Detailed Biography

River Jude Phoenix 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. He was also well known for his animal rights activism. His career was cut short when he died of a drug overdose on Halloween morning 1993 at age 23. He was the oldest sibling of actors and actresses Rain Phoenix, Joaquin Phoenix, Liberty Phoenix and Summer Phoenix.

Early life

Phoenix was born River Jude Bottom in Metolius, Oregon, five miles south of Madras, Oregon. His mother, Arlyn Sharon , a.k.a. Heart Phoenix, was born in The Bronx, New York to Jewish parents from Hungary and Russia. His father, John Lee Bottom, was a lapsed Catholic from Fontana, California.

In 1968, Phoenix's mother, "Heart," 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 Venezuela. Phoenix is the oldest of five and 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 .

In an interview with Details magazine in November 1991, Phoenix stated that he lost his virginity at age four. The magazine quotes him as saying "But I've blocked it out... I was completely celibate from 10 to 14." 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 Children of God cult: "They're disgusting... they're ruining people's lives." After the family left the cult 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.

Upon their return to the U.S.A, Phoenix 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.

Phoenix often made different and conflicting accounts of his life to reporters. He told reporters "I have lied and changed stories and contradicted myself left and right, so at the end of the end of the year you could read five different articles and say 'This guy is schizophrenic.'"

Career

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

In 1989, at the age of 18, Phoenix was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor and received the Best Supporting Actor honor from the National Board of Review for his role in Sidney Lumet's Running on Empty .

At the suggestion of Harrison Ford, Phoenix portrayed the teenage Indiana Jones in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade 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 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." . 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 . He then appeared in Peter Bogdanovich's country music-themed film, The Thing Called Love ; it was his last completed picture before his death. Phoenix and co-star in the film, Samantha Mathis became an item in real life.

After his death in 1993, his last picture, Sam Shepard's art-house, ghost western Silent Tongue , 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 originally 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 . 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, it has been stated by close friends and relatives that his true passion was music. Phoenix was a singer, song writer and an accomplished guitarist. He had begun teaching himself guitar at the age of five and had stated in an interview for E! in 1988 that his family's move to Los Angeles when he was nine was made so that he and his sister "..could become recording artists. I fell into commercials for financial reasons and acting became an attractive concept..." Prior to securing an acting agent, Phoenix and his siblings had attempted to forge a career in music by playing cover songs on the streets of the Westwood district of LA; often being moved along by police because of the gathering crowds who obstructed the pavement.

At 17, he formed his own band Aleka's Attic, with his sister Rain. 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. It was during filming that Phoenix met Chris Blackwell of Island Records, this meeting would later secure Phoenix and his band a 2 year development deal with the label. Due to Phoenix having to take numerous breaks to fulfill movie obligations coupled with the refusal to compromise his music to gear it towards a more 'mainstream' audience the deal eventually fell through. Phoenix was committed to gaining credibility by his own merit and so he maintained that the band would not use his name when securing performances that were not benefits for charitable organizations.

Phoenix's first release was 'Across the Way,' co-written with bandmate Josh McKay, which was released in 1989 on a benefit album for PETA entitled "Tame Yourself." 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, Phoenix 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. The track included close friend Flea of Red Hot Chili Peppers on bass. He also worked closely with another good friend, Red Hot Chili Peppers' guitarist John Frusciante, and appeared on his second solo album Smile from the Streets You Hold on the songs "Height Down" and "Well, I've Been."

Phoenix, along with friend Dan Aykroyd and other musically inclined celebrities, was an investor in the original House of Blues in Cambridge, Massachusetts which opened its doors to the public after serving a group of homeless people on Thanksgiving Day 1992. 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 . The album, although close to completion, was shelved after Phoenix's death due to two of the musicians declining to sign artistic release forms.

Activism

Phoenix was a dedicated animal rights, environmental and political activist. He campaigned for PETA and won their Humanitarian of the Year award in 1990 for his fund-raising efforts. He also supported a slew of various environmental charities and bought 800 acres of endangered rainforest in Costa Rica. Phoenix was renowned for using his power within the media to voice his beliefs and opinions on issues he felt important. For Earth Day 1990 Phoenix wrote an environmental awareness essay, targeted at his young fanbase, entitled "We Are the World" that was printed in Seventeen magazine. 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

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 elicited a vast amount of coverage from the media at the time. To this day, most family and friends remain silent on the 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."

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

Death

On October 31, 1993, Phoenix collapsed from a drug overdose of heroin and cocaine outside the Viper Room, a Hollywood night club partially owned by actor Johnny Depp until 2004. Phoenix had returned to Los Angeles the previous day from Utah to complete the three weeks of interior shots left on his last project Dark Blood. His younger sister Rain and brother Joaquin had flown out from Florida to join him at his hotel. River's girlfriend Samantha Mathis had also come to meet him, and all would be present at the scene of River's death. On the evening of October 30, River was to perform onstage with his close friend Michael "Flea" Balzary 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. It is reported that an acquaintance offered him some Persian Brown and soon after consuming the drug he became ill.

Upon leaving The Viper Room, River Phoenix collapsed onto the sidewalk and began convulsing for eight minutes. Joaquin dialed 911; during the call Joaquin was unable to determine whether River was breathing. River had, in fact, already stopped breathing. Rain proceeded to give mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. During the episode, Johnny Depp and his band P were onstage. According to Haynes the band were in the middle of their song, "Michael Stipe" , while Phoenix was outside the venue having seizures on the sidewalk. When the news filtered through the club, Flea left the stage and rushed outside. Paramedics had arrived on the scene and found Phoenix in asystole , when they administered drugs in an attempt to restart his heart. He was rushed to the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, accompanied by Flea, via an ambulance. Further attempts to resuscitate Phoenix were unsuccessful. He was pronounced dead at 1:51 a.m. PST on the morning of October 31, 1993. 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 31 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 $1,000,000. It has now been published by the National Enquirer three times since the initial publishing in 1993.