Last night I watched in dismay as the Academy Awards show dissed Brad Renfro by not including him in the annual round-up of members who had died during the past year. This is a shocking oversight and must have been deliberate. The newspaper column Page Six noticed it too. So in my own tiny way I am hoping to make up a bit for this slap in his face by reposting my homage to him after his sad and untimely death.

Resquiat in Pace:

Brad Renfro: (1982-2008)

Untimely Death of a Once Rising Star

I am not one of those bloggers who likes to comment every time a famous person dies. I’ll leave that to the obit junkies. But I can not let the passing of Brad Renfro go without some comment. This young actor took the world by storm in his debut film The Client, starring opposite Susan Sarandon. She may have been the veteran superstar in that flick, but Brad stole the picture. His natural ease in front of the camera, his cocky belligerence, his good looks and worldliness at such a young age were fascinating. He went on to distinguish himself in other difficult roles, most notably in Bully and Sleepers.

Just last night I was watching a documentary about Alfred Hitchcock and they showed a scene from Vertigo in which Jimmy Stewart is berating Kim Novak after he finds out she’s been deceiving him. He yells at her “You were a very apt pupil.” That must be the source of the title of the film Apt Pupil starring Brad Renfro as a youth drawn to the dark side when he uncovers an ex-Nazi living in his midst (played brilliantly by Sir Ian McKellen). Brad’s ability to walk a fine line between brash innocence and outright evil was mesmerizing and awe-inspiring.

One couldn’t be a fan of Brad’s without knowing full well about his drug addiction and battles with the law. Apparently even as a ten year old when he auditioned for The Client he was known to be troubled. One can hardly blame show business for turning him into an addict, but I wonder if the powers that be didn’t try hard enough to help him when he was obviously suffering and in decline. We live in a society (if that is what you can call it) in which we often seem to savor destroying our young idols. Think of the tragedy of Britney Spears and the way the media laps up her every misstep.

Brad was as talented an actor as James Dean or River Phoenix, both of whom died too early. Poor Brad was only 25 years old.

Just wanted to offer a quick update on the late great Theodora Keogh. I got more hits for my tribute to her [see January 29th entry below] than I have gotten for any other piece I’ve ever posted to my blog. Not even Paulette Goddard drew as many visitors. Something about this elusive and eccentric figure touched a nerve. My brother, who designed my blog, suggested I find another “obscure dead person” to write about. But the whole point of my fascination with Theodora Keogh was that she was still alive and I wanted to know more about her. The fact that someone who had been so famous could simply vanish off the literary landscape, and disappear even from her family and friends was intriguing. In the words of one of the characters in the hilarious, but awfully good, film Eddie and the Cruisers, she “pulled a Rimbaud.”

(detail of a photo, above, courtesy of Dave Kiersh).

Since her death, there have been numerous mentions of her on various blogs, thanks in the most part to The Telegraph’s timely and very entertaining obituary. I received enthusiastic emails from authors Hugo Vickers, Charles Ardai, Richard Hutto, and Glen David Gold, as well as the playwright and biographer Joan Schenkar, whose book on Oscar Wilde’s niece Dolly is a must-read. Pamela Keogh, author of stylish books on Jackie Kennedy and Elvis Presley, wrote to tell me that she might be related to Tom. A relative of Theodora’s last husband expressed appreciation for my tribute to Theodora, but indicated there was a lot more to her story than has been reported. Perhaps the most unexpected note came from Randy Jones, the original cowboy in the Village People. A “tar-heel,” he was well aware of Theodora Keogh and considers himself one of her biggest fans. He “added” me as a friend at MySpace (see link at right). Since Theodora married a seasoned tugboat captain after Tom Keogh, I imagine she would have enjoyed Randy’s rendition of “In The Navy.”

Several blogs have been kind enough to include links to my own entry about her. This includes Galley Cat, Maud Newton, David Patrick Columbia’s popular New York Social Diary, Mark Athitakis’s American Fiction Notes, Sunday Hangover, and something called 1904 by George Snyder. Internet whiz and author Robert Nedelkoff, too, has kept me abreast of as many other mentions as he can find. He also turned me on to a somewhat controversial book: Milking the Moon by Eugene Walter as told to Katherine Clark. There’s a charming photo of Theodora in it, taken in Paris, when he knew her. The Chelsea Hotel blog also posted a spirited entry about Theodora and her alleged days at the fabled hotel. Cat lovers of all stripes debated whether she owned a margay or an ocelot. In the end, the margay triumphed. (see link here: Chelsea Hotel.)

Judy Laddon sent me a link to a website featuring Sally Pierone’s new book which details tidbits about Theodora’s Paris days in the 50s. Sally, who was art director for the Marshall Plan, was known as Sally Paine then and Keogh’s novel The Fascinator is dedicated to her. (Sally’s book shown below). Here’s a link to her blog which includes a marvelous photo of Theodora and her husband Tom in bathing suits. His is a bit skimpy, but he filled it out rather well. (Click here: Sally.)

Yet, despite all the brouhaha over her, there still has been no obituary in The New York Times! I find this incredible and frankly appalling. It seems that all it takes nowadays is to have been arrested once for tax evasion or to spend more than 30 days in a rehab to get an obituary in The Times, but if you are the granddaughter of Teddy Roosevelt, a popular author of nine innovative novels, and the former wife of a well-known artist and costume designer, not to mention a figure of mystery and romance (who can forget the story of the overly affectionate margay that nibbled too long at her ear), then you don’t qualify for an obituary. And The Times wonders why its circulation keeps dropping?

Ironically there is a film on TCM today called Theodora Goes Wild starring Irene Dunne. I saw this movie, made in 1936, years ago and wondered then at the similarity between its storyline and the life of Theodora Keogh.

Here’s a brief synopsis:

“When the Lynnfield Bugle , a small Connecticut newspaper, runs a serial of Caroline Adams’ risqué novel, The Sinner , editor Jed Waterbury receives many complaints from the puritannical townspeople. Among the outraged readers are leading citizens, Mary and Elsie Lynn, whose niece Theodora is the secret author of the scandalous novel. The literary circle, led by Mary, Elsie and straight-laced Rebecca Perry, force Jed to stop printing The Sinner . Soon after, under the pretext of visiting her Uncle John, the family’s fun-loving black sheep, Theodora goes to New York to see her publisher, Arthur Stevenson. Stevenson is thrilled to be handling Theodora’s best seller, but is frustrated by her refusal to participate in any publicity. Theodora, a Sunday school teacher and church organist, explains that although she wrote the novel as a mental escape from her stuffy existence, she would never dream of disgracing the family name by revealing that she is Caroline Adams. Theodora meets Stevenson’s wife Ethel and also Michael Grant, the sophisticated artist who designed her book’s cover.”

Since Theodora’s husband, Tom Keogh, himself a “sophisticated artist,” designed her own book covers, the similarities are absolutely uncanny, although she didn’t marry Keogh until 1945. One has to wonder what Theodora Keogh made of it all. It’s a great flick and if you have a chance, be sure to check it out.