River Jude Phoenix (né Bottom; August 23, 1970 – October 31, 1993) was an American actor and musician. The oldest sibling of Rain, Joaquin, Liberty, and Summer Phoenix, he began his career as a child actor, gaining fame as a teen actor before taking on leading roles in critically acclaimed films, becoming one of the preeminent acting talents of his generation. His numerous accolades include the Volpi Cup and the Independent Spirit Award, as well as nominations for an Academy Award and Golden Globe Award.
After appearing in various commercials, Phoenix would gain various roles on TV including the miniseries Robert Kennedy and His Times (1985), with Brad Davis, Veronica Cartwright, Ned Beatty, Cliff De Young, Joe Pantoliano, Harris Yulin, Jeffrey Tambor, Jack Warden, Jason Bateman, and Shannen Doherty; along with TV movies Surviving: A Family in Crisis (1985), with Zach Galligan, Molly Ringwald, Ellen Burstyn, Len Cariou, Marsha Mason, Paul Sorvino, and Heather O’Rourke; and Circle of Violence: A Family Drama (1986), with Tuesday Weld, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Peter Bonerz, and Philip Sterling.
He made his film debut in Joe Dante’s Explorers (1985), with Ethan Hawke, Jason Presson, Amanda Peterson, Dick Miller, Robert Picardo, James Cromwell, Dana Ivey, and Meshach Taylor. Early films include Rob Reiner’s Stand by Me (1986), with Wil Wheaton, Corey Feldman, Jerry O’Connell, Kiefer Sutherland, John Cusack, and Richard Dreyfuss; and Peter Weir’s The Mosquito Coast (1986), with Harrison Ford, Helen Mirren, Conrad Roberts, Andre Gregory, and Martha Plimpton.
He received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor in Sidney Lumet’s Running on Empty (1988), with Judd Hirsch, Christine Lahti, Plimpton, and Steven Hill. Other films in the late 1980s include A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon (1988), with Ann Magnuson, Meredith Salenger, Matthew Perry, Ione Skye, and Louanne; Richard Benjamin’s Little Nikita (1988), with Sidney Poitier, Richard Bradford, Richard Lynch, Caroline Kava, Loretta Devine, Lucy Deakins, and Richard Jenkins; and Steven Spielberg’s Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), with Ford, Sean Connery, Alison Doody, Denholm Elliott, Julian Glover, and John Rhys-Davies.
Films in the 1990s include Lawrence Kasdan’s I Love You to Death (1990), with Kevin Kline, Tracey Ullman, Joan Plowright, William Hurt, and Keanu Reeves; Gus Van Sant’s My Own Private Idaho (1991), with Reeves, James Russo, William Richert, Rodney Harvey, Michael Parker, Flea, Chiara Caselli, and Udo Kier; Dogfight (1991), with Lili Taylor, Anthony Clark, Mitchell Whitfield, Holly Near, and Brendan Fraser; Sneakers (1992), with Robert Redford, Dan Aykroyd, Ben Kingsley, Mary McDonnell, River Phoenix, Poitier, and David Strathairn, Stephen Tobolowsky, Donal Logue, and James Earl Jones; Peter Bogdanovich’s The Thing Called Love (1993), with Samantha Mathis, Dermot Mulroney, and Sandra Bullock.
He died from a drug overdose in 1993 at only 23 years old. His final two films were posthumous releases; Sam Shepard’s Silent Tongue (1994), with Alan Bates, Richard Harris, Mulroney, Sheila Tousey, Jeri Arredondo, Bill Irwin, David Shiner, Tim Scott, and Tantoo Cardinal; and Dark Blood (2012), with Judy Davis, Jonathan Pryce, and Karen Black.
Each review will be linked to the title below.
(*seen originally in theaters)
(**seen rereleased in theaters)
- Robert Kennedy and His Times (1985) – directed by Marvin J. Chomsky – miniseries
- Surviving (1985) – directed by Waris Hussein – TV movie
- Explorers (1985) – directed by Joe Dante
- Stand By Me (1986) – directed by Rob Reiner
- Circle of Violence: A Family Drama (1986) – directed by David Greene – TV movie
- The Mosquito Coast (1986) – directed by Peter Weir
- A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon (1988) – directed by William Richert
- Little Nikita (1988) – directed by Richard Benjamin
- Running on Empty (1988) – directed by Sidney Lumet
- Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)* – directed by Steven Spielberg
- I Love You to Death (1990) – directed by Lawrence Kasdan
- My Own Private Idaho (1991) – directed by Gus Van Sant
- Dogfight (1991) – directed by Nancy Savoca
- Sneakers (1992) – directed by Phil Alden Robinson
- The Thing Called Love (1993) – directed by Peter Bogdanovich
- Silent Tongue (1994) – directed by Sam Shepard – posthumous release
- Dark Blood (2012) – directed by George Sluizer – posthumous release
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