River Phoenix

River Phoenix
Phoenix at the 61st Academy Awards; Governor's House, March 29, 1989
Born	River Jude Bottom August 23, 1970(1970-08-23) Metolius, Oregon, USA
Died	October 31, 1993 (aged 23) Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
Years active	1982 — 1993
Awards won Other awards NBR Award for Best Supporting Actor 1988 Running on Empty NSFC Award for Best Actor 1991 My Own Private Idaho

River Jude Phoenix (August 23, 1970 – October 31, 1993) was an American film actor. He was listed on John Willis's 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. His career was cut short, when he died of an overdose of heroin and cocaine (also known as a speedball) on Halloween morning 1993 at age 23. He was the older brother of actor Joaquin Phoenix.

Biography

Early life

Phoenix was born River Jude Bottom in Metolius, Oregon, five miles (8 km) south of Madras, Oregon. His mother, Arlyn Sharon (née Dunetz), a.k.a. Heart Phoenix, was born in the Bronx, New York to Jewish parents from Hungary and Russia.^[1][2][3][4] His father, John Lee Bottom, was a lapsed Catholic from Fontana, California.^[1] In 1968, Phoenix's mother left her family and moved to California, meeting Phoenix's father while hitch-hiking. They married in 1969 and joined the religious cult the Children of God, working as missionaries and fruit pickers in South America. Phoenix had four younger siblings: one brother, Joaquin, and three sisters, Rain, Summer, and Liberty. He also had an older half sister from his father's previous relationship, Jodene (who later changed her name to 'Trust').

In an interview with Details magazine in November 1991, Phoenix stated that he lost his virginity at age four while a part of the cult, the Children of God. The magazine quotes him as saying "But I've blocked it out... I was completely celibate from 10 to 14".^[5] His representatives reportedly pressured him to later recant the comment, claiming it was "a joke". In March 1994, Esquire magazine quoted River as speaking angrily of the group: "They're disgusting... they're ruining people's lives".^[6] After the family left the group and returned to the United States in 1977, they officially adopted the surname "Phoenix" on April 2, 1979 to reflect their rebirth to a new life, just like the mythical sacred firebird Phoenix arising from the ashes.

Phoenix grew up in abject poverty; he and his sister provided income for the family singing on the streets of Caracas, Venezuela, where his parents were missionaries. Upon their return to the U.S.A in 1978, he and his family lived for a time with Phoenix's maternal grandparents in Florida before moving to California and eventually settling back in Micanopy near Gainesville, Florida in 1987.

Career

Phoenix pursued a career in show business, encouraged by his parents. He had significant juvenile roles in Joe Dante's Explorers (1985); Rob Reiner's coming of age picture Stand By Me (1986) which first brought Phoenix to public prominence; Peter Weir's The Mosquito Coast (1986) where Phoenix played the son of Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren; A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon (1988); and Little Nikita (1988) with Sidney Poitier.

In 1989, at the age of 18, Phoenix was nominated 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).

At the suggestion of Harrison Ford, Phoenix portrayed the teenage Indiana Jones in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) and was offered the role of the young Indiana Jones in the TV series, which he turned down. Phoenix met actor Keanu Reeves while Reeves was filming Parenthood with Phoenix's brother, Joaquin. River later went on to star opposite Reeves (along with Kevin Kline and Tracy Ullman) in 1990's I Love You To Death and again in Gus Van Sant's avant-garde film My Own Private Idaho. For his role in My Own Private Idaho, Phoenix won Best Actor honors at the Venice Film Festival, the National Society of Film Critics and the Independent Spirit Awards. The film and its success solidified Phoenix's image as an actor with edgy, leading man potential. At a press screening for My Own Private Idaho at the New York Film Festival Phoenix correctly predicted a large number of gay-themed films were "on the horizon".^[7] (His friendship with Reeves and Van Sant continued until his death). Just prior to My Own Private Idaho, he filmed an acclaimed independent picture called Dogfight co-starring Lili Taylor and directed by Nancy Savoca, in which Phoenix portrayed a young U.S. Marine on the night prior to his being shipped off to Vietnam in November 1963.

After losing out on the Brad Pitt role in Robert Redford's film A River Runs Through It, Phoenix teamed up with Redford and again with Sidney Poitier for the conspiracy/espionage thriller Sneakers (1992). He then appeared in Peter Bogdanovich's country music-themed film, The Thing Called Love (1993); it was his last completed picture before his death. Phoenix's co-star in the film, Samantha Mathis, became his girlfriend in real life.

After his death in 1993, his last picture, Sam Shepard's art-house, ghost western Silent Tongue (1994), was released; it had been filmed prior to The Thing Called Love. Phoenix was still working on George Sluizer's post-apocalyptic Dark Blood which was three weeks from completion at the time of his death. 90% completed, the film was never released, as Phoenix's death made it impossible for the filmmakers to film several key scenes. Director George Sluizer now owns the material and has been reported to be considering releasing some footage material about Phoenix embedded in a documentary on River's life.

Phoenix was being considered for the role of Jim Carroll, the drug addicted teen in the 1995 drama The Basketball Diaries and Arthur Rimbaud in Total Eclipse. After his death, Leonardo DiCaprio was cast in both roles. Author Anne Rice had also wanted Phoenix cast in the role of Lestat in the film version of Interview with the Vampire and Phoenix became attached to the project; however, when the producer wanted a more consistently bankable actor for the part, Tom Cruise was hired (against Rice's initial outrage). Phoenix remained with the picture and was to appear as the interviewer, Daniel Molloy, a role that ultimately ended up going to Christian Slater following Phoenix's death. The film was dedicated to him and Slater donated his salary from the film to Phoenix's favorite charities.

Generally regarded by critics at the time as the most promising young actor on the cusp of the '80s and '90s, River and younger brother Joaquin would later go on to become the first brothers in Hollywood history to be nominated for an Oscar in the acting categories.

Music

Although Phoenix's movie career was generating most of the income for his family, many believe that his true passion was music. Phoenix was a singer, song writer and an accomplished guitarist. He formed his own band, Aleka's Attic, which included his sister Rain, and, on occasion, Michael "Flea" Balzary of the Red Hot Chili Peppers in 1988. Phoenix's first released track was 'Across the Way', co-written with bandmate Josh McKay, which was released in 1989 on a benefit album for PETA entitled "Tame Yourself". Whilst working on A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon in 1986 Phoenix had written and recorded a song, "Heart to Get", specifically for the end credits of the movie. 20th Century Fox cut it from the completed film, but director William Richert put it back into place for his director's cut some years later. In 1991 River wrote and recorded a spoken word piece called "Curi Curi" for Milton Nascimento's album TXAI. Also in 1991 the Aleka's Attic track "Too Many Colors" was lent to the soundtrack of Gus Van Sant's My Own Private Idaho a film which included Phoenix in a starring role. In 1992 River worked with producer and friend T-Bone Burnett on some songs for his final completed film The Thing Called Love. Phoenix performed all his character's songs himself and wrote the song "Lone Star State of Mine" especially for the movie. In 1996 a second Aleka's Attic track was released, "Note to a Friend" was included on a PETA compilation album In Defense of Animals Volume II. He appeared on Red Hot Chili Peppers' guitarist and close friend John Frusciante's second solo album Smile from the Streets You Hold on the songs "Height Down" and "Well, I've Been". Phoenix was also close friends with Michael Stipe of the band R.E.M.. At the time of his death Phoenix had been working on an album with Aleka's Attic (then consisting of a different line-up). The album, although close to completion, was shelved after Phoenix's death due to three of the musicians declining to sign artistic release forms to this day.

Activism

Phoenix was a vegan from the age of 7 and a dedicated animal rights activist. He campaigned for PETA and won their Humanitarian of the Year award in 1990 for his fund-raising efforts. He also supported various environmental charities and bought 800 acres (3.2 km²) of endangered rainforest in Costa Rica. Phoenix was well known for using his power within the media to voice his beliefs. For Earth Day 1990, Phoenix wrote an environmental awareness essay entitled "We Are the World" that was printed in Seventeen magazine. Phoenix also denounced the use of all animal by-products and refused to wear leather or fur in any of his films or television work throughout his career. He and his band often played environmental benefits for well known charities and also that of local ones around Gainesville, Florida. His brother Joaquin is now a prominent spokesperson for PETA and follows the Phoenix family tradition of boycotting all animal products in his film work.

Downfall

Phoenix once said in an interview, "I wish sometimes that I wasn't as conscious as I am."^[8]

Prone to spells of worsening depression and compulsivity, River hinted in interviews at having been abused by the members of the Children of God, an 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.

Prior to his death, River Phoenix's image — one he bemoaned in interviews — 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. Most family and friends remain silent on this subject.

Shortly before his 1993 demise, Phoenix, whose drug habits were still unknown to the public, said in an interview, "...drugs aren't just done by bad guys and sleaze-bags; it's a universal disease".^{[9] [10]}

Fans and film critics alike have often noted the uncanny parallels to his highly unusual life story — and moments seemingly prophetic of his death — reflected in his motion pictures.

Death

The Viper Room on Sunset Strip

On October 31, 1993, Phoenix collapsed from a drug overdose of heroin and cocaine (known as a speedball) outside the Viper Room, a Hollywood night club partially owned by actor Johnny Depp until 2004. On the night of Phoenix's death, River was to perform onstage with Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers. At some point in the evening Phoenix went to the bathroom to take drugs with various friends and dealers.^[11] It is reported that an acquaintance offered him some Persian Brown (a powerful form of methamphetamine mixed with opiates, which is then snorted) and soon after consuming the drug he became ill.^[11] Upon leaving The Viper Room, he collapsed onto the sidewalk and began convulsing for eight minutes. His brother Joaquin, sister Rain and actress Samantha Mathis were at the scene. Joaquin dialed 911; during the call Joaquin was unable to determine whether River was breathing. River had, in fact, already stopped breathing. Paramedics arrived on the scene and found Phoenix in asystole (flat line), when they administered drugs in an attempt to restart his heart. He was rushed to the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center via an ambulance. Further attempts to resuscitate Phoenix (including the insertion of a pacemaker) were unsuccessful. He was pronounced dead at 1:51 a.m. PST on the morning of October 31, 1993.^[12] The following day the club became a make-shift shrine with fans and mourners leaving flowers, pictures and candles on the sidewalk and graffiti messages on the walls of the venue. A sign was placed in the window that read, "With much respect and love to River and his family, The Viper Room is temporarily closed. Our heartfelt condolences to all his family, friends and loved ones. He will be missed". The club remained closed for a week. Johnny Depp continued to close the club every year on October 31st until selling his share in 2004.

Despite a local paparazzo choosing not to photograph Phoenix dying on the street, the day before his cremation in Florida, a reporter broke into the funeral home and took a picture of Phoenix resting in his casket; this picture was later to be sold to the tabloids for $5,000. It has now been published by the National Enquirer three times since the initial publishing in 1993.

References in popular culture

River Phoenix first gained references in music with Brazilian singer Milton Nascimento writing the song "River Phoenix: Letter to a Young Actor" about him after having seen Phoenix in The Mosquito Coast. The song appears on the 1989 release Miltons. Phoenix's friends the Red Hot Chili Peppers wrote a few lines for him in the song "Give It Away" from the 1991 album Blood Sugar Sex Magik: "There's a River born to be a giver, keep you warm won't let you shiver, his heart is never gonna wither..."

Due to his untimely death, Phoenix has been the subject of numerous tributes in song and other media. The band R.E.M. dedicated their album Monster to Phoenix, and their song "E-Bow the Letter" from 1996's New Adventures in Hi-Fi is said to have been written from a letter Michael Stipe wrote to Phoenix but never sent because of the actor's death. Musician Sam Phillips has the dedication "For River" on her album Martinis & Bikinis. Again, Red Hot Chili Peppers, paid tribute with the song "Transcending" on 1995's One Hot Minute being written about him. Other songs inspired by Phoenix include Dana Lyons' "Song For River Phoenix (If I Had Known)," Grant Lee Buffalo's "Halloween," Natalie Merchant's "River" for her 1995 album Tigerlily, Ellis Paul's song "River," found on his 1994 release Stories,^[13], Rufus Wainwright's "Matinee Idol", Nada Surf's "River Phoenix" and Stereophonics's "Chris Chambers". In her 1996 album Woman & A Man, Belinda Carlisle referenced River in the song "California". The song opens and closes with the line "I remember I was in a tanning salon, when I heard that River Phoenix was gone". In Jay-Z's album, Kingdom Come, the lyrics of "Hollywood" list him as one of the many fatalities of the pressures of Hollywood. New York band Japanther featured a song on their album Skuffed up my Huffy (2008) entitled "River Phoenix," which is about certain events in his life and delivers the chorus "River Phoenix didn't mean it". The Butthole Surfers' song 'TV Star' from their Electriclarryland album, which discusses singer Gibby Haynes' love for Christina Applegate - who was present at the Viper Room the night of Phoenix's death - references someone who may be Phoenix in the line "good-looking fella, but he's looking kind've thin."

Gus Van Sant, with whom Phoenix worked in the film My Own Private Idaho, dedicated his 1994 movie Even Cowgirls Get The Blues as well as his 1998 novel Pink to him. The film Phoenix was due to start shooting shortly after his death, Interview With The Vampire, features the dedication "In memory of River Phoenix, 1970-1993" at the end. Experimental Santa Cruz filmmaker Cam Archer also produced a documentary called Drowning River Phoenix as part of his USA Fame series.

During performances on November 13^[14] and November 15, 1993^[15], February 12, 1994,^[16] and one of Nirvana's last USA shows in Seattle on January 7, 1994.^[17] Kurt Cobain of Nirvana dedicated the song "Jesus Don't Want Me For a Sunbeam" to Phoenix (among other celebrities who died young), just a few months before Cobain's death. Tom Petty dedicated "Ballad of Easy Rider" to Phoenix when he played in his and Phoenix's hometown of Gainesville, Florida in November 1993.

Phoenix was also the subject of a controversial song by Australian group TISM. Titled "(He'll Never Be An) Ol' Man River" the single originally featured a mock-up of River Phoenix' tombstone as its cover art in 1995. The chorus features the line, "I'm on the drug that killed River Phoenix".

In the 1997 musical, The Fix, Phoenix is alluded to in the song "Mistress of Deception" in the lines, "Hot young actor died last night at an L.A. club./ecstasy and booze/and too much nyquil./had the sweetest face,/warm and shy and innocent; sexy in that careless kinda way./the newsman said his heart just stopped like that...."

The scene of River Phoenix's death merits several mentions in William Gibsons book Spook Country.

A lesser known reference to River Phoenix was Final Fantasy VIII's main protagonist Squall Leonhart. Tetsuya Nomura, the lead character designer for the game, stated he modelled Squall on River's visage during development, and even gave Squall the same birthdate.

Phoenix's life and death has also been the subject of an E! True Hollywood Story, an A&E Biography and an episode of Final 24, which contains a dramatic reconstruction of his final hours and death.

Phoenix was more recently voted number 69 in a poll of the 100 greatest movie stars of all time. The poll, by channel 4 television in the UK, was wholly voted for by prominent figures of the acting and directing communities.

Filmography

Awards and nominations

Further reading

• "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

References

External links

• River Phoenix at the Internet Movie Database
• River Phoenix at TV.com
• River Phoenix at Allmovie
• River-Phoenix.org
• The Lost Boy: The Legacy of River Phoenix