Salon.com > Corey Haim

Authorities: Corey Haim had illegal prescription

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 12:08:00 +0000

The late actor Corey Haim had a fraudulent prescription for a powerful painkiller that authorities said Friday was obtained through a major drug ring.

California Attorney General Jerry Brown's office said records of the prescription in the name of the former teen heartthrob were found during an investigation of the ring that illegally obtained prescription pads and used the stolen identities of doctors to fill them out.

"Corey Haim's death is yet another tragedy linked to the growing problem of prescription drug abuse," Brown said in a written statement. "This problem is increasingly linked to criminal organizations, like the illegal and massive prescription drug ring under investigation."

Los Angeles County coroner's officials, however, said they have not yet determined what killed the 38-year-old Haim on Wednesday.

State law enforcement authorities said they were investigating the drug ring and how Haim, who battled addiction for years, obtained the prescription.

A person familiar with the investigation who spoke on condition of anonymity because the case is ongoing said Haim may have been doctor shopping.

Twitter mourns Corey Haim

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 23:11:00 +0000

Grief hits people in different ways. Some keep to themselves, some take to Twitter. Following the news of former child star Corey Haim's death, celebrities expressed their sadness in 140 characters or less. Below is a sampling of the most interesting.

Colson Whitehead, novelist (most recently of "Sag Harbor"):

"In honor of our fallen Corey, we should all sing David Bowie's 'Fame,' substituting Haim where appropriate."

Kevin Smith:

"Lost Boy goes home: Corey Haim, dead at 38. G'bye, LUCAS. You gave hope to the weird & unlikely."

Jeremy Piven (appeared in "Lucas" with Haim):

Retweeting Tinybuddha: "Until you stop breathing, there's more right with you than wrong with you." ~Jon Kabat-Zinn

Melissa Joan Hart:

"No way! I just saw him last week at a Lupus event! RIP! RT @dietcokebottle: Did you see Corey Haim died? So sad =("

Soleil Moon Frye:

Corey Haim: Little boy lost as the cameras roll

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:30:00 +0000

What happens when you make a roadside attraction out of a human being? How do you take a guy who's spent a lifetime shaking off the vulnerability and ego omnipotence that often comes with child stardom, a guy who struggles with drugs, says he was sexually abused, who's clearly on shaky emotional ground, and put him back in front of the camera with his longtime friend and foe?

Watching this footage from "The Two Coreys," a show built around the decaying relationship and revived career hopes of Corey Haim and Corey Feldman, will make you wonder about the practice of pointing cameras in the faces of exactly those people who are destined to get confused, say too much, and regret it. Corey Haim was allegedly troubled long before (and presumably after) these scenes were shot, and his judgment (and Feldman's) doesn't appear that sound.

But imagine if your notion of love was tied to the camera's gaze. Decades after that love is withdrawn, it returns in the form of a TV show. "The world loves me once again!" you'd think, even though your name itself has become something of a nostalgic punch line.

The Corey Haim highlight reel

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 15:11:00 +0000

Corey Haim's death from an apparent overdose at 38 is incredibly sad, but it certainly isn't surprising to those who followed his career, and troubles, for nearly three decades. He long ago emerged as a Gen X poster child for the dangers of fame in a celebrity-obsessed culture. His battle with substance abuse was its own kind of reality drama, playing out in the tabloids, in interviews that re-surfaced on YouTube and, eventually, his own reality show.

Haim was a gifted child actor who broke into the big time with memorable turns in the nerd underdog tearjerker "Lucas" and the teen vampire saga "Lost Boys," but it was his partnership with fellow child actor Corey Feldman that shot him into the teen idol stratosphere. Theirs was a match made in Hollywood branding heaven: The Two Coreys. Movies like "License to Drive" and "Dream a Little Dream" were soft-core tween fantasy, in which smirking kids outsmart dopey grown-ups en route to racy romantic adventures. Adulthood did, in fact, prove difficult for Haim, as work dried up and he waged a public battle with drugs and alcohol. A look back in his life through video reminds us how charming he was, and how much he struggled.

View a slide show

‘Lost Boys’ actor Corey Haim dead in Burbank at 38

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 14:12:00 +0000

The Los Angeles coroner's office says "The Lost Boys" actor Corey Haim is dead at 38.

Coroner's Lt. Cheryl MacWillie said Wednesday that Haim died at 2:15 a.m. at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank. She said an autopsy will determine the cause of death and there are no other details.

Canadian-born Haim became a teen heartthrob with the 1986 film "Lucas" and 1987's "The Lost Boys."

His first role was in the 1984 hit "Firstborn," in which he played a young child caught up in a family war. He then appeared in the 1985 television movie "A Time to Live."

In recent years, he appeared in the A&E reality TV show "The Two Coreys" with his friend Corey Feldman. It was canceled in 2008 after two seasons.