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Cory Monteith arrives at the 69th Annual Golden Globe Awards Sunday, Jan. 15, 2012, in Los Angeles. Monteith, who played Finn Hudson on the musical comedy Glee, was found dead on July 13, 2013 at a hotel in Vancouver, Canada, police said.The Associated Press

Cory Monteith hit the town with three friends the night he died, hanging out in Vancouver's downtown core before returning to his hotel room alone, where his body was discovered by hotel staff approximately 10 hours later.

Mr. Monteith, the Canadian actor who played quarterback-turned-crooner Finn Hudson on the hit television show Glee, was found dead in the Fairmont Pacific Rim on Saturday. He was 31.

Constable Brian Montague, a Vancouver police spokesman, told The Globe and Mail that Mr. Monteith was in his 21st-floor room with three friends Friday night. The four then headed for a downtown business, though Constable Montague wouldn't identify which one or even which neighbourhood it was in.

The police spokesman told the Globe on Sunday that Mr. Monteith returned to his hotel room alone, around 2:15 a.m. Police had previously said only that Mr. Monteith returned in the "early morning hours."

His body was discovered around noon, after he missed his check-out time.

Barbara McLintock, a spokeswoman for the B.C. Coroners Service, which is investigating the death along with police, said in an interview Sunday it's not clear when Mr. Monteith's autopsy will be conducted.

His death was announced by police and the Coroners Service at a hastily arranged news conference Saturday night.

Mr. Monteith had checked into the hotel on July 6. No evidence of foul play has been found and police and the coroner's service have declined comment on what was discovered in his hotel room, or where his body was found.

Mr. Monteith, who grew up in Victoria, sought help for a substance addiction earlier this year. In a 2011 interview with Parade, he said he had a "serious problem" with drugs earlier in his life.

Mr. Monteith spoke with the Globe last year, when he was in Vancouver to announce a new charity aimed at offering a theatre experience to at-risk youth. He was joined at the announcement by Sir Richard Branson.

During the interview, Mr. Monteith said he was going down "a very dark path" before he met Maureen Webb, one of the women behind the charity, called the Project Limelight Society.

"I was literally walking from the London Drugs with bags of groceries at a loose end in my life, a real transitional phase, looking for the next thing to do. I didn't know what that was," he said at the time. "She was a friend of a friend who suggested on the side of the street ... that I come into her studios and take these acting classes. And I said, 'What am I going to do with acting?' "

"It was that initial inspiration that started me on what's going to be a 10-year career so far, culminating in Glee, which is a huge success. And it all started with a Project Limelight-like thing," he said.

Ms. Webb could not immediately be reached for comment Sunday. She used Twitter early Friday to thank Mr. Monteith for a great evening, presumably meaning Thursday.

Mr. Branson wrote in a blog post that Mr. Monteith was a "beautiful soul" who was "deeply committed to ending youth homelessness."

"His awareness of his own struggles led him to reach out to young people all over the world with deep compassion and empathy to help them through their struggles," he said.

He added: "It is with deep sadness that we join with others to thank Cory for all he did to make a difference in other young people's lives."

With files from Marsha Lederman

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