Fans hold candlelight vigil for Monteith

Photo: The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

A young man comforts a young woman during a candlelight vigil for late Canadian actor Cory Monteith outside the Fairmont Pacific Rim Hotel in Vancouver, on Friday July 19. Monteith's body was found in a room at the hotel July 13. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Candles flickered in the late evening twilight and songs, including Canada's national anthem, filled the air outside a downtown Vancouver hotel as fans paid tribute to a fallen TV star.

Cory Monteith died last Saturday in his hotel room on the 21st floor of the Fairmont Pacific Rim from the combined effects of heroin and alcohol.

Monteith, who was born in Alberta and grew up in B.C., played the role of Finn Hudson on the hit TV show "Glee."

Karleigh Walker, an 18-year-old from White Rock, says she decided to organize the candlelight vigil on Monday after she saw a constant flow of fans visiting the hotel.

She says Monteith was a role model for herself and many others, so she took to social media to organize the event.

The vigil even drew members of a local harm-reduction group and former and current users, one of whom says Monteith's death has shone a spotlight on heroin overdoses locally.