Corey Haim has died....

Cafe Society
61

Perhaps child actors running into issues was common in the older days, through the 70s, but certainly today it is not. There are just way too many example of child actors not only coming through it fine but even having successful adult careers.

Look at the kids from the original “Saved By The Bell.” Most of them did fine. Rick Schroder, Jason Bateman and Alfonso Ribeiro did just fine in careers after “Silver Spoons”

Kim Fields and Nancy McKeon went on to adult careers.

While it might be true for every Valerie Bertinelli there is a MacKenzie Phillips that’s pretty much how it is in life anyway.

62

Good post, thanks.

63

What a shame. He really aged badly in his 30’s and looked sick. RIP Corey…

64

I’m finding this death very weird and sad at the moment. Those guys were on top of the world when I was growing up. I loved so many of their movies. I’m sure I saw several of them 10+ times. I thought Corey Haim was the coolest guy on the planet and EVERY girl I knew had a crush on him. Then he just completely self-destructed before age 40. It’s so common and so easily understood from an analytical adult’s standpoint, but the kid in me is screaming what the FUCK?

65

Not quite. I was aware even then, in the Lost Boys era, that they were both from dysfunctional families. And that River Phoenix was from (what seemed then only) an odd family. I’m not surprised that it came to this. Saddened, though.

66

I was 6 or 7 when Lost Boys came out. They were gods.

67

Ah. Well, I was 17.

68

I mean, my uncle just passed away (at 92). He was a guy who was low key-worked all his life (as a restaurant chef).
As far as I know, he had no vices.
On the other hand CH had a life full of fun and excitement (at least, while he was an actor).
Would you trade 92 mediocre years for 39 exciting years?

69

Probably. But Haim only had about four exciting years before he became a drug-addled wreck.

It doesn’t look like a good trade anymore, does it?

70

I don’t think too many of those years would qualify as “exciting”.

71

I’m a few years older (43) but I remember their heyday. I remember watching TV one Christmas season and seeing them on a float in a Christmas parade and when they were about 17/18- at their zenith- and thinking when they were interviewed “They are stoned out of their flipping minds”, so I wonder how much of their heyday they even remember.

They need to majorly update the child star laws. So many become such total trainwrecks it’s even stopped being macabre schadenfreudische humor material but just pathetic. Gary Coleman for example- his ordeals went from moderately amusing to ‘poor Gary’ years ago.

In addition to more restrictions on their money (which I don’t think they should have access to until they’re legally an adult unless it’s for college or a house) I think studios should be required to
-drug test underaged actors working full time on a series or in a key role of a movie (I don’t care if the 30 year old stars smoke crack in their trailors, but the teenagers will probably have a harder time kicking any such problem)
-have a social worker on set in addition to the teacher
-check the freaking qualifications of said teachers (anyone know the story of Edward Furlong’s ‘teacher’? She ended up managing him [and by managing I mean screwing him in the bed and at the bank]

I wish there was some way to require counseling for them- not just therapy on how to deal with sudden fame or sudden non-fame but ‘life counseling’ on how to manage money or how to spot leeches. The most disgusting thing about child stars is how many MILLIONS AND MILLIONS of dollars they make for the studios who exploit them when they’re underage then just release “it’s so sad” statements when they die in poverty.

72

A “child star unseduced by the limelight” story is Peter Ostrum, better known to most of us as Charlie Bucket from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. He turned down a three-film contract after that film, said it was hard work, and that he’d become more interested in being a veterinarian. Later flirtations with acting didn’t inspire him enough to turn down the chance to be a vet. Apparently it was a great match for him, as he loves his job and mostly shuns the spotlight.

I’m pretty sure I’d read anecdotes that said his parents were supportive of his dreams, and also that there might be something else out there for him besides acting. It does look like a combination of the child’s own personality plus some very careful guidance and support are huge factors.

73

Always good to hear a not-bad ending. The actress who played Dee from What’s Happening? combined her TV career with love of animals; she’s a veterinarian who specializes in animals used on TV and film.

The kids from the movie To Kill a Mockingbird also turned down lucrative offers to concentrate on lives/careers outside of show business. Both have done cameos and personal appearances over the years but mostly for quick/easy/honest money and or “feels good to be a celebrity on occasion” reasons as both have done fine in their off camera lives.

74

You mean we can’t just mail 'em to the coal mines when we’re done with them?

Where’s the fun in that?

75

Not if they’re Americans. If they’re Indian you can send them back to the condemned illegal slumsthey came from though, so there’s that.

76

The problem with making more “child star laws” is they don’t stop the real problem. Too much money. If Corey Haim was given ten million he would’ve blown it all on drugs. You never give money to a junkie. In this case it didn’t matter how much money he made.

It was a simple fact, he didn’t get parts. It wasn’t a child actor thing, it was an actor thing. Lots and lots of actors are not able to work as much as they want to. Add in to the “reality TV” shows which don’t employ actors (well not directly anyway) and you get a saturated market.

Nell Carter of “Gimme A Break” said she made $20,000 an episode and she had no money 'cause whatever she made she spent on cocaine.

Chico Marx was asked how much money he lost being an addicted gambler. He replied, “Ask Groucho how much money he has in the bank, that’s how much I lost.” Groucho was known for never spending a dime, while Chico was known for spending it all on cards and horses.

Child actors are not earning millions and millions. OK they may gross that, but after taxes and agent and managers this is reduced probably by half. And all actors pay that. Add to that, they most likely live in high rent areas like Beverly Hills.

I read an autobiography of Sean Astin. He said he needed about $350,000 per year to maintain his lifestyle. He described himself as middle class in a LA suburb. In his book he said, he’s not famous but he can earn that much and described himself as a “working actor”

In reality a lot of people can earn that much. I know a GM at a hotel I worked in in Chicago made about $250,000/year so the pay isn’t so much.

Anyway Astin say when he was offered “Lord of The Rings,” he was offered $300,000 but then he realized that wasn’t for 1 year it was for ALL THREE FILMS. He said, as an actor it was too good to not take, so he reduced his lifestyle and took the role.

So you can see it’s not always about children being taken advantage. Like everyone else they have to make choices in life.

Certainly there were stars that got screwed over, especially in the old days. And I think NBC could’ve been much kinder to Gary Coleman as he (and Johnnny Carson) saved NBC during the early 80s.

77

I’d add in some kind of management for the parents, too. It’s got to be awfully difficult to be the parents of a child star, even the ones with good intentions who aren’t just using them as meal tickets (and figure out a way to prevent the parents from using them as meal tickets, too).

78

While Jackie Coogan is famous, I was surprised to learn that Shirley Temple had largely the same experience. Her parents weren’t quite as selfish as Coogan’s and there was a tad more left when she came of age (though she earned a lot more than Coogan), but her father squandered her fortune through bad investments, high living, signing over power of attorney, really poor decisions regarding her career, etc… She earned more than $3 million net (after taxes, agent, etc.) or approximately $50 million in modern terms; when she turned 17 and married her first husband and asked for an accounting, her net wealth was about $44,000. Most of her own money came from the disregarded films she made as a teenager and her long forgotten TV series in the 1950s.

Johnny Whitaker (Family Affair, Sigmund and the Sea Monsters, lots of Disney movies) was another who earned a fortune and had almost nothing to show for it when he came of age (on one show he said he got about $25,000 of it). His family had used a large part of it through some loophole to fund missionary trips for his brothers and sisters (they’re Mormon). Speaking of Mormons, the Osmonds dad wasn’t an unscrupulous person but, like the Wilson’s dad from The Beach Boys, he was in waaaaayyy over his head and wouldn’t admit it and most of their gazillions were squandered; Marie’s doll collection and Donnie touring for years in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat are the main source of any current wealth they have. (Poor Marie, incidentally; she seems a nice person but she’s had a pretty rough couple of years.)

79

Jeez, I hope he got some back end. Haven’t those films grossed over a billion each worldwide?