Death, Hollywood Style

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Added: Wed. Mar 10, 2010 10:07am
Posted in: Entertainment

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By now, we should be used to young actors dying from the excesses of fame. I don't have to make a list -- you know their names and you know their sordid stories.

But for some reason, the death of actor Corey Haim of an apparent drug overdose this morning has made me particularly sad. Why? Maybe it's because unlike a lot of others who died young, he was well past his prime. He hasn't been in a successful movie or TV show for more than 20 years, yet people like me, the children of the '80s, always kept pulling for him. He never really realized his full potential.

Or maybe it was those big puppy eyes, that boyish face that never really seemed to age or his sweetness that still came across, no matter how many demons he battled.

Here's why I'll always love Corey Haim: Lucas



How could you not pull for someone who so brilliantly played that awkward kid in love with the pretty, popular girl when he was still an awkward kid himself?

In recent years, I watched Corey on his hit A&E reality show, "The Two Coreys," which followed the lives of Corey Haim and Corey Feldman as both struggled to stage comebacks. In watching it, it was clear Haim had never conquered his addictions and he lacked the support system to do it on his own. He seemed to have two loving parents, but they didn't seem to know what to do to help their eccentric son. It also reminds me of the recent death of Andrew Koening, who played Boner on "Growing Pains" and was the son of Chekov from the original Star Trek.

As a parent of a young child, I pray and hope I'll always be able to parent her, even as an adult. Is it possible?

One more thing about Corey's death today. My first thought was, "Wow. He was 38 already. I hadn't realized he was that old." My immediate second thought, "Oh crap, that's only five years older than me. How could I forget that I'm on the quick march to 40 myself?"

It's strange, isn't it, when you begin to realize that the deaths of your contemporaries don't mean the same thing to the generations behind you? I remember being younger and when I'd read that someone over 30 died, I'd think, "Well at least he/she wasn't tragically young." That age has now been raised to about, oh, 75 or 80, I'd say. Perspective is a funny thing. 

So RIP Corey. I hope your example will serve as a wake-up call to others struggling with addictions.