simply the beginning of decomposition, he said from Frankfort, Ky., where he is a state medical examiner.

Farley joined Chicago's Second City improvisational troupe, then the cast of NBC's "SNL," before he went on to star as the witless, bumbling slob in movies like "Tommy Boy," "Black Sheep" and "Beverly Hills Ninja."

Farley lived large, and, by many accounts, abused drugs and alcohol.

Early in his career, he told friends: "I only want to play the first half, so I can go all out," actor Noah Gregoropoulous recalled at an impromptu tribute Thursday night at the Improv Olympic theater school, where Farley studied during the 1980s.

Farley's family gathered yesterday at his parent's home in Madison, Wis.

"You can't describe what they are feeling. We just cried together," said close friend Charna Halpern, who spoke to his mother and father by telephone yesterday.