Bad Boy actor Brad Renfro arrested (again)

The horror stories of kids who hit it big in Hollywood when they are young and then find out how disingenuous it can be when they grow up are a dime a dozen. Hollywood will eat you up, that's for sure. A cliché, I know, but over the decades, show business has proven that while little kids sell tickets at the box office and bring in ratings on TV, it will abandon you like discarded toy when something better comes along.

The new DVD release of the TV series SeaQuest DSV brings to mind the suicide death of actor Jonathan Brandis, or the heroin overdose of Rosanne and Angel actor Glenn Quinn and the many troubled life of Terminator 2 star Edward Furlong. There are many others, to be sure. Most go unnoticed, although there is a former child actor who has an organization to help these troubled young ones.

One may be need to help Brad Renfro. The actor, who broke into movies at the age of 12, was charged with a felony count of attempting to possess heroin after being arrested in a Skid Row police sting in Los Angeles on December 22.

This, sadly, is not the 23 year-olds only tangle with the law. Acording to IMDb, he was arrested in his hometown of Knoxville, Tennessee, when police pulled him over and allegedly found cocaine and marijuana in his pants and socks in June of 1998. Was arrested in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on a grand theft charge for allegedly trying to steal a 45 foot yacht. He and a companion failed to untie the boat from the dock, causing damage to both the boat and the dock in August of 2000. He was sentenced to two years probation and ordered to pay more than $4,000 for repairs on a yacht. While on probation in Florida, he was arrested in May 2001 for underage drinking as car was pulled over. In January of '02 in Knoxville, Tennessee Renfro was arrested and charged with public intoxication and driving without a license. He was stopped after a traffic violation near his house. He was ordered back to jail for remainder of probation by Florida judge due to his drunk driving arrest in January. His most recent tangle came back in November when he was arrested and charged with a misdemeanor count of DUI and two counts of driving with a suspended license.

Brad Renfro made a big splash in 1994's The Client, an adaptation of the John Grisham bestseller which also starred Susan Saradnon and Tommy Lee Jones. While the movie was okay, the then 12 year-old stole almost every scene. He also put in another bold performance in Apt Pupil, which was directed by Bryan Singer (and based on the Stephen King novella) which caused some controversary -not only for his cold performance - but behind the scenes when family members of kids who appeared in the film, accused the producers of filming their kids in the nude in a shower scene, when they were told no images would be taken below the waist. He went on to star in the Disney film Tom and Huck with Jonathan Taylor Thomas and then a string of indie films like Tart, Ghost World and Bully.

Renfro, now 23, was freed on $10,000 bail Friday and is scheduled for arraignment on Dec. 30. If convicted, he could avoid prison because a 2000 law requires that first- and second-time nonviolent drug offenders be sent to treatment programs instead, said Jane Robison, a district attorney's spokeswoman. "He was contrite about being arrested and he readily acknowledged that he had a drug problem," police Lt. Paul Vernon said at a news conference.

While Hollywood cannot be blamed for all of his -or that, any actors - problems, it does shine a light into its dark corners. Renfro was a cute kid and became a semi-handsome teen with a ton of rough edges, and he seemed proud of that badboy image he was giving off. He was, in many ways, perfectly cast in Tom and Huck. Jonathan Taylor Thomas was perfect boy next door, one any parent would be proud to have their girls date. And Thomas cultivated that image of the squeeky clean kid, even though he tried to break out of that with his performaces as a gay hustler in Speedway Junkies. Thomas also played gay in the Showtime movie Common Ground. Then there was Renro's Huck Finn, a kid with no past and no future. His dirty, straight hair and sneer made him the image of the kid from other side of tracks. He played into that classic cliché and attracted even more the badboy image.

And Hollywood likes that image and will exploited for all its worth, until the actor does something like this (just look at the skid that has effected Tom Sizemore). Renfro's departure from mainstream film making may be in part his choice, but producers (and their backers) and directors don't like actors with troubles in their private life. Filmmaking is a costly buisness, and set backs by actors private lives infringing on time clock, causes them not be used again.

The end fate of Renfro is yet to be determined. Like Sizemore, he needs to want to give up his drug problems. Entering a drug treatment center is a start, but as one who seems not want to be told what to do, it seems all moot.

I guess, with Brad Renfro, it all comes down to choices. If he chooses to get help, he can overcome the monkey on his back. If he chooses to shrug it off like an old coat, his fate seems to be headed in the direction of Glenn Quinn or even, sadly, Jonathan Brandis.