River Phoenix

His sister, Rain, appeared in van Sant's adaptation of Tom Robbins's story Even Cowgirls Get the Blues alongside many other well-known personalities. His last role was in Soylent Green (1973). So far, of his siblings, his younger brother Joaquin has achieved the greatest success, with his first major role coming in another Gus van Sant movie To Die For, opposite Nicole Kidman. in sum, a Renaissance man"; sadly, he died two months prior to its formal presentation. He died at age 23 of a drug overdose, outside the Viper Room, a Hollywood night club partly owned by actor Johnny Depp, and was cremated in Gainesville, Florida. Never nominated for an Academy Award, in 1973 he was awarded an honorary Oscar in recognition that he had "achieved greatness as a player, a patron of the arts, and a dedicated citizen .. River disliked being seen as just a sex symbol. That same year he returned to Broadway in "Middle of the Night".

River was also a friend of John Frusciante (guitarist for the Red Hot Chili Peppers) and appeared on his debut album on the song Soul Removal. In 1956 he had to sell off his large art collection for $3.25 million as part of his divorce settlement with Lloyd. He was friends with both of them and their friendship continued beyond the movie. In the 1950s he was called to testify in front of the House Un-American Activities Committee, where he was cleared of all suspicion. He later went on to star opposite Keanu Reeves in Gus van Sant's My Own Private Idaho. He was a popular box-office draw and was able to avoid flops. He had significant juvenile roles in Stand by Me and The Mosquito Coast and portrayed a teenage Indiana Jones. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet (1940), he expanded into edgy psychological dramas including Double Indemnity (1944), The Woman in the Window (1944) and Scarlet Street (1945); but he continued to accept gangster roles such as that of Johnny Rocco in the classic Key Largo (1948), one of five films he made with Humphrey Bogart.

Phoenix was one of five siblings who pursued careers in show business, encouraged by their parents, former Children of God missionaries. In the 1940s, after a good performance in Dr. His opinions on the issue were so strong that when his actress girlfriend, Martha Plimpton, ordered soft-shell crab at a restaurant, he was reported to have begun to cry in disappointment. A sensational performance as the gangster Rico Bandello in Little Caesar (1930) led to him being typecast as a 'tough' for much of his early career in works such as Five Star Final (1931), Tiger Shark (1932), Kid Galahad and A Slight Case of Murder (1938). He believed that eating animals was wrong and was the one who, as a child, convinced his family to become vegans. He married the actress Gladys Lloyd in 1927. He and his family were all vegetarians. One of many actors who saw his career flourish in the new sound film era rather than falter, he made only three films prior to 1930 but left his stage career that year and made fourteen films in 1930-32.