River Phoenix

River Phoenix

River Phoenix and sister Rain performing for money on the streets of Westwood, California, 1982

River Phoenix

River Jude Phoenix (1970-08-23 – 1993-10-31, born in Metolius, Oregon) was an American movie actor who spent his early childhood in the Children of God cult. Noted for the depth, sensitivity, and intelligence that he brought to his roles during his teens, River Phoenix was among the most promising movie actors of his generation when he overdosed on drugs and died on Halloween night, 1993.

He was born River Jude Bottom to Bronx-born Jewish mother Arlyn Sharon Dunetz and Irish-Spanish father John Lee Bottom, who married in 1969. Together they spent several years touring the hippie communes of California. In 1972, Arlyn and John joined the Children of God, taking the Bible names Jochebed and Amram. Though John Bottom was later designated the cult's "Archbishop of Venezuela and the Caribbean," their family received no funds from the group and lived in poverty. River Phoenix and his siblings often sang and performed on street corners for food.

Arlyn and John eventually grew disillusioned with the Children of God and left in 1977. Arlyn would later tell a journalist that she and her husband were opposed to the cult's practice of Flirty Fishing.

"The group was being distorted by a leader [David Berg] who was getting very full of power and wealthy," she explained. "He sought to attract rich disciples through sex. No way."

Around this time Phoenix's family hit their lowest point financially and were forced to move into a beach hut until a local priest arranged for them to be stowed away on a Florida-bound freighter. The crew discovered the family during the voyage but treated them kindly. Shortly after their arrival in Florida in 1978, the family legally changed its name to Phoenix to commemorate their new lives.

In the following year of 1979, River and sister Rain Phoenix entered various talent contests around Florida. At one such event, the Hernando Fiesta, they brought the audience to their feet singing "You Gotta be a Baby to Go to Heaven", a popular Children of God song of the era. Shortly after this event the family received a letter inviting the children to audition at Hollywood's Paramount studios, but when the family uprooted and drove out to Los Angeles, the Paramount people reneged on the offer. "We were really naïve. I figured I'd play guitar and sing with my sister and we would be on television the next day," River recounted later.

Once again the family was destitute and the children returned to busking for change. Matters improved when agent Iris Burton entered their lives and started finding work for Phoenix in television commercials. Phoenix's first real break came when he won a leading role in the TV series Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. From there, he had significant juvenile roles in several movies and was nominated in 1988, at the age of 17, for an Oscar for best supporting actor for his role in Running on Empty. He met Keanu Reeves while filming I Love You to Death and later went on to star as a narcoleptic street hustler opposite Reeves in Gus van Sant's My Own Private Idaho. His friendship with both Reeves and van Sant continued beyond the movie.

Phoenix died at age 23 from a drug overdose outside a Hollywood night club. At the time of his death, Phoenix was acting in the starring role of the movie Dark Blood, which was never completed. He was cremated in Gainesville, Florida a few days later.

Phoenix has four siblings, a brother, Joaquin (who is also an actor), and three sisters, Rain, Summer (who are actresses) and Liberty.

Sex in the Children of God

In an interview with Details Magazine in November 1991, Phoenix claimed he lost his virginity at age four while in the Children of God. "But I've blocked it out", he continued, "I was completely celibate from 10 to 14".

"I'm glad I did it when I was young," River once said, perhaps trying to justify the incident. "But I didn't want those and different body parts that were in my face to make me perverse when I was older."

Phoenix frequently spoke positively of his childhood and non-traditional upbringing. He rarely talked about the cult, however, once saying angrily, "They're disgusting, they're ruining people's lives". [1]

Family publications about River Phoenix

In May 1999, The Family International (as the Children of God cult is now known) published a so-called "prophecy interview" with River Phoenix from beyond the grave in an internal magazine for Family teens. Following are excerpts of the "interview" session:

DISCLAIMER: Publications by The Family are archived here for educational purposes. The content is occasionally sexually explicit, offensive or promotive of criminal acts and we collect them to document their existence and wording but do not condone the points of view or activities. Original spelling, grammar, and style have been preserved where possible.

[Q:] You know how everyone was suspecting you and Keanu of being gay. Was it true?

Keanu and I were like close brothers. We did love each other, but not in that way. We both wanted to buck the System. We wanted to get away from the "image" that they tried to give us, the "labels" that they tried to hang on us. We made the mistake of making that movie, My Own Private Idaho. It was very degrading, degenerate. That was the movie I'm the most sorry for, because of the effect it had—not only on my life, as that movie was my downfall—but it also affected others' lives, as we were telling them that it's okay to be gay.

Well, it's not okay!—It's filthy! And that movie was my biggest mistake, for which I'm very sorry! Keanu and I made a decision that we wouldn't speak up against gays, which in itself is saying that it's okay. And I'm sorry for that. But, no, we are not [gays]. We were just very close friends, and I love him very much.

[Q:] I was wondering if you ever thought back to when you were younger, and in the Family. Did you believe anything that people told you about your past?

I was very young when my parents left the Family. It was very confusing for me because they had taught me to love the Lord, and to love Grandpa [David Berg], Papa Lion.—And I did. I loved him very much, and everything the Family stood for. My sister and I would perform on the streets, singing and playing guitar, and we really enjoyed it. We were very happy. It was beautiful. People loved us and we were very fulfilled.

Then suddenly they uprooted us and went back to the System, back to the "Whore," back to America. They started teaching us new things, different things, things that were contrary to what we had learned in the Family. And slowly, slowly we drifted away. Our beliefs changed, our faith changed, and as I got older I started to hear negative things about the Family.

[Q:] If you had a chance to redo it all, would you choose to stay in the Family? [...]

If I had a chance to go back and do it all over, I would stay in the Family, because there is no greater calling on this Earth than to serve the Lord. And there's no greater place to serve the Lord on this Earth than in the Family. So that would be my greatest desire.

Source: Free Zine 31, pp.4,5 "Dead Men Talking: River Bares All"

Filmography

Movies Silent Tongue (1994) – Talbot Roe Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (1993) – Pilgrim The Thing Called Love (1993) – James Wright Dark Blood (1993) (uncompleted) – Boy Sneakers (1992) – Carl Arbegast Dogfight (1991) – Eddie Birdlace My Own Private Idaho (1991) – Mike Waters I Love You to Death (1990) – Devo Nod Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) – Young Indy Running on Empty (1988) – Danny Pope/Michael Manfield Little Nikita (1988) – Jeff Grant A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon (1988) – Jimmy Reardon The Mosquito Coast (1986) – Charlie Fox Stand by Me (1986) – Chris Chambers Explorers (1985) – Wolfgang Müller

Television Circle of Violence: A Family Drama (1986) – Chris Benfield Surviving (1985) – Philip Brogan Robert Kennedy: the Man & His Times (1985) (mini) (Series) – Robert Kennedy Jr. Backwards: The Riddle of Dyslexia (1984) – Brian Ellsworth Celebrity (1984) (mini) (Series) – Jeffie Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1982) (Series) – Guthrie McFadden

Awards

Award Category	Film	Year	Award Ceremony
Best Supporting Actor (nominee)	Running on Empty	1988	Academy Awards
Best Supporting Actor (nominee)	Running on Empty	1988	Golden Globe
Best Supporting Actor (winner)	Running on Empty	1988	National Board of Review
Best Actor (nominee)	My Own Private Idaho	1990	New York Film Critics Circle
Best Actor (winner)	My Own Private Idaho	1991	Independent Spirit Award
Volpi Cup for Best Actor (winner)	My Own Private Idaho	1991	Venice International Film Festival

Press

• US Magazine: Strange Days — 1995-10
• BBC News: A decade without River Phoenix — 2003-10-31
• The River Phoenix Pages: Collection of Magazine Articles

Biographies

• "River Phoenix: a short life" by Brian J. Robb. ISBN 006095132X
• "Lost in Hollywood : The Fast Times and Short Life of River Phoenix" by John Glatt. ISBN 1556114400
• "In Search of River Phoenix: the Truth Behind the Myth" by Barry C. Lawrence. ISBN 0967249198

More information

• Rio's Attic: Phoenix Before The Fire
• Rio's Attic: Flight of the Phoenix
• Book excerpt: 'Hollywood, Interrupted' tells tragic story of hippie-kid River Phoenix