January really was a tragic month. Both Heath Ledger and Brad Renfro passed away - and yesterday Renfro’s cause of death was finally released. The coroner has ruled his death the result of an accidental heroin/morphine overdose. The coroner noted that the drugs had been injected. This ends much of the speculation that Renfro had committed suicide. A few days before his death, he got a large tattoo across his back that said “F*ck y’all.”

Actor Brad Renfro’s death has been attributed to “acute heroin/morphine intoxication,” according to a statement from the Los Angeles County Coroner’s office.

“The final manner of death has been ruled an accident,” the coroner’s office said, adding that the drugs were injected.

The 25-year-old actor, who starred in 1994’s The Client and, later, Apt Pupil, had recently completed a movie with Winona Ryder and Billy Bob Thornton. Renfro was found dead in a Los Angeles apartment on Jan. 15.

[From People]

Like Heath Ledger, Brad Renfro also left behind a young child, a four-year-old son identified as Yamato, who lives with his mother in Japan. It’s a sad comparison to note that any drugs can be dangerous. Obviously when one injects heroin or morphine, there’s a chance of overdose. We forget that it’s possible to overdose from pills our doctors give us too.

Brad made his last movie, “The Informers” this last year. The plot outline on the Internet Movie Database calls it “A drama based on Bret Easton Ellis’ novel set in 1983 Los Angeles, where movie executives, rock stars, a vampire, and other morally challenged character mix and commingle.” Brad starred alongside a high profile cast, including Winona Ryder, Billy Bob Thornton, Mickey Rourke, Kim Basinger, and Brandon Routh. The film is scheduled to be released in theaters on October 30th.

The past two weeks have been pretty tragic in terms of unexpected deaths of young celebrity men. Between the death of Brad Renfro, 25, and Heath Ledger, 28, there’s been a lot of drama and sadness. Since Brad’s funeral, it’s come to light that he had a son, listed on in his obituary as “Y Renfro.” Us Weekly reports that Brad’s son’s name is Yamato, he’s four years old, and he lives in Japan with his mother. They also say Brad was seriously considering marrying Y’s mother, and had a longing for family.

… a week before his death he visited his family in Knoxville, Tennessee. “In other years, we had to babysit him,” his cousin Jesse Hasek told Us. “This time, he was like, ‘I’ve got it figured out.’ It was the happiest I’ve seen him.” In Knoxville, Renfro glowed about his 4-year-old son, Yamato, who lives in Japan full-time with his mom. (Yamato was “unplanned,” Hasek told Us, and his mother is “a friend he had over there.”)

“He asked me, ‘Do you think I should marry her? I like the feeling of family,’” Hasek recalled. “It crushed Brad that his kid lived on the other side of the world. He was saying, ‘I should bring them over permanently and be a part of their lives.’”

[From Us Weekly]

Us also reports that Brad’s roommates were letting him live with them rent free to help him stay off of drugs. They report that Samantha Pearson, Brad’s on-and-off girlfriend spoke with him 12 hours before his body was found, and said he was drunk. She said he was has happy and laughing, and she asked him to please be careful. Toxicology reports still aren’t back from the lab, so we have no official confirmation of how Renfro died. It sounds like he was in a bit of a two steps forward, one step back place in his life, but he was generally working on his issues. It’s a sad end for Brad and his family and especially his young son.

25-year-old actor Brad Renfro’s funeral and memorial service were held yesterday in his hometown of Knoxville, Tennessee. Renfro was found dead last Tuesday morning by friends. He’d had a long history of drug and alcohol problems, and had been arrested several times, once in a highly publicized sting by the L.A.P.D. Though he’d been on probation, he was found to be in violation of it this past summer for failing to enroll in a long-term drug treatment program. Renfro first found fame when he was 12 after starring in “The Client” with Susan Sarandon. Unfortunately he went the way of many former child actors, and struggled with his addictions.

Renfro’s great-uncle Michael Earl officiated at the service.

An arrangement of red, white and yellow flowers adorned the closed casket, along with a photograph of a young, smiling Renfro, the Knoxville News Sentinel reports. Approximately 600 well-wishers, including Renfro’s father and stepmother, Mark and Kim Renfro, and his mother, Angel Olsen, paid their respects. The actor’s maternal grandmother, Judy Hurt, half-sister Haley Olsen and stepbrother Dane Hoffmeister, also attended. His paternal grandmother, Joanne Renfro, who raised Renfro from the age of 5, was too ill to make it.

During his sermon, he [great-uncle Michael Earl] hinted at the actor’s past problems with drug addiction, according to the News Sentinel.

“Brad had problems just like I have problems, just like you have problems, just like all of us have trials and tribulations that we go through,” Earl said. “Was Brad perfect? Well, I can tell you, I’m not. Are you? He lived life, and he enjoyed it,” Earl later said of the actor. “Whatever he did, he did it hard as he could. … If he messed up, he’d go after it 100 percent. Yeah, I know him. And yes, I loved him.”

[From Us Weekly]

Though I could find several articles say that Renfro was raised by his grandmother, none of them state why. It’s an unusual circumstance, considering both of his parents are alive and supposedly well. It sounds like Brad’s uncle did a good job eulogizing him. He was honest and still kind. Though you want to only say nice things after someone dies, everyone knew about Brad’s struggles, so there was no point in any BS.

Sir Ian McKellen, who worked with Renfro on “Apt Pupil” wrote a nice tribute to Brad on his website. It says in part,

I first caught sight of Brad Renfro when he was kicking a football around with Bryan Singer on the half-built set of Apt Pupil in Hollywood. He was a kid having fun and that’s how I shall always remember him. But he was more than that. He was a proper actor and when we worked together he was determined to be accepted as such.

In Hollywood he was a teenage charmer, chaperoned by his beloved grandmother and by his admirers who protected him as best they could from the dangers of being a child in a careless adult’s world. On set, he was blusteringly confident although it was obvious he would have benefitted from training as an actor. Yet, as Todd, the disturbed teenager in Apt Pupil, he tapped into an inner demonic world and carried the film on his young shoulders.

[From mckellen.com]

There’s a little bit of internet gossip claiming that the coroner’s report is going to say that Brad died as a result of complications from the giant “F*** y’all” tattoo he got on his back 24 – 48 hours before his death. Though that seems highly unlikely, freak things do happen, and there an incredibly tiny possibility of infection and sepsis. I would think that a back tattoo would be hard to reach and thus tend to with ointments like you’re supposed to afterwards. If nothing else, Brad Renfro’s life is truly a cautionary tale about the dangers of fame and addiction. It seems so rare that you hear a story about a child actor whose life isn’t in some way negatively affected by their early success. It’s hard to know if it’s the fame itself, or the lack of a traditional childhood. Some have claimed it’s due in part to the unusual role reversal where they become the breadwinner for the rest of their family. Hopefully Brad has some sort of peace now.

The investigation into the shocking and untimely death of 25-year-old actor Brad Renfro continues, as the coroner’s office completed his autopsy yesterday. Brad wasn’t super famous, and not a lot is known about his personality in the last few years. But it appears something was going on with him lately. TMZ reports that two days before the actor died, he got a tattoo across his back that read “Fuck Y’all.” That leads one to wonder if his (presumed) overdose was accidental or intentional. The coroner’s office is conducting interviews with Renfro’s friends, though not much has been said about his family.

An autopsy on the former child star was performed Thursday, the Los Angeles County Department of Coroner confirmed. The official cause of death will not be released until toxicology tests come back in about six weeks. Renfro’s body was found by his girlfriend in his Los Angeles home Tuesday morning. Paramedics pronounced him dead upon their arrival.

In addition to performing the autopsy, coroner’s officials have been conducting interviews with people who knew Renfro. Friends of the 25-year-old actor, whose struggles with drug addiction were well publicized, said he was drinking the night before his body was discovered, but it is not yet known whether that contributed to his death.

[From E! News]

Several of Renfro’s former co-stars have made statements regarding his death, and everyone says he was an incredibly nice guy who had a hard battle with addiction. Susan Sarandon, who worked with Renfro on the movie that was his big break – The Client – expressed her condolences.

“It was obvious to everyone that he was the sweetest, most incredibly gifted young actor to come along for some time,” Sarandon said Wednesday in remembrance of her onetime costar. “My heart goes out to the family for their tragic loss.”

[From E! News]

Johnny Knoxville, who costarred with Renfro in 2002 in the movie “Deuces Wild” also talked about what a nice guy Brad was.

“I really liked Brad,” Knoxville said. “[He was] extremely charming and [had] a good heart. Yeah, he got into a little trouble, but he was a sweet, sweet kid. I don’t like to be talking about him in the past tense,” he added. “He was a hometown boy who did real good, and it breaks my heart he is gone. He was so young and so sweet. It makes me very sad.”

[From US Weekly]

Dr. Drew Pinsky, who is a medical doctor and a board-licensed addiction medicine specialist and the host of “Celebrity Rehab,” thinks that the fact that Brad was known to have been drinking the night before he died means he likely was using drugs as well.

The fact that he was drinking could an indication that Renfro, who has battled heroin addiction for several years, took illicit drugs before his death, addiction expert and Celebrity Rehab host Dr. Drew Pinsky tells PEOPLE.

“Just the fact that he was a known addict who was drinking, that’s all you need to know,” Pinsky says. “Renfro was taught in rehab to stay away from booze, and if he was drinking the night before, odds are the coroner will find other substances in his body.”

[From US Weekly]

It seems pretty likely that Brad Renfro died from either drugs or the combination of drugs and alcohol, especially given his history. I think the greater mystery will be whether it was intentional or accidental, and that will obviously take some time for an investigation to figure out. It’s a sad lesson that some other celebrities with addiction issues should pay attention to – just because you’re young and famous doesn’t mean you’re invincible.

Picture note by Jaybird: Brad Renfro and his date at “The Jacket” Los Angeles Premiere in February 2005. Images thanks to PR Photos.

The long line of troubled former child actors continued yesterday, as 25-year-old actor Brad Renfro was found dead in his home. Renfro starred in films such as “The Client” and “Ghost World.” He started acting at age 12 after being discovered by director Joel Schumacher, who put him in “The Client.” Renfro also had prominent roles in “Sleepers” and “Apt Pupil” and filmed roles in the upcoming films “The Informers” and “Joe the Engineer,” both of which will be released later this year.

People says that Renfro spent the night with friends at a Los Angeles-area apartment and died Tuesday morning. However the Los Angeles Times says otherwise.

Authorities said Renfro’s body was discovered in his Wilshire area home in the 1000 block of South Ogden Drive by his girlfriend. He was declared dead by paramedics at 9 a.m., said coroner’s spokesman Ed Winter.

[From the Los Angeles Times]

Both stories note that he drank alcohol the night before he died, and his friends reported hearing him snoring at various points throughout the night. Brad Renfro had struggled with addiction issues for many years. In December 2005, the LAPD conducted a drug sweep on Skid Row and brought along the L.A. Times. Brad was arrested during the operation, and his photo was plastered on magazines and newspapers around the country, showing visible track marks. He admitted he was using heroin and methadone, and pleaded guilty to attempted possession of heroin. In 1997 he tried to steal a yacht, and was given two years probation. This past June he was found in violation of his 2005 parole for not enrolling in long-term drug treatment. He was given a warning.

The Los Angeles county coroner’s chief investigator, Craig Harvey, says that a drug overdose is a possibility due to Renfro’s history. So far it’s only been confirmed that Renfro drank alcohol the night before his death.

Drug overdose is “obviously it’s a possibility considering his history, but right now all we have is the history of his drinking the previous night,” Harvey says. “All that we have is that he was last known to be alive during the morning hours and he was snoring.”

[From People]

Such a sad story, and a powerful testament to the hold addiction has over people. We wish peace for his family and friends.

Picture note by Jaybird: Brad Renfro and his date at “The Jacket” Los Angeles Premiere in February 2005. Images thanks to PR Photos.