Brad Renfro: Tragic Death of yet Another Young Hollywood Actor

Take a look around. It is no secret that the public can't get enough of the celebrity life. The rich and famous are under constant scrutiny by the media. The spotlight is always on. Unfortunately, this curiosity doesn't die even when they do. A celebrity dies and their faces are splashed on every magazine, newspaper and entertainment program.

Recently former child actor, Brad Renfro was found dead in the apartment of friends. According to People Online, the actor was heard snoring sometime during the night but was not breathing in the morning. Paramedics declared him dead at the scene. Renfro suffered from drug and alcohol dependency issues but the cause of his death has yet to be determined.

He performed in movies such as The Client, Apt Pupil and Ghost World. Brad Renfro was 25 years old.

It seems the more graphic and tragic the death, the more the public "eats it up." The media and paparazzi aren't stupid, they know what sells. Exploiting the death of a young celebrity makes them a load of money! This is why even years later we are hearing stories and "new" reports on old deaths.

River Phoenix died on Halloween in 1993 outside the California club The Viper Room owned by actor Johnny Depp. He was talented and young with a lot of potential. At the age of 23, he died of an overdose of multiple drugs including; valium, cocaine, crystal meth, heroin and marijuana.

Phoenix had many promising projects in the works when he died. His film credits include; Stand By Me, My Own Private Idaho and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

In 1994, grunge rocker Kurt Cobain was found dead in his home in Seattle. The autopsy found he had three times the lethal dose of heroin in his system. He also was shot in the head with a shot gun. A suicide note was found at the scene. Though dubbed a suicide by authorities, controversy still swarms the death of the Nirvana lead singer. His demise has been re-enacted and re-told on TV programs such as VH1 and Unsolved Mysteries. There is a whole page devoted to the conspiracy theory concerning his death on the social networking website MySpace. Justice For Kurt even goes as far as pointing the finger at his widow Courtney Love for masterminding his "suicide."

Nobody is soon to forget the fateful day of August 31, 1997. The car accident that happened in the tunnel in Paris, France is still being reported on daily. With chasing paparazzi and a driver that has been reported to have had alcohol in his system, Princess Diana and her companion Dodi Fayed perished along with the driver. There have been many books, articles and even TV movies made about the life and death of Princes Diana. Eleven years later the people are still questioning the death of their beloved Princess.

One of the most widely reported deaths of recent time has got to be that of Anna Nicole Smith. Anna Nicole became famous as a Playboy Playmate and then as a Guess model. She was a spokesperson for TrimSpa and had her own reality show on E!

Grabbing headlines when she married an 89 year old billionaire and then being embroiled in courts with her deceased husband's the son E. Pierce Marshall upon his death for the inheritance, we still don't know who exactly will get the fortune.

Smith's son was found dead in her hospital room in the Bahamas three days following the birth of her daughter DannieLynn Hope. The paternity fight between Anna Nicole's lawyer Howard K. Stern and former boyfriend Larry Birkhead began before her death in February 2007 at a Florida casino. Anna Nicole Smith was 39 years old at the time of her death. Birkhead was found to be the little girl's father through a paternity test and we continue to see both of their faces from week to week on the covers of magazines.

I'm sure her memory will be kept alive, the tabloids wouldn't have it any other way!