There's a good reason for some of the frenetic pace of the hit film "The Blues Brothers" -- cocaine was a regular resource for getting through some of the nighttime shoots, according to one of the film's stars, Dan Aykroyd. The actor tells Vanity Fair that "everyone did it," but John Belushi, his co-star, especially loved the drug.

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Dan Aykroyd, left, and John Belushi starred in "The Blues Brothers" in 1980.

"We had a budget in the movie for cocaine for night shoots," Aykroyd told the magazine about the making of "The Blues Brothers" in 1980. "Everyone did it, including me. Never to excess, and not ever to where I wanted to buy it or have it. [But] John, he just loved what it did. It sort of brought him alive at night -- that superpower feeling where you start to talk and converse and figure you can solve all the world’s problems."

Aykroyd said Belushi -- while having charisma that put him on par with the likes of Mick Jagger -- had serious issues on the set of the film, even disappearing once. One night, Aykroyd found him in a stranger's house near the set.

"We’re looking for one of our actors," Aykroyd told the homeowner, who replied, "Oh, you mean Belushi? He came in here an hour ago and raided my fridge. He’s asleep on my couch."

The final scene of the film was even put in jeopardy by Belushi's antics. The magazine recounts an anecedote where Belushi asked to ride a skateboard that belonged to a kid who had ridden past him. Belushi hopped on, and ended up falling off, injuring himself badly. Studio execs had to wrangle an orthopedist to the set and within 30 minutes "wrapped and injected Belushi, who then gritted his way through the finale, which required him and Aykroyd to do cartwheels and dance steps with hundreds of extras at the Hollywood Palladium."

Belushi was found dead of a drug overdose in a bungalow at the Chateau Marmont hotel in Hollywood on March 5, 1982. He was 33.

For more, check out the January issue of Vanity Fair.

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Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi in 1980's "The Blues Brothers."

Thirty years ago, on March 5, 1982, comic John Belushi was found dead in the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles. His death would spark months of tabloid headlines and introduce many to the word "speedball," meaning a combination of cocaine and heroin. Catherine Evelyn Smith, the woman who was with him that night and injected the drugs that led to his death, would serve prison time for involuntary manslaughter.

In later years, Chris Farley would be compared to the comic, and Farley's 1997 death also came far too early. And there will always be actors, especially comedians, who push things so far both onstage and in their lives that they become famous verging on infamous for life on the edge. But few can outshine Belushi's legacy as the hard-partying comedian whose light burned bright and fast and then was snuffed out.

First-ever 'SNL' skit
Fittingly, Belushi starred in the very first sketch ever shown on "Saturday Night Live" when the show debuted in 1975, playing a student learning English who copies not just his language teacher's words, but mimics his heart attack as well. He'd go on to play the famed Samurai, the "cheeseburger, cheeseburger!" cook, a Conehead, Widette, Joe Cocker and more, but here's where it all began.

'Animal House' zit scene
One of Belushi's best-known roles was that of Bluto in 1978's "Animal House." Bluto held nothing back, had a GPA of 0.0, and would eventually become a U.S. Senator. He stole the film whenever he was on screen, but the pure gross-out value of the "I'm a zit!" scene is unforgettable.

'Blues Brothers' performing 'Soul Man'
Sure, there's Bluto in a mustard-smeared toga, or the Samurai raising his katana, but the most iconic image of Belushi may be of him wearing sunglasses and a dark suit, arm slung over the shoulder of co-star Dan Aykroyd, in "The Blues Brothers." Whether you prefer the film or the many songs the duo performed as Jake and Elwood, the whole concept is a classic. Here they are performing "Soul Man" on "SNL."

How do you best remember Belushi? What was his best role? Tell us on Facebook. 

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