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.