Kat’s Film and Book Reviews

Image courtesy of Team Sugar--young, cute, fresh faced Corey in the 80's

80’s teen star Corey Haim has died of an “accidental” overdose.  Not much is known of the circumstances of Haim’s death.  At about 3:30 AM, his mother found him in responsive in his apartment and called an ambulance.  The ambulance took him to Providence St. Joseph’s Hospital in Burbank, where he was pronounced dead at about 4:00 AM.  The police were then called in to investigate.

Unfortunately, Haim’s death can’t be a surprise to anyone.  A tragedy, God knows, but one 25 years in the making.  For all the enjoyable acting he did in the 80’s in such films as The Lost Boys, Murphy’s Romance, and License to Drive, he made his reputation not as an actor or even as a child star, but as an out-of-control addict whose attempts to stay in the public eye grew increasingly more pathetic as the years went by.

It’s an all-too-familiar story–the child or teen actor who gets caught up in the corruption and drug lifestyle so freely offered to him in Hollywood.  It doesn’t have to be that way; a lot of kids in that position made good choices and transitioned to admirable careers.  But Corey wasn’t one of them.  I hope he finally finds the peace and freedom I can only assume he was seeking all these years.

The drug bloat--nobody's best look

It’s real this time.  The brave 57-year-old actor who has been suffering from pancreatic cancer for two years, passed away this evening in Los Angeles, surrounded by his wife and family.  Rumors have followed him, often announcing his death prematurely, since his cancer was diagnosed 20 months ago, but Swayze continued to work, even while he was in rigorous traditional and alternative treatments for his disease.

I wondered if we were in his last days…and I know this will sound weird, but it’s because I saw a picture of him in a supermarket tabloid the other day.  The tabloids are the only ones that will tell us things like that–they did the same thing with Paul Newman just before his death–and they were right.  I admired so much the way Swayze was always realistic about his disease, but it didn’t let it stop him from doing whatever he could handle, including filming an entire season of a new TV show in which he was the Star (A&E’s The Beast).

I’m really sad to see him go; he was such an important figure for people who grew up in the 80’s.  He was Darry, everyone’s older brother, and he was Johnny Castle, the dancing rebel from Dirty Dancing.  He was the one whose fingers entwined with Demi Moore’s in the most erotic pottery session ever.   Perhaps most iconically, he was the one who announced “It’s my way, or the highway.”

For the people who knew him and loved him, he was, of course, so much more than that.  He was married to his wife, Lisa, for 34 years, and she was by his side through the ups and downs of his acting career, his rehab for alcoholism, and his good and bad days of cancer treatment.  She was by his side this evening as he left this life for the next.

Go with God, Patrick. Thank you for the good years.  Our prayers are with Lisa and all your friends and family.