REMEMBERING CORY MONTEITH

 "Actor Cory Monteith was found dead in a Vancouver hotel room last week. He was 31. The coroner investigating has declared the cause of Monteith’s death to be a toxic combination of heroin and alcohol.

Monteith had been very open about his struggles with drug addiction in the past, and had just finished  a stint in rehab this past April.

Cory was one of the bright young stars of Fox’s hit series Glee. His character Finn Hudson was the sensitive football jock who joined the McKinley High glee club under duress but grew to become one of its foremost proponents, and protector of the other, often downtrodden, members. In his last season, his character had graduated high school and was becoming a teacher and glee club mentor himself. Meanwhile, his showmance with Broadway-bound character Rachel (played by his real life girlfriend Lea Michele) weathered long distance (she went to school in NYC and he stayed behind in Ohio) and romantic temptations on both sides. Any fan of the show, and even non-fans, could see creator Ryan Murphy had their happiness together as a couple as the endgame of the series. Who knows what could have happened in coming seasons?

We've written about Cory before, mainly because he was hot and on a very gay-centric show. That’s one of Manhunt Daily’s reasons for being (“hot” and “gay-centric”). But truthfully, and not trying to do that thing where you suddenly cast the person who’s died as a saint, Cory seemed like a sweet guy. In every interview he did, whether it be in print or on camera, he came across as humble and very aware of how success in showbiz is a combination of talent and luck. His co-stars and other people who knew him seem to agree on what a special person he was. The character of Finn was popular not for his singing or dancing talent (Finn was notorious for not being that great of a singer, and his dancing was comic relief at best), but for becoming the heart of Glee. He was the quintessential dumb jock who was actually just naive, and almost always ended up trying to do the right thing.

And in real life, Cory was a straight ally.  This reflected his character’s friendship with his gay stepbrother Kurt, which was a relationship he initially resisted.

Your heart breaks for his girl. He was so young. There’s no telling what Glee (which has lost some of its sparkle in the past couple of seasons) will deal with this loss. Or what Cory would have gone on to do in his own career. This is just sadness all around."

- J. Harvey