Brad Renfro, 25; child actor faced drug problems
LOS ANGELES - Brad Renfro, a Hollywood actor best known for his roles in "The Client" and "Ghost World" and for his off-screen history of drug abuse, was found dead yesterday morning, the Los Angeles Police Department said. He was 25.
Authorities said Mr. Renfro's body was discovered by his girlfriend in his Wilshire area home. He was declared dead by paramedics at 9 a.m., said coroner's spokesman Ed Winter.
Winter said the cause of death had yet to be determined.
"There is no suspicion of foul play," Lieutenant David Evans said. Officials would not comment on whether drugs or drug paraphernalia were found in the home.
Craig Harvey, chief investigator for the coroner's office, told the Associated Press that Mr. Renfro had been drinking with friends the night before.
Mr. Renfro recently completed a role in "The Informers," a film adaptation of a Bret Easton Ellis novel that stars Winona Ryder, Brandon Routh, and Billy Bob Thornton.
"Brad was an exceptionally talented young actor and our time spent with him was thoroughly enjoyable," Marco Weber, president of the film's production house, Senator Entertainment, said in a statement.
Mr. Renfro, a child actor from Tennessee, caught his first big break when he was cast opposite Susan Sarandon in "The Client," the 1994 adaptation of the John Grisham novel. He played a boy who is put in peril after he overhears a conversation about a murder.
The movie propelled him to a succession of other roles. The next year, he starred as Huckleberry Finn in "Tom and Huck," with Jonathan Taylor Thomas.
In 1998, Mr. Renfro won the lead role opposite Ian McKellen in "Apt Pupil," an adaptation of a Stephen King novella about a boy who suspects that his neighbor is a Nazi criminal.
He also appeared with Scarlett Johansson and Steve Buscemi in 2001's "Ghost World."
Despite the promising start to his acting career, Mr. Renfro was perhaps best known for being arrested in a prominent drug sweep on Skid Row in Los Angeles just days before Christmas in 2005.
Unfortunately for Mr. Renfro, the Police Department - in an attempt to show what they were doing to improve Skid Row - had taken along a Los Angeles Times photographer and reporter that day. As a result, a photo showing Mr. Renfro being arrested was featured prominently on the paper's front page.
Mr. Renfro told a detective arresting him that he was using heroin and methadone.
He ultimately went to a drug rehabilitation program and pleaded guilty to attempted possession of heroin. He was sentenced to three years' probation.
In 2006, the actor served 10 days in jail after pleading no contest to driving while intoxicated.
Mr. Renfro's former attorney, Blair Berk, said yesterday: "Brad was a really gifted young man. It is a tragedy all the way around."
Material from the Associated Press was used in this obituary.
