LOS ANGELES – Canadian actor Corey Haim has died at the age of 38 of an apparent accidental drug overdose, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
Police told Canwest News Service they received a call just before 4 AM that Haim had been transported from a residence in North Hollywood to Providence St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Burbank, California, where the actor was pronounced dead, LAPD Sgt. Michael Cammert said Wednesday.
The actor is best known for the films The Lost Boys and License to Drive. Haim, who was born in Toronto, was known for his many collaborations with fellow actor Corey Feldman. The two appeared in a reality show, The Two Coreys, on A&E from 2007 to 2008.
The pair first co-starred in cult vampire flick The Lost Boys in 1987, and re-teamed in several subsequent movies including License to Drive (1988), Dream a Little Dream (1989) – and the 2008 Lost Boys sequel Lost Boys: The Tribe.
Never able to capture the stardom he had as a child, Haim struggled for years with substance abuse issues.
According to the actor’s website, the ’80s teen heartthrob was born on December 23, 1971, to Julia and Bernie Haim, in Toronto.
His interests as a child were music and playing hockey.
Haim’s website says the actor actually wanted to be a professional hockey player when, through a twist of fate, he was bitten by the acting bug while attending an audition with his sister.
Just three weeks ago, Haim and Feldman were spotted together in Hollywood by TMZ. When asked if he was maintaining his sobriety, Haim told the outlet he’s "been good for awhile," and appeared to be excited about several upcoming projects.
"I’ve got a whole bunch of things coming up, man," he said. "I’m directing for the first time…I’ve got a few things happening."
In a 1995 interview with Canwest News Service, Haim looked back with fondness on his status in the ’80s.
"They called me Hollywood’s bad boy," he says with a hint of pride. "I pushed the envelope one too many times. So I had a long vacation. A long, long, long vacation. Now I’m off vacation and I want to get back to work. I’m on track to get there. I’m going to bow down to the gods in a way I’ve never done before."
While not a member of the formal "brat pack" that included Emilio Estevez and Ally Sheedy, Haim had his own circle of famous preteen friends "back in the day" – including Ricky Schroeder and Feldman.
When the group fell apart, so – it seems – did Haim’s career.
"Not really. We just wanted to do different things. We grew in different directions," he says. "But there was an innocence to that time and you can see it in the movies from that era. There wasn’t all this gratuitous sex and violence that you see today. Compare License to Drive to a movie like XXX; there’s a huge difference."
With files from Dose.ca
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