Brad Renfro Dead at Age 25

[Geoff Bannister]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "Tiffany B. Clark" <minnesotatiffany at ...> 
wrote:
>
> > Sharon:
> > 
> > That is so sad. The HP actors seem to be so confident, and 
> considering their longstanding contracts, surely their lives won't be 
> as wobbly. I heard that Dan Radcliffe had a very quiet party for his 
> 18th. I believe he said he had no intention of going out and getting 
> drunk and giving the press fodder. I suspect he's a bit smarter (and 
> bloody richer!) than the average teen star. Also, Rupert Grint bought 
> an ice-cream van with his millions and Tom Felton spends his time 
> fishing - -hardly the kind of teen anst that would lead to early 
> death. Emma Watson is still talking about university. Apparently she 
> is, like Hermione, a bit of a brain. Stiil, you never know.
> 
> Tiffany:
> 
> It's a lot easier to feel confident when everything's going good & 
> the only thing you need to worry about is your meals & how you look.  
> There's a tidy fortune of child actors who sturggled to make it as 
> adults & hopefully none of the Potter stars go that way, but Renfro's 
> dying reminds me a lot of River Phoenix's end in 1993.  He too was 
> involved into drugs & booze heavily & departed at only 23 years old.  
> I was only 7 when it happened, but I remembered watching some of his 
> stuff & it was real tragic.

Geoff:
There is a perception, over here in the UK, that the young UK stars - 
people like Dan, Rupert, Emma, Tom Felton, Matthew Lewis, Jamie Bell 
and others, take a much more down-to-earth and level headed approach 
to fame than some of the US guys who seem to get carried away by all 
the hoopla surrounding them. I've certainly seen several interviews in 
the last year or so and have been impressed by the way in which they 
have handled matters.

Dan Radcliffe in many ways is incredibly unfazed by everything. I might 
point you to a  superb interview he did for "The Observer" just before 
he opened in "Equus" last February which I think is one of the best I've 
seen about him. 

It's still available on the net at:
http://arts.guardian.co.uk/theatre/drama/story/0,,2009702,00.html