`Wikipedia:Tutorial (Editing)/sandbox From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia < Wikipedia:Tutorial (Editing) Jump to: navigation, search This article needs additional references or sources for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.  River Phoenix   River Phoenix at the 61st Academy Awards Governor's Ball, March 29, 1989  Birth name River Jude Bottom  Born August 23, 1970(1970-08-23) Metolius, Oregon, U.S.  Died October 31, 1993 (aged 23) Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, U.S.  [show]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 Academy Award- and Golden Globe-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. His career was cut short, however, when he died of an overdose of heroin and cocaine on Halloween morning at age 23. He was the older brother of Joaquin Phoenix.  Contents [hide] 1 Biography  1.1 Early life  1.2 Career  1.3 Downfall  1.4 Death  1.5 Tributes and references in music and pop culture  2 Filmography  3 Television work  4 Further reading  5 References  6 External links      [edit] Biography  [edit] Early life Both Phoenix and his mother have stated that he was named after the River of Life in Hermann Hesse's novel Siddhartha, and that his middle name comes from The Beatles song ``Hey Jude``. Phoenix was born River Jude Bottom in Metolius, Oregon, five miles south of Madras, Oregon. His mother, Arlyn Sharon (née Dunetz), 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.  In an interview with Details magazine in November 1991, Phoenix stated that he lost his virginity at age four while in 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 cult: ``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 adopted the surname ``Phoenix`` to reflect their rebirth to a new life.  Phoenix grew up in poverty; he and his sister often had to work as street performers to make money for the family. The family lived for a time with Phoenix's maternal grandparents in Florida.   [edit] 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) (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 as young Indiana Jones in the 1989 movie Indiana Jones and the Last CrusadeAppearing again with 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 upcoming TV series, which he turned down. Phoenix met actor Keanu Reeves while Reeves was filming Parenthood with his brother, Joaquin. Phoenix later went on to star opposite Reeves in Gus Van Sant's avant-garde film My Own Private Idaho for which Phoenix won Best Actor honors at the Venice Film Festival and from the National Society of Film Critics. His friendship with both Reeves and Van Sant continued until his death. 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.``  After losing out on the Brad Pitt role in Robert Redford's film A River Runs Through It, Phoenix teamed up with Redford and Sidney Poitier for the heist 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.  Although Phoenix's movie career was generating most of the income for his family, many believe that his true passion was music. He had his own band called Aleka's Attic, which included his sister Rain, Sasa Raphael, and, on occasion, Michael ``Flea`` Balzary of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. He appeared on Red Hot Chili Peppers' guitarist 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..  After his death in 1993, his last completed picture, Sam Shepard's art-house, ghost western Silent Tongue (1994), was released. It had been filmed prior to A 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.  Phoenix was being considered for the role of Jim Carroll, the drug addicted teen in the 1995 drama the The Basketball Diaries. After his death, Leonardo DiCaprio was cast in the role. Anne Rice also wanted him to be cast in the role of Lestat in the film version of Interview with the Vampire and Phoenix became attached to the project; however, the producer wanted a more bankable actor for the part, and Tom Cruise was hired. Phoenix remained with the picture and was to appear as the interviewer, Daniel Malloy, 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 both be nominated for an Oscar in the acting categories.   [edit] Downfall Phoenix once said in an interview, ``I wish sometimes that I wasn't as conscious as I am``. 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.[citation needed] 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 — 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 were silent for many years on the subject of their fallen loved-one, and most remain silent even to this day.[citation needed]  Shortly before his Halloween 1993 demise, River, whose extra-curricular activities were not yet publicly known, 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 noted the uncanny parallels to his highly unusual life — and moments seemingly prophetic of his death — reflected in his motion pictures.[citation needed]   [edit] Death On October 31, 1993, Phoenix died at the age of 23 from a drug overdose of heroin and cocaine (known as a speedball) outside the Viper Room, a Hollywood night club partly owned by actor Johnny Depp until 2004. An autopsy revealed additional traces of cough syrup and cannabis in his blood. On the night of Phoenix's death, following a last minute refusal to perform music on stage, he was in the bathroom doing drugs with various friends and drug dealers.[7] 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.[7] Soon after leaving The