August 8Aug 8 It's been almost 33 years since the actor River Phoenix died from an overdose of several drugs. He was just 23 but one of the leading young actors of his generation. His coming of age drama movie Stand By Me directed by the late Rob Reiner is being re-released to mark its 40th anniversary. Most may recall My Private idaho where he plays a gay street hustler for which he received several accolades. For one so relatively young, I had no idea he was in 16 mostly major movies. These are discussed in an article in Thursday's Guardian newspaper. Three decades ago, queer parts for straight-identifying actors were still thought of largely as awards bids (see William Hurt’s transparently covetous performance in Kiss of the Spider Woman) or career-killers (even at the end of the 1990s, Matt Damon, Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio all turned down Brokeback Mountain). In that context, the boldness of Phoenix and Keanu Reeves in unselfconsciously playing sex workers in My Own Private Idaho, a kind of Midnight Cowboy cross-pollinated with Shakespeare’s Henry plays, should not be underestimated. https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/aug/06/james-dean-has-got-nothing-on-that-kid-river-phoenix-films-ranked
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