River Phoenix^†

Stand by Me put him on the map at 15, but the Oscar nomination for Running on Empty at 18 was what stopped the industry conversation. He'd been picking roles that made other young actors nervous. My Own Private Idaho (1991) was the proof: he rewrote the campfire scene himself to make his character explicitly gay, won the Venice Volpi Cup, and delivered a performance that actors still study. The debate about whether he was the real thing was already over.

He died with Interview with the Vampire still on his call sheet and Dark Blood 80% shot. Both projects moved on without him. Leonardo DiCaprio has said Phoenix was the great actor of his generation. The career arc was pointing somewhere singular and stopped cold at 23.

He grew up in a cult. His parents joined the Children of God when he was two, and the family spent years as missionaries in Venezuela, with Phoenix busking to support them by age seven. They left after his mother objected to the cult's practices, arrived in Florida nearly destitute after stowing away on a freighter, and changed their surname to Phoenix as a fresh start. An actor who spent his childhood performing for religious radicals turned out to have a very different relationship to authenticity than most people who end up in Hollywood.

Christian Slater stepped in for Phoenix's role in Interview with the Vampire (1994) and donated his $250,000 salary to EarthSave and Earth Trust, two charities Phoenix had supported. The film carries a dedication to Phoenix. Dark Blood, the film he was shooting when he died, sat unfinished for 19 years; director Sluizer released a cut in 2012 with narration filling the gaps, over the family's objections. His family founded the River Phoenix Center for Peacebuilding in Gainesville, Florida.