River Phoenix

River Phoenix

Birth : 1970-08-23, Metolius, Oregon USA

Death : 1993-10-31

History

River Jude Phoenix (August 23, 1970 – October 31, 1993) was an up-and-coming movie star when he died suddenly of drug-induced heart failure in 1993 at the age of 23. His brief career was marked by critically-acclaimed performances in films such as Stand by Me (1986), Running on Empty (1988) and Gus Van Sant's My Own Private Idaho (1991, with Keanu Reeves). Phoenix was the eldest of five children whose itinerant parents were members of a radical Christian group called the Children of God (later known as The Family). His family lived in communes in Oregon, Texas, Puerto Rico and Venezuela before settling in Florida. Pursuing entertainment careers for their children, the parents moved the family to Los Angeles, where Phoenix began getting television jobs in the early 1980s. Although his first feature film was 1985's Explorers (with young Ethan Hawke), it was his stand-out performance in the ensemble drama Stand by Me that gained him national recognition. Phoenix was labeled a promising young actor and his career took off. He co-starred with Harrison Ford in both The Mosquito Coast (1986) and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), and earned an Oscar nomination for his performance in Running on Empty. His other films include Little Nikita (1988, with Sidney Poitier), Dogfight (1991) and Sneakers (1992, with Robert Redford). In 1993, outside Johnny Depp's L.A. nightclub, The Viper Room, Phoenix went into cardiac arrest and died, a result of lethal levels of heroin and cocaine.

Profile

River Phoenix
River Phoenix
River Phoenix
River Phoenix
River Phoenix
River Phoenix
River Phoenix
River Phoenix
River Phoenix
River Phoenix
River Phoenix
River Phoenix
River Phoenix

Movies

Showbiz Kids
Self (archive footage)
A documentary chronicling the shared experiences of prominent former child stars and the personal and professional price of fame and failure on a child.
Dark Blood
Boy
Filmed in 1993 but never completed due to River Phoenix's death, Dark Blood tells the story of Boy, a young widower living on a nuclear testing site in the desert. Boy is waiting for the end of the world and carves Katchina dolls that supposedly contain magical powers. Boy's solitude is interrupted when a Hollywood jet-set couple who are travelling across the desert become stranded after their car breaks down. The couple are rescued by Boy, who then holds them prisoner because of his desire for the woman and his ambition to create a better world with her.
My Own Private River
Michael "Mike" Waters (archive footage)
Unused footage from Gus Van Sant's 1991 film My Own Private Idaho is re-contextualized in James Franco's tribute to River Phoenix.
The Making of My Own Private Idaho
Making-of documentary of Gus Van Sant's 'My Own Private Idaho'.
The Phoenix Portal
Wolfgang Müller / Michael "Mike" Waters (archive footage)
In this trans-temporal science fiction, a young River Phoenix from the film The Explorers (1985) opens a wormhole to contact his older self in My Own Private Idaho (1991). Haunted by the spectre of Phoenix's death in 1993, The Phoenix Portal summons the paranormal power of recorded media to collapse time and reanimate the dead.
Walking the Tracks: The Summer of Stand by Me
Self (archive footage)
A unique look at the making of Stand by Me including interviews from Stephen King, Rob Reiner, Keifer Sutherland, Richard Dreyfuss, and the three surviving cast members Wil Wheaton, Corey Feldman, and Jerry O'Connell.
Interview with the Vampire
In Memory Of
A vampire relates his epic life story of love, betrayal, loneliness, and dark hunger to an over-curious reporter.
Truth or Dairy
Self (archive footage)
This classic Vegan Society video remains one of the most entertaining and informative introductions to veganism. Viewers will learn why avoiding meat, leather, dairy and eggs is not only the most healthy way to live but also the most compassionate. Highly recommended for both existing vegans and anyone considering becoming a vegan.
The Thing Called Love
James Wright
Miranda Presley moves from New York to Nashville to become a songwriter. At an unsuccessful audition she meets James Wright, a promising newcomer. After only a few days they marry but start to quickly regret it.
Silent Tongue
Talbot Roe
Mad with grief after the death of his Kiowa wife, Roe awaits death under a tree with her body beside him. She begins to haunt him because he won't bury her. His father, who bought him the wife, thinks her sister might reason with Roe.
Sneakers
Carl
When shadowy U.S. intelligence agents blackmail a reformed computer hacker and his eccentric team of security experts into stealing a code-breaking 'black box' from a Soviet-funded genius, they uncover a bigger conspiracy. Now, he and his 'sneakers' must save themselves and the world economy by retrieving the box from their blackmailers.
Flea Master Session
Self
StarLicks Bass Video-Tutorial / Includes 24 Page Booklet / Flea Interviewed By River Phoenix
Dogfight
Eddie Birdlace
In the fall of 1963, Eddie Birdlace is an 18-year-old Marine Corps volunteer who is about to ship out with three of his buddies for a tour of duty in Vietnam. Planning a massive blowout for their last night in San Francisco, Eddie, his buddies, and a number of other Marines set up a contest they call a "dogfight."
My Own Private Idaho
Michael "Mike" Waters
In this loose adaptation of Shakespeare's "Henry IV," Mike Waters is a gay hustler afflicted with narcolepsy. Scott Favor is the rebellious son of a mayor. Together, the two travel from Portland, Oregon to Idaho and finally to the coast of Italy in a quest to find Mike's estranged mother. Along the way they turn tricks for money and drugs, eventually attracting the attention of a wealthy benefactor and sexual deviant.
I Love You to Death
Devo Nod
Joey Boca is the owner of a pizza parlour, and has been married to Rosalie for years. When Rosalie discovers that Joey is a womanizer and has been cheating on her for a long time, she goes to extreme lengths to punish him.
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Young Indy (1912)
In 1938, an art collector appeals to eminent archaeologist Dr. Indiana Jones to embark on a search for the Holy Grail. Indy learns that a medieval historian has vanished while searching for it, and the missing man is his own father, Dr. Henry Jones Sr.. He sets out to rescue his father by following clues in the old man's notebook, which his father had mailed to him before he went missing. Indy arrives in Venice, where he enlists the help of a beautiful academic, Dr. Elsa Schneider, along with Marcus Brody and Sallah. Together they must stop the Nazis from recovering the power of eternal life and taking over the world!
Running on Empty
Danny Pope / Michael Manfield
The Popes are a family who haven't been able to use their real identity for years. In the late sixties, the parents set a weapons lab afire in an effort to hinder the government's Vietnam war campaign. Ever since then, the Popes have been on the run with the authorities never far behind.
A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon
Jimmy Reardon
A recent high school graduate is faced with two options, either go to a business school where his father wants him to go to, or get a full time job. However he decides to defy his father and go to Hawaii. Trouble is he has no money. Along the way he comes to understand his parents and eventually bonds with his father.
Little Nikita
Jeff Grant
Roy Parmenter is an FBI agent in San Diego; 20 years ago his partner was killed by a Soviet spy, nicknamed Scuba, still at large. Scuba is now trying to extort the Soviets; to prove he's serious, he's killing their agents one by one, including "sleepers," agents under deep cover awaiting orders. Roy interviews a high school lad, Jeff Grant, an applicant to the Air Force Academy. In a routine background check, Roy discovers that Jeff's parents are sleepers. He must see if Jeff is also a spy, confront the parents yet protect them, and catch his nemesis. Meanwhile, the Soviets have sent their own spy-catcher, the loner Karpov, to reel in Scuba. Alliances shift; it's cat and mouse.
The Mosquito Coast
Charlie Fox
Allie Fox, an American inventor exhausted by the perceived danger and degradation of modern society, decides to escape with his wife and children to Belize. In the jungle, he tries with mad determination to create a utopian community with disastrous results.
Circle of Violence: A Family Drama
Chris Benfield
Georgia Benfield, at her wit's end, loses control and begins physically abusing her elderly mother, just as Georgia had been abused herself as a child. As family and friends slowly begin to learn of the abuse, and long-buried family secrets come to light, both mother and daughter must learn to accept the past, to change what is happening at present in order to face a better future.
Stand by Me
Chris Chambers
Gordie, Chris, Teddy and Vern are four friends who decide to hike to find the corpse of Ray Brower, a local teenager, who was hit by a train while plucking blueberries in the wild.
Explorers
Wolfgang Müller
The visionary dreams of three curious and adventuresome young boys become an exciting reality in Explorers, the action-fantasy from director Joe Dante, who combines keen humor, warmth and fantasy with unexpected twists. In their makeshift laboratory, the boys use an amazing discovery and their ingenuity to build their own spaceship and launch themselves on a fantastic interplanetary journey.
Surviving
Philip Brogan
Lonnie and Rick seem to be complete opposites, at first glance. A survivor of suicide, Lonnie is introverted and ill at ease around her parents, Lois and Harvey. Rick, meanwhile, is sunny and charismatic. But appearances can be deceiving, as their families learn when the teens begin a romance. Upset about Lonnie's influence on Rick, his parents forbid the pair to see each other -- with tragic consequences.
Backwards: The Riddle of Dyslexia
Brian Ellsworth
13-year-old boy has problems reading, which his teachers attribute to laziness. It is later discovered that he has Dyslexia.