DEATHIVERSARY: BRAD RENFRO (January 15, 2008)
Brad Renfro made his film debut at the age of 11 with a starring role in 1994's "The Client" -- the movie version of the John Grisham legal thriller about a Southern trailer-park kid who winds up embroiled in a Mafia hit. Director Joel Schumacher "wanted that kid in the principal's office." And Schumacher got his wish with Renfro, who had no acting experience and lived with the grandmother in a trailer park. Renfro's star continued to rise with parts in movies like "Tom and Huck" and "Sleepers." In "Apt Pupil," Renfro's last major studio movie, he played a compassionless A-student entranced by a former Nazi commandant played by Sir Ian McKellan. By the age of 18, Renfro had already been in drug rehabilitation more than once. On January 15, 2008, Renfro died of "acute heroin and morphine intoxication." He was 25. A week later, 28-year-old Heath Ledger was found dead in his New York apartment from a drug overdose. Unlike Ledger, Renfro was left out of the "In Memoriam" tribute at the Academy Awards. Some speculate that Renfro's addiction torpedoed relationships and his career, leaving him with few friends in the industry. Renfro's last "high-profile" appearance was in 2005 on the front of the Los Angeles Times in handcuffs, arrested during Skid Row's raid for trying to buy heroin. deadinhollywood.com #BradRenfro #deathiversary #Bully #Sleepers #AptPupil #IanMcKellan #JoelSchumacher #LarryClark #DeadinHollywoodzine #Hollywood #TrueCrime #fanzine #zines
