Sometime this year, I went to a trivia night at my local pub, and one of the questions called for the name of the actor who died outside Johnny Depp's LA club, The Viper Room, aged only 23. Almost everyone gained a point with their answer. It's a testament to the enormous life of River Phoenix that the details of his tragic death are so deeply embedded in pop culture, even 30 years on. But his life was so much more than his untimely ending and the drug overdose that took him away on October 31, 1993.
The eldest of five siblings including Joaquin Phoenix – who named his first child with Rooney Mara after his late older brother – River began his career in Hollywood as a child actor, with a breakout role in cult classic, Stand By Me. Later, came roles in Running on Empty, for which he received an Oscar nomination, and arguably his best, in Gus Van Sant's My Own Private Idaho with Keanu Reeves. And if he hadn't died, there would've been more; two of which, The Basketball Diaries and Total Eclipse, were written for Phoenix but went to Leonardi DiCaprio. But far from a typical Hollywood heartthrob, what was most unusual – and in this way, indelible – about Phoenix was his opposition to celebrity, a kindness that was widely observed, a genuine passion for animals and the environment, and a deep wellspring for creativity. More to the point, he was all of these things before it became a tried-and-tested celebrity template.
On top of this all, Phoenix was striking. Thanks to his shoulder length blonde hair, he drew many comparisons to the equally ill-fated Kurt Cobain. And like all the most stylish celebrities, his own affinity for fashion came across as effortless and unstudied. While alive, Phoenix noted that his sense of style was shaped by his upbringing in the infamous Children of God cult, of which Rose McGowan was also raised in. He would wear clothes donated by rich kids, and as he supported his family with a career as an actor, rather than enrolling in school, he cultivated the laidback, thrifted look we all know and love. Music had a hand in it too. Self-styled in the grunge aesthetic emerging from Seattle, and with his own ties to music (he was friends with the Red Hot Chili Peppers during the band's most tumultuous period and was a band member of Aleka’s Attic with his sister Rain) this influence manifested in his early 90s outfits.
Now that he's gone, River Phoenix's name has become synonymous for precocious talent. It's a shame we'll never know what could've been, of his life, of his acting career, of his style, even. But he left behind enduring traces with his films, his activism, and his music. Rest in peace our sensitive boy wonder. River Phoenix, you'll always be famous.
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With his castmate, the late Matthew Perry, on the set of A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon (1988).
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River Phoenix with filmmaker Claire Liza Belhassine at Venice in 1991.
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Images: Pinterest
