A talented actor who evoked James Dean's intensity and tragedy, River Phoenix was born River Jude Bottom on Aug. 23, 1970, in Madras, Ore., to parents who encouraged their children (including brother Joaquin) to act.His television debut came and went with the brief 1982 series "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers," while the 1985 space-adventure film Explorers marked his entree into film. But that same year's surprise hit Stand by Me pushed Phoenix into another orbit. He played Harrison Ford's son in Mosquito Coast (1986) and later played Ford as a teenager in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989). That same year, he was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for Running on Empty.
Perhaps most memorable as a narcoleptic hustler in My Own Private Idaho (1991), Phoenix died in Hollywood of a drug overdose on Oct. 31, 1993, just before the release of his last film, Silent Tongue.
My Own Private IdahoGus Van Sant's indie hit hones in on the friendship between Mike (River Phoenix) and Scott (Keanu Reeves), two hustlers living on the streets of gritty Portland, whose relationship stumbles when they hit the road to find Mike's mother, and Scott falls for a woman. Scott's lifestyle is his way of... Read More
Stand by MeIn this Rob Reiner dramatization of Stephen King's novella The Body, a writer (Richard Dreyfuss) tells the story of how four boys sought adventure and heroism in the Oregon woods with their search for a missing teen's dead body in the 1950s. What they uncover about themselves along the way,... Read More
The Thing Called LoveAspiring country singer Miranda Presley (Samantha Mathis) follows her dream to Nashville and finds herself falling for two very different men whom she meets at an audition. James Wright (River Phoenix) is an exciting and talented singer, while Kyle Davidson (Dermot Mulroney) is quiet and gentle.... Read More
Silent Tongue (1994) | PG-13 | |
The Thing Called Love (1993) | PG-13 | |
Sneakers (1992) | PG-13 | |
R | ||
Dogfight (1991) | R | |
I Love You to Death (1990) | R | |
PG-13 | ||
Little Nikita (1988) | PG | |
R | ||
Running on Empty (1988) | PG-13 | |
Stand by Me (1986) | R | |
The Mosquito Coast (1986) | PG | |
Explorers (1985) | PG | |
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