Actor Brad Renfro was found dead yesterday in his Los Angeles home yesterday at the age of 25. Although the cause of death has not yet been determined, it does not look like foul play. Renfro has had a long history of drug problems and arrests and it wouldn’t be surprising to find this is another Hollywood overdose. An autopsy is planned.
Renfro had, literally, no show business experience (other than playing a drug dealer in an anti-drug play) when, as a 10 year old student in Tennessee he was cast in the 1994 movie The Client opposite Susan Sarandon and Tommy Lee Jones. After enjoying fairly good roles in Sleepers, Tom and Huck, and 1998’s Apt Pupil, he looked like a star of the future. His career the last 10 years, since going toe to toe with Ian McKellen in Apt Pupil, has been less impressive, although his roles are often praised. His regular run-ins with the law beginning around 1998 probably played a part in his acting decline.
Renfro was arrested in 1998 for cocaine and marijuana possession beginning a period of regular appointments with the men in blue. In 2000 he was put on probation for trying to steal a boat and 2006 was tossed in jail for trying to buy heroin. While Renfro’s lawyer, Richard Kaplan, told the Associated Press that “he was working hard on his sobriety. He was doing well. He was a nice person," a more realistic assessment came from the Knoxville police officer who brought Renfro to the attention of The Client casting director back in 1993. On hearing about the death, Dennis Bowman said, "with all the other problems he had, I can't say I was dumbfounded (at his death), I told everybody in 1993, `This will either be the best thing or the worst thing for Brad. Time will tell.' I guess it told today."
