RIVER PHOENIX 1970-1993
His brilliant, brief career
The night before Halloween in 1993, actor River Phoenix, his hair cut short and dyed dark for his latest movie role, walked into The Viper Room, the Los Angeles night club partly owned by Johnny Depp, with his younger siblings, sister Rain and brother Leaf (later known as Joaquin), and his girlfriend, actress Samantha Mathis.
“I knew something was wrong that night, something I didn’t understand,” Mathis recalled to The Guardian in 2018. “I didn’t see anyone doing drugs, but he was high in a way that made me feel uncomfortable – I was in way over my head.” Less than one hour later, Phoenix, who at just 23 years old had already starred in 12 movies and had scored an Oscar nomination,…
