Cory Monteith was an up-and-coming 27-year-old Canadian actor when he was cast in "Glee," a musical teen dramedy that debuted in 2009 on the Fox network. The show became an instant smash, garnering legions of fans — dubbed "Gleeks" — who sent ratings soaring while recordings of songs appearing on the show regularly topped the iTunes music charts.

Suddenly, Monteith and his co-stars became celebrities, and his character — musically inclined high school football quarterback Finn Hudson — quickly became a fan favorite. As the years passed, "Glee" continued to be a durable television hit that cemented itself within pop culture. Live musical tours in 2010 and 2011, for example, proved to be wildly successful; the 2011 "Glee" tour, in fact, grossed a staggering $44 million to become one of the

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