- Was supposed to begin work on Neil Jordan's Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994) two weeks after his death. He was to play Daniel Molloy, the interviewer, which then went to Christian Slater, who donated his entire $250,000 salary to two of Phoenix's favorite charitable organizations: Earth Save and Earth Trust. The film has a dedication to Phoenix after the end credits.
- Best friend was Keanu Reeves.
- He disliked flying and traveled everywhere by car or by train.
- He and his brother Joaquin Phoenix are the first brothers to be nominated for acting Academy Awards.
- Had a very close bond with Harrison Ford.
- Ironically, despite his reputation for healthy living, Phoenix was a chain smoker. Peter Bogdanovich recalled, "He'd say about meat, 'That's not good for you, man, that'll kill you.' And he'd be smoking a cigarette, and he'd look at it and say, 'I know, man, I know.'"
- Was an involved environmentalist and bought up several hundred acres of rain forest in Costa Rica and Brazil, not to develop them, but to just keep them so they would not be cut down.
- Phoenix had a lazy left eye. This caused him to flutter and blink in order to center the iris. This action is visible in most of his performances. It is most apparent in 'Silent Tongue'(1994), in which he did not attempt to take charge of it at all; feeling that the quality added to the madness of his character.
- Three of his nephews have been posthumously named for him. His sister Liberty Phoenix gave birth to a son named Rio Everest Phoenix. Rio is Spanish for River. His other sister Summer Phoenix gave birth to a son, Indiana Affleck. River played Indiana Jones in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989). His brother Joaquin Phoenix has a son named River, named after Phoenix.
- Just a month before his death he had expressed an interest in starring in The Basketball Diaries (1995). His role was subsequently played by Leonardo DiCaprio.
- The song "Transcending" on the Red Hot Chili Peppers album "One Hot Minute" is dedicated to River Phoenix.
- His parents named him River after the river of life in Hermann Hesse's classic spiritual novel "Siddhartha"; and Jude, his middle name, after The Beatles' song "Hey, Jude."
- Was fluent in Spanish.
- James Cameron has admitted that when he first started thinking about Titanic (1997) in the early nineties, he favored River for the lead. By the time the film was made, Leonardo DiCaprio was old enough to take the role.
- Nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his work in Sidney Lumet's Running on Empty (1988), Phoenix lost out to Kevin Kline for his performance in A Fish Called Wanda (1988). At the time of the Academy Awards ceremony in March, 1989, Kline and Phoenix were filming the movie I Love You to Death (1990). Sitting in the audience, Phoenix applauded enthusiastically when his co-star's name was announced as the winner.
- Ashes scattered at family's Florida Ranch.
- Born in a log cabin in Oregon.
- Harrison Ford personally recommended him for the part of the young Indy in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) after working with him on The Mosquito Coast (1986). Ford stated that of all the young actors who were working at the time, River was the one who looked the most like himself when he was that age.
- His date to Johnny Depp's club the evening he died was actress Samantha Mathis.
- Accepted his role in The Thing Called Love (1993) in an effort to both show off his musical abilities (he sang, played his own guitar, and wrote his character's songs) and make the transition from playing youths to adults roles.
- Natalie Merchant wrote a song, "River," which is in his memory. In addition, her song "Carnival" was inspired by him.
- River and his brother Joaquin Phoenix have both played the son of Richard Harris's character: River in Silent Tongue (1993), and Joaquin in Gladiator (2000).
- Phoenix, who'd been playing the guitar since childhood, had his own band with his sister, Rain Phoenix, called Aleka's Attic.
- The 1994 R.E.M. album "Monster" is dedicated to River in the liner notes--he was friends with lead singer Michael Stipe.
- He was a very talented writer, songwriter, and sketch artist. Often wrote songs while he was driving to work.
- The story is apocryphal that River's last words were supposedly (to the reporter trying to help him outside the Viper Room) were "No paparazzi, I want anonymity", although the quote has become something of an urban legend. In fact, according to witnesses (which included a nearby paparazzo), River stumbled out of the nightclub and fell hard, face-first, onto the sidewalk (experts believed he likely died at that moment) before spasming violently against the pavement for eight minutes, never having uttered a word.
And while that photographer chose not to capture that moment on film, the day before Phoenix's cremation in Florida, a reporter broke into the funeral home, rearranged the body, and took a picture. This picture was later to be sold to the National Enquirer for $5,000. - His death is listed as #16 in the top 101 events in E! Television's 101 Most Shocking Moments in Entertainment.
- He was James Cameron's original choice for the role of Jack Dawson in Titanic (1997).
- River recorded an album the summer before his death titled 'Never Odd or Even' (the title is a palindrome), which was released. A friend of his named Sasa Raphael (who worked with River on the album and played bass in River's band Blacksmith Configuration) almost succeeded in making the album available for free download on the Internet in the summer of 2000,on the anniversary of what would've been River's 30th birthday, but was later sued by the estate of River Phoenix for copyright reasons.
- Auditioned for the role of Paul Maclean in A River Runs Through It (1992). He was beaten out by Brad Pitt who got the role.
- Gus Van Sant had gotten Phoenix to agree to play the role of Cleve Jones in Milk (2008) when he was originally planning on making the movie in the early 1990s. The role was eventually played by Emile Hirsch in 2008.
- My Own Private Idaho (1991) director (and close friend of River) Gus Van Sant published a novel in 1997 titled "Pink," which is a loosely disguised fantasy homage to his late friend. Van Sant's movie Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (1993) includes a dedication of to River during the opening credits.
- Phoenix had signed onto the lead role in Broken Dreams, a screenplay written by John Boorman and Neil Jordan (to be directed by Boorman), and co-starring Winona Ryder. The film was put on hold due to Phoenix's death and has yet to be made.
- Died on the same day as Federico Fellini.
- River's father was born in California. On his father's side, River had English, along with Scottish, Scots-Irish/Northern Irish, German, Irish, Welsh, and French Huguenot, ancestry. River's mother was born to an Ashkenazi Jewish family in New York (they were immigrants from Russia and Hungary).
- The famous Brazilian singer and songwriter Milton Nascimento wrote a song called "River Phoenix (Carta a Um Jovem Ator)" ("Letter to a Young Actor" in English) in 1988. Milton was quite impressed with River's performances in The Mosquito Coast (1986) and Stand by Me (1986), and he decided to write a song in reverence of his talent. When he got to know about the song, he came to Brazil and spent some days in Milton Nascimento's country home. After that first contact, they became good friends. In the track "Curi Curi" (Tsaqu Waiãpi) from Nascimento's album "Txai" that was released in 1990, River reads a speech written by him protesting the destruction of the Amazon and betrayal of its people.
- One of GQ's 50 Most Stylish Leading Men of the Past Half Century (2010).
- Ranked #86 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list. (October 1997)
- Is one of only a few actors who have played the son and the younger version of the same actor, by playing Harrison Ford's son and playing young Indiana Jones. A few others are Bruno Kirby, who played Richard S. Castellano's son on The Super (1972), and the young Clemenza in The Godfather Part II (1974). Logan Lerman played one of Mel Gibson's sons in The Patriot (2000) and the younger Nick Marshall in What Women Want (2000).
- Sings a song on John Frusciante's album "Smile from the Streets You Hold."
- His final performance was in Dark Blood (2012), a film which was abandoned three weeks from completion.
- He died on Halloween.
- The band FenixTX was originally called River Fenix, but due to conflicts with the rights to his name, they were forced to change their name.
- Rufus Wainwright's song "Matinee Idol" is about him.
- After his death, Gus Van Sant spoke about another collaboration between the two that ended up never happening. He was asked, "You were going to do a movie with River about Andy Warhol, right?" Van Sant said, "Yeah. River kind of looked like Andy in his younger days. But that project never really went forward.".
- He was almost definitely set to star as Izzy Singer in Safe Passage (1994). Sean Astin got the part after River's death.
- Mentioned by Norwegian Pop-Rocker Morten Abel in the song "River Phoenix".
- Son of John Lee Bottom & Heart Phoenix.
- In total thus far, he has six nephews and one niece. Rio Everest Phoenix-Asch (12 June 1997), Indigo Orion Phoenix-Asch (9 November 1999 - 25 December 2001), Leo Lord Phoenix-Asch (birthdate unknown), Scarlette Jasmine Phoenix-Asch (July 2, 2001) to younger sister Liberty Phoenix, Indiana Affleck (May 31st, 2004), Atticus Affleck (November 2007) to youngest sister Summer Phoenix, and River Phoenix-Mara to younger brother Joaquin Phoenix.
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