Matthew Perry Convinced Morgan Fairchild To Play His Mom On Friends

Matthew Perry’s mom on Friends may have looked very different. In a recent interview on the Behind the Velvet Rope podcast, recorded before Perry’s death on Oct. 28, Morgan Fairchild revealed she almost didn’t take the role of Chandler Bing’s mom Nora, but after finding out about her connection to her onscreen son, she knew she made the right choice.

Fairchild said she was advised to not play a mother onscreen, especially because Friends was only in its first season at the time and therefore not a runaway hit yet.

“Several people said, ‘You’re too young to play that guy’s mother, and you shouldn’t do that,’” she recalled. “And I said, ‘[I] gotta make that transition at some point, you know, I might as well.’”

But when she stepped onto the set, Perry assuaged her fears right away by revealing their connection.

Fairchild’s Hidden Connection To Perry

“The first day on the set, Matthew came over to me and said, ‘Oh, you won’t remember me but my father is John Bennett Perry, and he played the sheriff on Falcon Crest and on Flamingo Road, and I used to visit the set with him when I was 9,’” she recalled. “I’m like, ‘Oh, God, I guess I could be this kid’s mother.’”

Fairchild went on to say that she played Chandler’s self-absorbed erotica author mother because she believed in the show’s potential. “I had seen it a few times and I thought the kids were really good individually, but [it also had] really good ensemble work," she said.

“It’s two different talents, and I thought [the] show had great potential. I was right.”

Fairchild’s Tribute To Perry

After his death, Fairchild took to her X (formerly Twitter) account to honor Perry’s memory, sharing a photo from Chandler’s wedding episode. “I’m heartbroken about the untimely death of my ‘son,’ Matthew Perry,” she wrote.

“The loss of such a brilliant young actor is a shock. I’m sending love & condolences to his friends & family, especially his dad, John Bennett Perry.”

In a separate interview with PEOPLE, Fairchild remembered Perry as “sweet and shy and charming” as a kid and “a wonderful, gifted actor” on the Friends set.

“He just had this boundless energy, boundless joy,” she said. “He just seemed to relish every moment and just radiated good cheer and confidence.”