River Phoenix

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River Phoenix
River Phoenix at the 61st Academy Awards Governor's Ball, March 29, 1989
Birth name	River Jude Bottom
Born	August 23, 1970 Madras, Oregon, USA
Died	October 31, 1993 (aged 23) Los Angeles, California, USA
Notable roles	Chris in Stand by Me Mike in My Own Private Idaho
Academy Awards
Nominated: Best Supporting Actor 1988 Running On Empty

River Jude Phoenix (August 23, 1970 - October 31, 1993) was an Academy Award-nominated American film actor. He was listed on John Willis' Screen World, Vol. 38 as one of twelve "promising new actors of 1986", and was hailed as highly talented by such critics as Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel. However, his promising career was cut short when he died of an overdose of heroin and cocaine at age 23. Phoenix has four siblings, one brother and three sisters. His brother, Joaquin Phoenix, has since become a successful actor in his own right.

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

His father, John Lee Bottom, came from a Catholic California family, while his mother, Arlyn Sharon Dunetz, was born in the Bronx to Margaret and Meyer Dunetz, Orthodox Jewish ^[1][2] emigrants from Hungary and Russia. The two joined the Children of God cult in the late 1960s and became missionaries, traveling throughout South America. Returning to the United States in 1977, they adopted the surname "Phoenix" in April 1979. River Phoenix was born River Jude Bottom in Metolius, Oregon, five miles south of Madras, Oregon. Both he and his mother have said that he was named after the River of Life in Herman Hesse's novel Siddhartha, and that his middle name comes from the Beatles song "Hey Jude". He grew up in poverty, although contrary to popular belief, he was not born in a log cabin. He and his sister often had to work as street performers to make money for the family.

He and his family, to whom River remained very close, were all vegans. He believed that eating animals was wrong, though it was his younger brother, Joaquín, who, at the age of four, persuaded the family not to eat meat any longer. The family were on a ship from Venezuela to Florida at the time, and Joaquin had seen fishermen killing fish by banging their heads against the bulkheads. When he played the role of Guthrie in the TV version of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers in 1982, his mother insisted on him using a rope for a belt; he steadfastly refused to wear leather.

[edit] Career

Phoenix was one of five siblings who pursued careers in show business, encouraged by their parents. He had significant juvenile roles in Joe Dante's Explorers (1985); Rob Reiner's coming of age picture Stand By Me (1986, Filmed in Brownsville, OR) which first brought Phoenix to public prominence; Peter Weir's lyrical The Mosquito Coast (1986) where Phoenix played the son of Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren; A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon (1988) (this film deviated considerably from the original director's cut, which is now available under the title Aren't You Even Gonna Kiss Me Goodbye?); and Little Nikita (1988) with Sidney Poitier; and was nominated in 1989, at the age of 18, for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor (as well as for a Golden Globe) and received the Best Supporting Actor honor from the National Board of Review for his role in Sidney Lumet's Running on Empty (1988), considered by critics to be one of River Phoenix's finest films.

River Phoenix in Running on Empty, 1988

^{[citation needed]} He also portrayed the teenage Indiana Jones in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989). River met actor Keanu Reeves while Reeves was filming on River's brother's movie set and later went on to star opposite Reeves in Gus Van Sant's hauntingly weird avant-garde My Own Private Idaho for which Phoenix won Best Actor honors at the Venice Film Festival, as well as from the National Society of Film Critics. His friendship with both Reeves and Van Sant continued beyond the movie. At the press screening of My Own Private Idaho at the New York Film Festival, River accurately predicted that a large number of gay-themed films were "on the horizon."

Phoenix as Mike in My Own Private Idaho

After losing-out on the Brad Pitt role in Robert Redford's film A River Runs Through It, Phoenix teamed with Redford on-screen and, once again, with Sidney Poitier for the middling heist thriller Sneakers (1992). River then appeared in Peter Bogdanovich's country music themed film, The Thing Called Love (1993); it was perhaps the only film in which Phoenix's performance somehow didn't seem quite up to par, and would be his final completed picture before his death. His co-star in the film Samantha Mathis would become Phoenix's girlfriend and would be present on the night of his death.

River Phoenix appeared on Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante's second solo album Smile From the Streets You Hold on the song "Height Down." Phoenix also had his own band called Aleka's Attic, which included his sister Rain, Sasa Raphael, and, on occasion, Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Phoenix was also close friends with Michael Stipe of the band R.E.M..

He was reportedly embarrassed by advertisements promoting him as a teeny-bop sex symbol and usually refused to smile for photographs.

Phoenix strongly endorsed a somewhat ascetic lifestyle that included Veganism and Holistic medicine.

After his death in 1993, his final completed film Silent Tongue (1994) which he had filmed before working on A Thing Called Love' released a year later.

River was somewhat considered for the role of Jim Carroll, a drug addicted teen in the 1995 drama the The Basketball Diaries. After his death, Leonardo DiCaprio was cast.

[edit] Death

Phoenix died at age 23 from an accidental drug overdose of heroin and cocaine (speedball) outside the Viper Room, a Hollywood night club partly owned by actor Johnny Depp. An autopsy also revealed traces of cough syrup and cannabis in his blood. On the night of Phoenix's death, he was in the bathroom doing drugs with various friends and drug dealers.^{[citation needed]} It is reported that someone offered him some Persian Brown (a powerful form of methamphetamine mixed with opiates, which is then snorted) and soon after consuming the drug Phoenix became ill, then, when he started to panic was offered a valium to help calm him down. Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Michael Balzary, also known as Flea, was present at the time, as was John Frusciante^{[citation needed]}. Johnny Depp and Flea were on stage playing music when they noticed Phoenix staggering out of the night club. Both Depp and Flea jumped off of the stage and followed Phoenix outside.^{[citation needed]} Soon after leaving The Viper Room, River collapsed on the sidewalk and started going into seizures for a couple of minutes. His brother, Joaquin Phoenix, was present at the scene, along with River's then girlfriend actress Samantha Mathis, and dialed 911, unable to determine whether he was breathing or not. River had in fact already stopped breathing. He was rushed to the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, but attempts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful. He was pronounced dead at 1:51 AM PST on the morning of October 31, 1993. Johnny Depp now closes The Viper Room every October 31 in memory of River's death.

At the time of his death, Phoenix was filming the movie Dark Blood, which, although 90% completed, was never released, as Phoenix's death made it impossible for the filmmakers to film the several key scenes. He was also due to start filming on Interview With the Vampire as the interviewer, Daniel Molloy. Christian Slater eventually took on the role, donating his salary for the film to charity in honor of Phoenix. Phoenix was cremated in Gainesville, Florida, three days later, and the ashes were spread at the family's ranch near Micanopy, a few miles south of Gainesville.

Phoenix has four siblings, one brother and three sisters. Joaquin Phoenix has since become a successful actor in his own right. His sisters Rain and Summer are actresses as well; Rain also performs as the lead singer in a band called The Papercranes. River's second youngest sister Liberty quit acting when she was still a child.

Prone to spells of worsening depression and compulsivity, River hinted in interviews at having been abused by the members of the oft-investigated cult to which he had belonged as a small child. Although the details of the alleged mistreatment remain unclear, it has been strongly suggested that the experience played a key role in his descent into substance abuse towards the end of his life (statistically, a common problem among those who have undergone certain forms of childhood abuse trauma).^{[citation needed]}

Prior to his death, River Phoenix's image—one he bemoaned in interviews^{[citation needed]}—had been squeaky-clean, due in part to the public discussion of his various social, political, humanitarian and dietary interests not always popular in the '80s; as a result, his death was considered one of show-business's most shocking and tragic, and elicited a vast amount of coverage from the media at the time. Friends and family became silent for many years on the subject of their fallen loved-one, and mostly remain silent even to this day.

In his 2004 interview book Who The Hell's In It, Peter Bogdanovich, one of the last directors to work with Phoenix, stresses that the actor did not make the impression of being heavily involved with drugs. Interestingly, Bogdanovich quotes actor Tony Curtis, who "said cryptically, but with considerable weight" on a TV talk-show, that it was "difficult to comprehend how much envy" there was in Hollywood.

Shortly before his Halloween 1993 demise, River, whose extra-curricular activities had yet to be known publicly, stated that, "addiction is not just for bad people or scum-bags -it's a universal disease."^{[citation needed]}

Fans and film critics alike have often observed the uncanny parallels to his highly unusual life history --and moments seemingly prophetic of his death-- reflected in his motion pictures.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Tributes and references in music and pop culture

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• Versus released an LP in 1994 titled The Stars are Insane. Track 4 is titled "River" and includes the following lines: "Last time I saw River, He was lying face down, he fell down face down. So please believe him when he says Ten bucks won’t last you a very long way."
• Brazilian singer and songwriter Milton Nascimento wrote and recorded a song dedicated to him, "River Phoenix" (released in 1989, during the actor's lifetime)
• In 1995, Australian alternative rock band TISM released a song named "(He'll Never Be An) Ol' Man River," the main refrain of the chorus being "I'm on the drug, I'm on the drug, I'm on the drug that killed River Phoenix." One verse contains the rhyming couplets: 'I saw his body thrashing round, I saw his pulse rate going down, I saw him in convulsive throes, I said "I'll have one of those"'. The song came in at #9 in the Triple J Hottest 100 for that year, although it reputedly enraged members of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
• Natalie Merchant penned and recorded the song "River" for her 1995 CD Tigerlily. Young and strong Hollywood son/in the early morning light/this star fell down/on Sunset Boulevard
• Subject of the Rufus Wainwright song "Matinee Idol".
• R.E.M. dedicated their album Monster to him.
• The pop punk band Fenix*TX was originally called Riverfenix, but the name was changed – at the behest of the Phoenix family – before the band became widely popular.
• "Give It Away" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers indirectly mentions the actor: "There's a River born to be a giver/ will keep you warm won't make you shiver/ his heart is never gonna wither,"
• "Transcending" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers was written entirely about Phoenix.
• British band Manic Street Preachers mentions River in their song "Ifwhiteamericatoldthetruthforonedayitsworldwouldfallapart" (from the album The Holy Bible, 1994) in the following line:"...I'm thinking right now of Hollywood tragedy; big mac; smack; Phoenix.R; please smile y'all..."
• Grant Lee Buffalo's song "Halloween" is a homage to River Phoenix: "You're only 23, River/ And you're restless as the sea, River/ But but ya had a hold on me, oh River". And the chorus: "You were like my own James Byron Dean/ Private Idaho was my East of Eden/ Hit me like a stone when I heard you passed on Halloween"
• Stereophonics' song "Chris Chambers" is a B-side of the Word Gets Around single "Traffic". The song is a tribute to River Phoenix and gets his name from the character Phoenix plays in his 1986 film Stand by Me "Night club, another scene, 31st it's Halloween, Slave to each new trend, Uptown junkies push again"
• Post-industrial rocker Chris Connelly titled a song "The Early Nighters (for River Phoenix)" on his 1994 album, Shipwreck.
• Belinda Carlisle wrote and sang the hit single "California", which began and ended with the words, 'I remember I was in the tanning salon/ When I heard that River Phoenix had gone.'
• During three performances on November 13^[3] and November 15, 1993^[4] and on February 12, 1994^[5], Kurt Cobain of Nirvana dedicated the song "Jesus Don't Want Me For a Sunbeam" to River. Cobain also dedicated the same song to Phoenix (among other celebrities who died young) during Nirvana's one to last American shows in Seattle on January 7, 1994^[6].

• Brooklyn band Nada Surf wrote a song entitled "River Phoenix" on their special demo album North 6th Street (1999); the song specifically references Phoenix's role in the Gus Van Sant film My Own Private Idaho
• Queercore band Pansy Division references "River Phoenix wearing speedos" in their song "Smells Like Queer Spirit"
• Dana Lyons, a Washington state folk musician, has recorded a tribute entitled "Song for River Phoenix (If I Had Known)."
• John Frusciante wrote and dedicated the song "Smile from the streets you hold" to River Phoenix. The second part of the song was added after River's tragic death.
• Musician Sam Phillips (singer) album Martinis & Bikinis is dedicated with "FOR RIVER" in reference to the actor.
• Gus Van Sant's novel "Pink" is dedicated to him.
• British rockers the Cult, refer to River Phoenix in "Sacred Life" from their album The Cult (1994): "River Phoenix was so young, don't you know your prince has gone".
• Fuel repeatedly featured pictures of River in the music video for the song "Innocent".
• The Loss of a Child song "Lost Like River" is a reference to River Phoenix.
• Ellis Paul's song "River" off of the 1994 album Stories is about River Phoenix as evidence by the first verse.
• Hollywood, a track on Jay-Z's album Kingdom Come, including the lines "Heroin's following Marilyn hopping over the edge. It's like Janis Joplin, River Phoenix, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Morrison all them ended by Hollywood".
• Final Fantasy VIII character designer Tetsuya Nomura has stated that River Phoenix was the influence for Squall Leonheart; both share the same birthday and physical appearance.
• The film Interview with the Vampire is dedicated to River Phoenix, who was originally cast as the interviewer, a role filled by Christian Slater.
• Upon hearing of Phoenix's death, the guitarist Throb from British band Primal Scream branded him a "lightweight".

[edit] Filmography

• Silent Tongue (1994)
• Dark Blood (1993)
• The Thing Called Love (1993)
• Sneakers (1992)
• Dogfight (1991)
• My Own Private Idaho (1991)
• I Love You to Death (1990)
• Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
• A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon aka Aren't You Even Gonna Kiss Me Goodbye? (1988)
• Running on Empty (1988)
• Little Nikita (1988)
• The Mosquito Coast (1986)
• Circle of Violence: A Family Drama (1986) (TV)
• Stand By Me (1986)
• Explorers (1985)
• Surviving (1985) (TV)
• Backwards: The Riddle of Dyslexia (1984) (TV)

[edit] References

[edit] Footnotes

[edit] Biographies

• "River Phoenix: a short life" by Brian J. Robb. ISBN 0-06-095132-X
• "Lost in Hollywood : The Fast Times and Short Life of River Phoenix" by John Glatt. ISBN 1-55611-440-0
• "In Search of River Phoenix: the Truth Behind the Myth" by Barry C. Lawrence. ISBN 0-9672491-9-8

[edit] External links

• River Phoenix at the Internet Movie Database
• River Phoenix at TV.com
• River Phoenix at xFamily.org — Includes information about his family's involvement in the Children of God cult
• Rio's Attic — Rio's Attic: fansite
• Actor Bios — Biography with images
• The Untimely Death of River Phoenix — Details of the tragedy