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The year of the Normandy landings. |
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December 31, 1944 |
Mayer and Margaret Dunetz's third daughter,
Arlyn Sharon Dunetz born in New York. |
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The year of the Roswell incident. |
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June 14, 1947 |
John Lee Bottom born. |
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The year of the Apollo 11 moon landing. |
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September 13, 1969 |
The wedding of John Bottom and Arlyn Dunetz takes place in California. |
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The year of anti-war demonstrations. |
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Sunday, August 23, 1970 |
River Jude Bottom born near Metolius, Oregon at 12:03pm. |
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The year the Aswan Dam, Egypt is completed. |
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The year of Watergate. |
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The year of the worldwide energy crisis. |
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Saturday, March 31, 1973 |
River's first sibling, Rain Joan of Arc born in Crockett, Texas at 9:47pm - six days earlier than expected. At eleven, she would extend her name to Rainbow. |
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The year President Nixon resigns. |
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Monday, October 28, 1974 |
River's brother, Joaquin Rafael born in Puerto Rico at 6:14pm. |
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The year the Khmer Rouge comes to power in Cambodia. |
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December 25, 1975 |
For Christmas, River receives a guitar from Spanish singer Alfonso Sainz who teaches him to play. |
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The year of the Tangshan, China earthquake in which 655,000 people lose their lives. |
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Monday, July 5, 1976 |
River's second sister, Libertad Mariposa (or Liberty Butterfly) born in Caracas, Venezuela at 11:03am. |
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The year Elvis Presley died. |
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August 23, 1977 |
River spends his seventh birthday in poverty. |
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The year a Soviet fighter shoots down a Korean passenger airliner. |
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1978 |
River's brother, Joaquin, the only child without a 'nature name' would change his first name to Leaf. |
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November 1978 |
The Bottom family return to the United States. |
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Sunday, December 10, 1978 |
River's third sister, Summer Joy born at 2:34am. A late birth, Summer was actually due on November 30. |
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The year of the Three Mile Island accident. |
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March 1979 |
John Bottom suffers a back injury. River and Rain begin entering local talent contests. |
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April 2, 1979 |
John changes the family name to Phoenix. |
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May 1979 |
River and Rain bring the audience to their feet at the Hernando Fiesta. |
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June 1979 |
The family receives a letter inviting them to audition at Paramount Studios. |
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The year John Lennon was killed. |
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1980 |
River and his sister sing to the audience as a warm-up act for the TV show Real Kids. |
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1980 |
River has his first appearance on a TV show Fantasy singing with his sister Rain. |
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The year of the IBM PC and the Charles and Diana wedding. |
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The year of the Falkland Islands Invasion. |
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September 19, 1982 |
NBC broadcasts the first TV episode of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers in which River appears as Guthrie McFadden. |
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The year of Cabbage Patch Dolls and the "Just Say No" campaign. |
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March 23, 1983 |
Final episode of the TV adaptation of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers airs. |
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The year of the Ethiopian Famine. |
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February 12, 1984 |
River stars as the character Jeffie in the TV movie Celebrity. |
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March 1984 |
River stars in Backwards: The Riddle of Dyslexia to critical acclaim which leads to a major role in the TV movie Surviving: A Family in Crisis. |
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September 26, 1984 |
The pilot episode of It's Your Move airs. River has just one line of dialogue. |
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October 15, 1984 |
Production begins on Explorers. |
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The year Mikhail Gorbachev comes to power. |
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January 29, 1985 |
River appears briefly in Robert Kennedy and His Times. |
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February 1985 |
Production finishes on Explorers. |
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February 10, 1985 |
Surviving: A Family in Crisis with River cast as Philip Brogan airs on television. |
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June 17, 1985 |
River flies to Oregon and production begins on Stand By Me. Filming takes two months. |
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July 1985 |
Explorers released. |
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November 14, 1985 |
River appears in an episode of Family Ties playing the character of Eugene Forbes. |
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The year of Chernobyl. |
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May 1986 |
River meets Martha Plimpton for the first time. Both take an instant dislike to each other. |
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October 12, 1986 |
River appears in his last ever TV movie Circle of Violence: A Family Drama. He plays the character of Chris Benfield. |
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End of 1986 |
River and his father travel to Belize for The Mosquito Coast. Filming takes six weeks. |
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The year Brazil burns 80,000 square miles of
Amazon rain forest in just 79 days. |
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January 1987 |
Production begins on Little Nikita. |
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August 1987 |
River returns with his family to their new house in Gainesville, Florida to recharge his batteries after completing Running on Empty. |
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The year 25,000 die in the Armenian earthquake. |
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February 1988 |
A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon released. |
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June 1988 |
The Phoenix family move to a 20 acre spread at Micanopy, 12 miles from Gainesville. |
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September 9, 1988 |
Running on Empty goes on general release. |
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Christmas 1988 |
Aleka's Attic give their first concert. |
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The year the Berlin Wall fell and the year of Tiananmen Square. |
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March 29, 1989 |
River attends the 61st Oscar Ceremony with his mother and Martha Plimpton. |
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April 10, 1989 |
Production begins on I Love You To Death on location at Tacoma, Washington. The work continues during the summer in Hollywood. |
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Christmas 1989 |
Keanu Reeves drives from his home in Canada to Florida to show River the script for My Own Private Idaho. |
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The year Nelson Mandela was released. |
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January 1990 |
Aleka's Attic travels to Charlotte, North Carolina to record a song for a new album to benefit the charity PETA. |
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May 1990 |
River journeys to Seattle for Dogfight. |
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June 1990 |
Five months before production begins on My Own Private Idaho, River flies to Portland, Oregon to research gay hustling. |
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Summer 1990 |
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is released. |
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September 1990 |
River travels to Washington D.C. to accept the Humanitarian Award from PETA for his fundraising activities. |
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November 1990 |
River returns to Portland, Oregon to join the cast of My Own Private Idaho. |
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December 1990 |
Production of My Own Private Idaho moves to Seattle for two weeks before moving on to Rome, Italy. |
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The year of Desert Storm. |
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January 1991 |
River has to be restrained after attacking and kicking a fan who tried to take his photograph. |
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August 1991 |
River returns to the family estate in Gainesville to celebrate his 21st birthday. |
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September 1991 |
River attends the New York premier of Dogfight. |
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October 28, 1991 |
Filming begins in Los Angeles for Sneakers. |
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The year of the Los Angeles Riots. |
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March 1992 |
Production wraps on Sneakers. |
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October 1992 |
River and his band plays a free concert at a pre-election rally in Gainesville for Presidential candidate Bill Clinton. |
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The year River Phoenix died. |
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January 1993 |
River's mother challenges her son about taking drugs. |
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January 1993 |
River's relationship with Sue Solgot breaks up. |
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February 19, 1993 |
River prepares his last will. His father receives no mention in it. |
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May 24, 1993 |
River signs a contract for Dark Blood. |
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August 1993 |
River and his brother and sisters fly to Costa Rica for the opening of their father's vegan restaurant. |
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September 6, 1993 |
River flies to the village of Torrey to begin work on Dark Blood. |
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October 30, 1993 |
River works throughout Saturday filming studio scenes for Dark Blood. He would be given tomorrow off. |
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October 30, 1993 |
River arrives the The Viper Room and meets up with his girlfriend Samantha Mathis, his brother Joaquin and other friends. |
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October 31, 1993 |
Just after 1:00am River is carried out of the Viper Room by Samantha Mathis and Joaquin. |
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October 31, 1993 |
1:34am - River arrives by ambulance at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in full cardiac arrest. |
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October 31, 1993 |
1:51am - River Phoenix is pronounced dead. |
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November 25, 1993 |
A Memorial for River Phoenix is held at Paramount Studios. |