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Privacy NoticeHollywood’s child stars have sometimes come to a very sad and untimely end. Actors like Stand By Me’s River Phoenix, Descandants’ Cameron Boyce, Poltergeist’s Heather O’Rourke and Diff’rent Strokes’ Dana Plato all left the world too soon, leaving fans devastated. Another actor who joined the tragic roll call is actor Brad Renfro, who made his film debut at the age of 11, with a starring role in Joel Schumacher’s American legal thriller The Client – alongside Susan Sarandon and Tommy Lee Jones – and who sadly passed away on 15 January, 2008, aged just 25 years old. In his short lifetime he’d completed an incredible 20 movies, the last being 2008’s The Informers, with Billy Bob Thornton and Winona Ryder.
Brad Renfro made his film debut at the age of 11
(Image: Warner Bros. Pictures)
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As his fame grew, and Brad got older, he sadly had numerous brushes with the law. In 1998 he was arrested for the possession of marijuana and cocaine. Then, in 2000 he was arrested and sentenced to two years probation for trying to steal a 45-foot yacht in Florida with a friend. Brad criticised the press who tried to interview him, saying, “You can just feel the slime on them”, and called movie critics “the fat kids in high school that nobody liked, so they’re out there to get you”. Sign up to OK!’s daily newsletter to get updates sent to your inbox for free In 2005, he was charged with driving under the influence, then just a few weeks later he was busted in a police string for trying to buy heroin – he pleaded guilty and entered rehab. Then, in 2008, Brad’s drug problems caught up with him, as his girlfriend found him not breathing in his LA apartment, following a night out with friends. In her tragic call to emergency services, when asked what had happened, she replied: “I’m not sure. I mean, I think he might have taken a couple of pills last night. … He had an audition at 1 o’clock this afternoon. I’ve been trying to wake him up to get ready and he just won’t move.” An autopsy ruled Brad’s death as accidental and said it was due to acute heroin/morphine intoxication.
Brad grew up living with his grandma (pictured) on a trailer park
(Image: Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images)
Brad in a mug shot following his arrest for grand theft, Fort Lauderdale, August 2000
(Image: Getty Images)
Brad had grown up in a trailer park and was living with his grandma when he was cast in The Client. He had no acting experience, but the casting director was looking for a ‘tough kid’ and found Brad after looking at 5,000 boys throughout the USA. The movie was one of the highest-grossing films of 1994. He went on to star In Tom And Huck, Sleepers – playing the younger version of Brad Pitt’s character, Telling Lies In America, Apt Pupil and other films. Prior to his death, the public was unaware he had a son, born in Japan in 2003 and he wasn’t mentioned in Brad’s obituary. He was eventually named in the obituary of Brad’s mother, Angela, who passed away in 2012.Story SavedYou can find this story in  My Bookmarks.Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right.Follow OK! MagazineFacebookTwitterCommentMore OnBilly Bob ThorntonWhere Are They NowNostalgiaBrad Pitt
