By Shannonn Kelly

As I watched last evenings Academy Awards, I became increasingly anxious realizing that there were going to be some pretty wet eyes in the Kodak Theater when they flashed this year’s departed film industry professionals.

From set designers, to agents, to directors to actresses and actors, I watched as everyone did, while the names and images of people flickered by from film industry lobbyist Jack Valenti, to Hollywood musical staple Betty Hutton, to cinematographer Lazlo Kovacs (Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces, to smoky voiced Suzanne Pleshette (The Bob Newhart Show, The Birds).

As the images flickered by and got closer to the most recent departed I held my breath to see the youngest actors up there on the screen who had passed away just last month memorialized alongside their mature counterparts.

I waited until the last two actors images that should’ve appeared one was glaringly omitted. Heath Ledger was the last face we saw, before the memorial tribute montage faded to black and we went to commercial.

Where was Brad Renfro? WTF. Where was Brad Renfro…?

I was angry. Why was the mention of one actor taking prominence over another? Is the academy saying that even in death, there is an A-List and a B-List- If so, shame on them.

Let’s face it, Brad and Heath died of the same thing: an accidental drug over dose-

Why memorialize Heath and not Brad Renfro.

Brad gave for his craft. He started acting when he was 10 or 11 years of age, probably 7 years before Heath started acting around 18. Heath got discovered for his looks and charm. Brad got discovered while in a school play.

Was Brad so unceremoniously ignored because he came from a poor family? A dysfunctional family? If this was the case, lets kiss the careers of 80% of ANYONE in the film industry good bye.

It’s the dysfunctionality, the challenges, the stress; the hardships that make gifted people blossom.
Renfro was was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, the son of a factory worker. He was raised by his paternal grandmother, Joanne Barron a church secretary, who died less than two weeks after Brad’s January 15^th, death earlier this year.

Brad should have been remembered along with his acting colleagues last night. To openly dismiss him and forget him is to dismiss his contribution on film.

Shame on you Hollywood.

Renfro was a solid actor. He signed on to approximately 21 movies in his short career. Heath Ledger (not counting TV episodes) made about the same amount of films.

Mali Finn, a casting director for Joel Schumacher discovered Renfro when he was ten. Cast by Finn for Schumacher’s The Client, Renfro acted alongside Susan Sarandon and Tommy Lee Jones.

The movie was based on the bestselling John Grisham novel and became one of the top-grossing films of 1994. In 1995, Renfro won Hollywood Reporter‘s “Young Star” award, and was nominated as one of People’s “Top 30 Under 30.”

In 1996, Renfro was cast in Sleepers, based on the novel by Lorenzo Carcaterra. The film was directed by Barry Levinson and also starred Robert de Niro, Kevin Bacon, Dustin Hoffman and Brad Pitt.

In 1998, he starred opposite Ian McKellen in Apt Pupil, directed by Bryan Singer. Renfro other high profile films, included 2001’s Ghost World and Bully and 2005’s The Jacket. Renfro’s final film was the yet unreleased movie The Informers, co-starring Winona Ryder and Billy Bob Thornton.

I have this argument often when I sometimes cannot get over the personality of artists. I’m told I must separate the artist from their behavior. In the art world it’s hard for me to do this with a painter such as Matisse for instance, because of his predilection for young Tahitian girls.

I can make the separation here. The majority of actors and entertainers are self-destructive. Renfro was self-destructive. Ledger was self-destructive. Hell, even I’m self-destructive. We all are in some way-

Both of these actors abused drugs. Legal and non-legal drugs. That behavior led to their immediate and untimely deaths.

Both men however, are and were from all accounts artists to be respected. They both took their craft seriously. They both possessed natural talent and a both made their presence while on screen, unforgettable. Both of these young actors were in some kind of emotional pain. Both of these young actors left behind small children and people who loved them while they were on this earth.

Brad Renfro was an American actor and should have been honored as such on America’s most prestigious night – The Oscars.

Shame on you Hollywood-

Shame on you Academy Awards…