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Actor Corey Haim was pronounced dead at 2:15am (Pacific time) today at Providence St. Jospeh Medical Center in Burbank, California.  Reports saw a 911 call came in just before 1am, and Los Angeles police Sgt. Frank Albarran said earlier that Haim’s death appeared to be accidental and might have been due to an overdose.  Sgt. William Mann stated “the cause of death at this time is unknown” and “He had flulike symptoms before the incident.  His mother was giving him various over-the-counter medications.”  Haim’s agent Mark Heaslip told HLN “We do not think this is a drug overdose.  Corey was actually going very clean with his life.”  It’s no secret that Haim had struggled with drug abuse in recent years, Heaslip said he was attempting to wage a comeback and had signed several contracts, including one for a new reality show.  Haim was not feeling well Tuesday night and was running a low-grade fever, he said.  The actor went into his mother’s bedroom and asked her to lie down with him, Heaslip said, He told his mother he was having trouble breathing, and his mother told him to roll on his side, he said.  He began to feel better, but at midnight he woke his mother by walking around the bedroom and then collapsed.  Heaslip also stated the news of Haim’s death was “100 percent” a surprise.  He said the death could have come as a reaction to medication Haim was taking as part of his sobriety program.  Source: CNN

Fans probably know Corey Haim best for his roles in memorable films like LUCAS, THE LOST BOYS, LICENSE TO DRIVE, and DREAM A LITTLE DREAM.  He also appeared in the Stephen King adaptation SILVER BULLET, and most recently in CRANK 2: HIGH VOLTAGE.  Haim had a brief cameo appearance in THE LOST BOYS 2: THE TRIBE, in a post-credits tag.  A few years ago, both Corey Feldman and Corey Haim starred together in a reality show called The Coreys, which followed their lives as friends, and mostly ended up showcasing Haim’s self-destructive personality, and unwillingness to accept help or guidance from either Feldman or his wife.  Haim was formerly engaged years ago to BAYWATCH star Nicole Eggert, and more recently to scream queen Tiffany Shepis.

I don’t often post about celebrity deaths, usually because they’re almost always well-covered by other sites, and we try to stick to news about upcoming movies and TV projects… you know, happier stuff.  But when I heard Corey Haim died today, I was saddened for a variety of reasons.  First and foremost, I should say that while I would never call myself a hardcore fan of his, I appreciated his work in the early years of his career, and couldn’t help but be sympathetic to him in his later years, when it seemed Hollywood had sort of turned its back on the guy.  As many of you who read the site know, I run the Dallas Comic Con comic book conventions here in town, and we frequently have media guests mixed in with our comic guests.  Before the DCC came along, I ran a slightly smaller show called the Dallas Comic & Toy Fest, which had four successful outings.  The third edition of that show, in 2001, saw my very first media guests – Corey Haim.  He was somewhat of a last-second addition, but I figured a welcome one.  The guy who booked him, who I had to deal with… well, that’s another sordid story for another time.  But from the moment Corey stepped off the plane all the way through the show, he was as nice as could be to both me and the fans at the show.  He did multiple Q&As during the event, and even did some interviews for us leading up to it.  Corey made time to talk to the artist guests, and even bought some comics from the dealers.  It wasn’t a case of him hiding in a room, and only coming out for his signing.  He was truly involved in the show, and made me very happy to have him there.  One thing I remember noticing back then was that Corey still looked really good, he still had that charm and appeal.  Things in his private life weren’t by any means ideal, but I saw no reason why this guy couldn’t be cast in big movies, or even get some sort of Quentin Tarantino-esque comeback.  We had promised to stay in touch, but his phone numbers changed, and I eventually just lost contact with the guy.  I kept hoping we’d run into each other again at some point.  But after seeing the reality show The Coreys, in which Haim starred with Corey Feldman and Feldman’s wife, I saw that the Corey Haim I knew had changed dramatically.  He now seemed to be a very angry and bitter man, and quite frankly out of control.  I say that with a grain of salt, knowing that “reality” shows aren’t always 100% accurate.  But there had to at least be some truth to that depiction.  Back in November of 2008, I had Corey Feldman on the Bigfanboy Livecast, and he stated then (like he did on The Coreys show) that he was “done” with Haim.  After several episodes of the show in which Feldman and his wife had tried to help Haim get his life together, they started to realize things weren’t going to get better.  When I asked Feldman about their relationship dissolving, he stated “All good things must come to and end.”   And in regards to his feeling over the break, Feldman stated “I feel that we’ve lost an opportunity to do something very special” referring to them being able to do more things together in the future.  You can hear that entire interview HERE (Feldman is 13.5 minutes in, either click to listen, or right-click and save the MP3).

Through his publicist, Corey Feldman has issued the following statement: “My eyes weren’t even open all the way when the tears started streaming down my face.  I am so sorry for Corey, his mother, Judy, his family, my family, all of our fans, and of course my son, who I will have to find a way to explain this to when he gets home from school.  This is a tragic loss of a wonderful, beautiful, tormented soul, who will always be my brother, family, and best friend.  We must all take this as a lesson in how we treat the people we share this world with while they are still here to make a difference. Please respect our families as we struggle and grieve through this difficult time. I hope the art Corey has left behind will be remembered as the passion of that for which he truly lived.”

Thankfully my memories of Corey Haim are all pretty positive, and somewhere around here I still have several photos from when he was here in Dallas, which I’ve eventually dig out and share with everyone.  My thoughts and prayers go out to Corey’s family.  I’m glad I got a chance to spend some time with him… even if ever so briefly.

Corey Haim (right) starred with Jason Statham in CRANK 2: HIGH VOLTAGE

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