Beloved ‘Glee' Star, Who Died at Height of Career, Would Have Turned 44 Today

Nearly 13 years after his death, Cory Monteith would have turned 44 today.

Monteith, who played Finn Hudson in Glee, died at the age of 31 from combined heroin and alcohol toxicity in his hotel room at the Fairmont Pacific Rim Hotel in Vancouver. He previously struggled with drug abuse, but overcame it after he landed Glee's leading role. However, returning to his hotel alone on July 13, 2013, the actor took a lethal amount of drugs and alcohol.

Last year, his girlfriendLea Michele and Glee co-star opened up about loss and grief.

"It was so sad [and] it was so depressing," Michele said on the Therapuss podcast hosted by Jake Shane. "I was 26 and no one handed me a guidebook. It was a fast education on more stuff than I could ever even process."

Glee incorporated Monteith's character's death into the series to pay tribute to him, but Michele said that it was challenging going back to work. She returned to film season 5 of Glee only one month after Monteith's death.

"If we didn't show up to work, then people wouldn't have work to go to," Michele said. "That was a lot of pressure for me. So, I had to put my stuff aside so that everybody could continue to work."

After Monteith's untimely death, Glee's creator Ryan Murphy said that a sense of joy had disappeared from set. Michele said that she's never seen the tribute episode, "The Quarterback," because if she doesn't watch it, "it just kind of feels like Finn is still there."

Michele's Glee character, Rachel Berry, dated Monteith's character in the show. In real life, the couple dated for over a year. According to People, Monteith and Michele were "very happy and very in love" when he died.

If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, please contact the SAMHSA helpline at 1-800-662-HELP.

Copyright 2026 The Arena Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved

This story was originally published May 11, 2026 at 7:09 AM.