The most memorable John Belushi characters

In 1978, Belushi starred in one of the most iconic comedies of all time. That same year, he was also part of this Western comedy directed and starring Jack Nicholson. Belushi has his moments in a picture that received mixed reviews. However, he was far from the star while portraying an unkept, slimy law figure who has no problem busting the balls, along with fellow Deputy Towfield (Christopher Lloyd), of Nicholson's outlaw Henry Lloyd Moon.

How many Belushi fans actually know that his first film role came in this likely forgotten foreign adult animated comedy from 1975? The raunchy project received an X rating in the United States and featured soon-to-be-prominent comedic talents Christopher Guest, Bill Murray, and his brother, Brian Doyle-Murray. In this spoof of the 1930s Tarzan movies, Belushi plays a drunken fraternity guy (a bit of foreshadowing) who flies around on a magic carpet. 

Saturday Night Live has always been praised for its impersonations, even those of fictional characters. Belushi was more than happy to get in on the fun. One of his best impersonations is that of Marlon Brando's Vito Corleone, who just happens to be attending group therapy to help with all the stress that mafia life can bring to one person.

When Belushi took to SNL, he suited up as the great composer/pianist Ludwig van Beethoven and channeled another legendary musician: Ray Charles. It was a brief sketch, but one that had the live studio audience rolling practically throughout the entire sketch. Disenchanted with his current life, Beethoven needed to stir things up. He put on some dark glasses and began to rock. It was proof that Belushi could subtly draw laughs without really trying.

Belushi was rather spot-on in this take on William Shatner's beloved role from Star Trek. One of his better moments as Kirk came when NBC network executives boarded the Enterprise and alerted the crew the show was being canceled due to low ratings. Kirk's first instinct is to rid the unwanted guests with their phasers, which they learn are merely props. The disconnect between TV and reality is the joke, and an agitated Shatner's Kirk is good for plenty of laughs. 

In 1979, Belushi played an ex-boyfriend in this romantic drama about a woman (Talia Shire) who tracks down some past loves to deal with her current identity crisis. Eric is her high school sweetheart, who wasn't all that chivalrous back in the day. So, in the present day, she decides to get back at Eric. Again, not a memorable Belushi role but worthy of some celebration.

Back in 1979, there was plenty of hype surrounding the release of the war comedy 1941. It was directed by Steven Spielberg, co-written by Robert Zemeckis, and featured an ensemble cast that included Dan Aykroyd, John Candy, Robert Stack, Treat Williams, and Mickey Rourke in his first film. The movie was a critical and commercial dud, though, but has earned cult-classic status in the decades since its release. Meanwhile, Belushi's over-the-top, gung-ho, cigar-chomping fighter pilot "Wild Bill" Kelso might deliver the most noteworthy performance of a film about the Japanese's potential attack on California in the wake of Pearl Harbor.

This 1981 black comedy would be Belushi's final film role before his 1982 death. Initially, Belushi was slated to play the wild, obnoxious Vic, who moved to the neighborhood along with randy wife (Cathy Moriarty) by the more mild-mannered Keese family. However, he and Dan Aykroyd switched roles, and Belushi took on the part of Earl, the by-the-book suburbanite who is having trouble dealing with his new neighbors. While Belushi pulled off the role pretty well, turmoil plagued the project behind the scenes and in Belushi's personal life.

Before there was the Blues Brothers, Belushi and acting companion Dan Aykroyd jumped on the Saturday Night Live stage dressed in bumble bee costumes with dark sunglasses and sang the blues. From there, the "Killer Bees" were a staple of those early SNL days. One of the funnier sketches involving the Bees came when Belushi's version, complete with a Spanish accent and red bandana, broke into the home of a suburban couple. "Your pollen or life, senor."

Inspired by Chicago's famed Bill Goat Tavern and the "Olympia" restaurant his father owned in the 1960s. Belushi took on the persona of the Greek owner of The Olympia Restaurant, where they push "cheeburger, cheeburger, cheeburger," "no Coke, Pepsi," and " no fries, chip." It was a nod to his Chicago area roots and one sketch that again added to the popularity that Belushi was building on Saturday Night Live.

Known for his zany and over-the-top characters on SNL and popular film comedies, Belushi also proved to be a dependable leading man when it came to those lighter romantic comedies — like this performance from 1981. Opposite Blair Brown, Belushi's Ernie Souchak is a bulldog newspaperman who ends up in the Rocky Mountains for a story he's reluctant to do while recuperating from an attack suffered while investigating a crooked Chicago alderman. The relationship between the lead characters can be draining to the audience, but Belushi's performance is honest and quite relatable. 

No doubt, one of the funniest moments during the storied history of Saturday Night Live came on Oct. 2, 1976. That's when Belushi delivered his impersonation of English vocalist Joe Cocker while performing on the same SNL stage with the real-life singer for a rendition of "Feelin' Alright." Belushi had been impersonating Cocker years before then, notably with Cocker's famed version of the Beatles' "With a Little Help from My Friends."

In the annals of Saturday Night Live, there might not be a better fictional athlete than Belushi playing himself as this unlikely record-setting decathlon star. So, what's the secret to his surprise athletic success? Maybe the cigarette in his hand? No, we're talking about those little chocolate donuts that are a major part of his training program. Self-deprecating humor was a big part of Belushi's comedy and just one reason for his success as an entertainer.

Perhaps Samurai Futaba would be considered a politically incorrect character on today's Saturday Night Live. However, back in the 1970s, Belushi's hilarious portrayal of this honorable but dysfunctional Japanese samurai was all the rage and must-see late-night television. Samurai Futaba apparently held down several jobs, like working as a psychiatrist, TV repairman, hotel clerk, and, of course, in the famed "Samurai Delicatessen." 

Belushi's work on Saturday Night Live was the stuff legends are made of, but his most iconic acting work likely came on the big screen. The first of that came in his first on-screen movie role in 1978 as Bluto, seven years running as a college student at Faber College. Overweight, over-served, and over-indulgent on life. He's the P.I.G., pig, of the Delta Tau Chi fraternity. He can down a fifth of whisky in seconds, and all for a toga party or exacting revenge on those evil Omegas. 

Sure, Bluto is one of the great comedy film characters of all time, but Joliet Jake is pop culture personified. A role that started on SNL and then transformed to the big screen in 1980 might very well be Belushi's signature role. The blues-singing, sunglass-wearing ex-con, along with brother Elmwood (Dan Aykroyd), hilariously tore up Chicagoland just trying to raise enough money to save his beloved orphanage in Calumet City, Ill. It was a character Belushi was poised to make a living off, but in the end, it was not to be.