The Viper Room nightclub is famous for its all-black exterior, the notorious celebrities who have walked through its doors and the fact that film star Johnny Depp was once a co-owner. However, on Halloween 1993, it became infamous as the scene where up-and-coming actor River Phoenix met his end, on the pavement right outside the front doors of the club.
Born on 23 August 1970, River Jude Phoenix grew up with his four siblings – Rain, Joaquin, Liberty and Summer – in what River himself described as a “hippieish” lifestyle. He wasn’t wrong; his family were extremely unconventional and at one point were part of a religious cult, which left them living in poverty to such a degree that Phoenix began playing guitar on the street just to earn enough money to support his hard-up family.
They were essentially nomads and enjoyed moving around a lot, settling in Venezuela for a time, as well as Puerto Rico, Oregon (where River was born) and Florida. However, it was while living in Los Angeles that the family’s fortunes were turned around, when an entertainment agent decided to sign all of the children to a management contract.
Aged ten, River Phoenix became a child actor, working on the TV show Seven Brides for Seven Brothers before going on to TV movies such as Surviving:A Family in Crisis and Circle of Violence: A Family Drama. But it was in 1986 that the actor was really brought to the attention of the public, when he was cast as Chris Chambers in Stand By Me, a Rob Reiner movie based on a story by horror writer Stephen King. The film is a coming-of-age drama, telling the tale of four young boys who go on an adventure to find a dead body. It ends with the main character, Gordie, updating viewers on what happened to his friends as they grew up, revealing that the character played by River was stabbed and killed when trying to break up a fight in a fastfood restaurant. This revelation made a sad ending to the movie, but became even more poignant after the premature death of Phoenix just seven years later.
After Stand By Me was released, River’s career went from strength to strength and he was nominated for a Golden Globe and an Academy Award for his role in Running on Empty (1988). He also became quite involved in the Los Angeles music scene, as well as going on to win the role as the young Indiana Jones in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989). It was this small but important role that would ensure that children of future generations would be aware of River Phoenix’s life and work.
But the actor’s successful career came crashing down in a tragic way at the end of October 1993, when River was partying at the new Sunset Boulevard club, the Viper Room. The establishment played host to many of Hollywood’s elite, including Johnny Depp himself, who could often be seen playing there with his band, “P”.
On the evening of 30 October, P were performing in the club when River Phoenix entered with his sister Rain, brother Joaquin and girlfriend Samantha Mathis. River had been making a movie, Dark Blood, and was in Los Angeles to film the last interior shots. Taking a night off, he had decided to party at the Viper Room, where shortly before 1 a.m., he entered the club bathroom. There, a dealer apparently offered the actor some kind of drug, the ingredients of which are still up for debate, though it is widely believed to have been a “speedball”, a combination of heroin and cocaine. River had already taken drugs that evening, but regardless of that he took what was offered to him and immediately became acutely unwell.
Staggering back into the club, the ailing actor told his friends he could not breathe, and the story goes that he then passed out in the club, before being dragged outside for some fresh air. Once there River Phoenix collapsed again and started to suffer seizures, while his friends tried to revive him and an ambulance was called. Paramedics arrived and later described that by the time they were able to work on the actor, he had already flatlined, right there on the pavement outside the Viper Room. At least one paramedic later said that he believed the actor was most likely dead or almost dead by the time he had managed to reach the exterior of the club.
The paramedics did all they could to save River, while at the same time rushing him by ambulance to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. They arrived at 1.34 a.m., and doctors continued the attempts to revive him, but ultimately were unable to do anything at all to save the actor’s life. At 1.51 a.m. on 31 October 1993 River Phoenix was pronounced dead. An autopsy was performed on the young star and it was revealed that the cause of death came as a result of lethal doses of cocaine and morphine, with his blood also containing ephedrine, marijuana and diazepam.
Back at the club, Johnny Depp and the other patrons were absolutely horrified that River Phoenix had died as a result of taking drugs in the club. The venue immediately closed and a sign was displayed outside which read: “With much respect and love to River and his family, the Viper Room is temporarily closed. Our heartfelt condolences to all his family, friends and loved ones. He will be missed. – All of us at the Viper Room.”
From all over Los Angeles, fans and the curious travelled to the nightclub in order to scribble graffiti on the wall near to the scene of River’s death, and proceeded to lay flowers, cards and other tributes. After that fateful evening, on the anniversary of River’s death the club would close on the orders of Johnny Depp. The sign “Gone Fishing” was placed on the door one year, and “Closed for Remodelling” the next. However, the crowds kept coming to the Viper Room to seek out the location of River’s death, and eventually the morbid curiosity took its toll. Co-owner Johnny Depp took the decision to sell his share of the club in 2004, after sources claimed he was “disgusted” at the endless stream of macabre passers-by.
Ironically, River Phoenix was known throughout the world as a clean-living vegan who was extremely anti-drugs and often appeared on chat shows to talk about the environmentally friendly politics he believed in. How long he had been taking drugs is not known, but apparently his father had been worried about his children’s involvement in the movie business for quite some time, and had asked all of them to give up their careers in order to help him with the family restaurant he had established in Florida. River assured his father that he would do just that, as soon as he had finished the films to which he was contracted.
Unfortunately for both of them, when River did indeed come back to his family, it was not in the way they had hoped. After his cremation, his ashes were taken back to the family ranch, where they were said to have been scattered around a tree; an apt place for the environmentally conscious young actor, who had always tried to remain close to his hippieish roots.