Corey Haim

Corey Ian Haim (December 23, 1971 – March 10, 2010) was a Canadian actor, known for a 1980s Hollywood career as a teen idol. He starred in a number of films, such as Lucas, Silver Bullet, Murphy's Romance, License to Drive and Dream a Little Dream. His best-known role was alongside Corey Feldman in The Lost Boys, which made Haim a household name. Known as The Two Coreys, the duo became 1980s icons and went on to star in seven movies together, later starring in the A&E reality show The Two Coreys. Haim's early success led to money and fame, and he began using drugs by age fifteen. He had difficulties breaking away from his experience as a teen actor, and was troubled by drug addiction throughout his later career. He died of pneumonia on March 10, 2010. --- Haim was born in Toronto, Ontario, the son of Judy, an Israeli-born data processor, and Bernie Haim, who worked in sales. When Haim was eleven, his parents divorced after eighteen years of marriage. He had an older sister, Carol, and a younger half-brother, Daniel Lee, from his father's second marriage. Haim was raised Jewish. Growing up in Willowdale, Toronto, he was enrolled in drama lessons in improv and mime by his mother to help him overcome his shyness, and accidentally fell into the film industry after accompanying Carol to her auditions. Not particularly interested in acting, Haim participated in other activities, such as ice hockey, playing music on his keyboard and collecting comic books. His skills on the ice led to his being scouted for the AA Thunderbirds hockey team. Haim's time at North York's Zion Heights Junior High lasted until grade 8, by which point he had begun to make a name for himself as a child actor. Haim broke into acting at the age of ten,[11] playing the role of Larry in the Canadian children's educational comedy television series The Edison Twins, which ran from 1982 until 1986. He made his feature film debut in 1984's thriller Firstborn, starring alongside Sarah Jessica Parker and Robert Downey, Jr. as a boy whose family comes under threat from his mother's violent boyfriend, played by Peter Weller. Haim's first day of shooting was with Weller, and he went up to compliment the older actor on his performance. Weller collared Haim, throwing him up against a wall to warn him not to speak to him after a take, and it took three assistants to separate them. Haim later admitted that he was terrified by the experience. Parker remembered Haim's staying over many times with her and her then boyfriend Downey Jr., who taught him how to apply hair mousse, saying: "He was naturally gifted and a real charmer – I adored him." Haim's breakout role came in 1986, when he starred alongside Kerri Green, Charlie Sheen, and Winona Ryder as the titular character in Lucas, a coming-of-age story about first love and teen angst, which centers on an intelligent misfit who struggles for acceptance after falling for a cheerleader. --- Haim never married. He was involved with Who's the Boss actress Alyssa Milano from 1987 to 1990, and her parents, together with his manager at the time, unsuccessfully tried to get Haim help for his addiction. Lala Sloatman co-starred with Haim in Watchers (1988) and Dream a Little Dream (1989), and they dated on and off for two years at the peak of his fame. He was engaged to Baywatch actress Nicole Eggert, with whom he starred in Blown Away (1992) and Just One of the Girls (1993). Eggert is credited with helping to save Haim's life at least once by taking him to hospital to detox during a 'narcotic rush', although she herself has said: "I spent a lot of nights in emergency rooms with him. I don't think that I saved his life, I just think that I was there for him." Haim was in a relationship with Victoria Beckham in 1995, which ended on mutual terms. Haim also had short engagements to Holly Fields in 1996 and model Cindy Guyer in 2000. Haim proposed to Guyer two days after they met at a Chicago autograph show. She spoke out about Haim's obsessive behaviour after he allegedly threw her against a car, leaving her needing stitches on her chin. Haim reportedly wept afterward as he apologized. "I saw a sweet little person in there that really needed help," said Guyer. Fearing his volatile mood swings, she paid to book him into the Betty Ford Center, but Haim left after eight days and their relationship soon disintegrated. He began to harass Guyer at her apartment, and she was forced to change her phone number and instruct her doorman not to admit him. "We almost knew it was going to happen," Guyer said of his death. "He had a devil inside him, and the devil was the drug." Haim had a year-long relationship with actress Tiffany Shepis, stating in October 2008 that the couple were engaged to be married on May 9, 2009. Shepis moved Haim away to Arizona in 2008, where she "was trying to help him like everybody does, you know? He's a charming kid with a lot of issues." --- In the time leading up to his death, Haim shared a month-to-month rental located at the Oakwood Apartments between Burbank and the Hollywood Hills with his mother, who had breast cancer at the time. Christopher Ameruoso, Haim's neighbor for a year, said Haim sometimes could be seen wandering around the complex, "looking for companionship, looking for friends." On March 10, 2010, after Haim's mother phoned 9-1-1, paramedics took Haim from their home to Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, where he was pronounced dead at 2:15 a.m. He was 38 years old. Los Angeles police stated that his death appeared to be an accidental overdose and that four bottles containing Valium, Vicodin, Soma (a muscle relaxant) and Haloperidol (an anti-psychotic) were retrieved, later confirmed as prescribed by a specialist, but that no illegal drugs were found at the scene. The Los Angeles County Coroner's Office ruled that Haim's death was due to pneumonia. Prior to the official autopsy reports being released publicly, Haim's mother stated that the coroner had given her a "courtesy call" to state his preliminary findings that Haim died of pulmonary edema and was suffering from an enlarged heart and water in the lungs. Haim's agent discounted the possibility of an overdose, citing his recent drive toward clean living and affirming that he had been completely drug-free for two weeks. Haim's primary doctor confirmed to Drug Enforcement Administration investigators that Haim was addicted to pain medication.