River Phoenix: A Short Life is the definitive biography of this talented but tragic young star. Brian Robb looks at Phoenix's unusual childhood, his early days on TV and film, and the pressures of stardom that led to his lethal overdose in 1993. His short but incident-packed life is a tale of modern Hollywood.
Brian J. Robb is the author of a series of Hollywood biographies, including an international best-seller on Leonardo DiCaprio. Other subjects have included Scream director Wes Craven and Hollywood stars Keanu Reeves, Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp, Ewan McGregor, Nicolas Cage, Will Smith and River Phoenix.
He is currently Managing Editor at Titan Magazines, a publisher of film and TV related titles in the UK. In addition, he edits the UK's Official Star Wars Magazine, as well as being Managing Editor on Dreamwatch, an international cult film and television magazine.
He is a journalist of 20 years standing who has held a variety of film-related jobs, including Publications Editor of the British Film Institute, editing publications for the 1990 London Film Festival, as well as publications for the 1991 Edinburgh Film Festival and the 1991 British Film Festival in Washington DC.
He was film and video critic for the Edinburgh Evening News for eight years and has contributed film reviews to Scot FM and BBC Radio Scotland. He has worked for the Radio Times and TV Guide, ran a local newspaper group in Edinburgh and was the Founding Editor of Scottish Arts Monthly.
In addition, he has worked on The Scotsman and Scotland on Sunday newspapers and contributed freelance work to The Guardian, The Daily Record, Scotsman Magazine, Fear, Fantasy Zone, Doctor Who Monthly, Film Monthly, Dreamwatch and Starburst, as well as regular columns for ZX Computing magazine in the mid-1980s.
Brian has an MA in Film & TV Studies from the University of Glasgow and a postgraduate diploma in Journalism Studies from University College, Cardiff.
