Early Life:

John Belushi, the rotund, manic comedian, would have been a restaurant owner if his Albanian father had got his way. But the family business never appealed to the boy born in Illinois on 24th January 1949.

A popular and athletic teenager, he considered a career in football but got sidetracked by the acting bug after appearing in a high school variety show. Encouraged by his drama teacher, he spent the summer before college playing a variety of roles in backwater productions.

He discovered his talent for comedy and, during his time at the College of DuPage, he formed the West Compass Players, an improvisational comedy troupe.