Corey Haim Finds Fame in Death

Corey Haim died yesterday, and while we don’t yet know the cause of his death, we do know during the last few years of his life he was desperate, lonely, and out of socket.  His sad reality show — “The Two Coreys” — only elevated his mistakes and his worrisome life as evidenced in this flyer he paid to have published in a Hollywood trade magazine in an attempt to reignite his fading career:

You will — for the moment, anyway — find the rest of that misbegotten campaign on FindCoreyHaim.com.

Corey Haim is the perfect example of the danger in young performers I warn against in my article  — Woe of the Child Actor:

Children are cast in shows because of who they are and not because of
what they are not and that places the child persona in crisis because
their value as an actor is directly tethered to their bounty as a human
being.  Pick a child for an evil role and you have the public
ingredients for the ruination of a life before it has a chance to begin
on its own terms.

Corey Haim was not a good or even talented actor.  He was often wide-eyed and open-mouthed in every scene — but he had a certain charm that won you over. 

If Corey had somehow used his easy, natural, charm to sell cars or to teach children or to tend a community garden as a career — he would’ve found so much more happiness and contentment than he had in the misery of his unsatisfying and untimely end.

Based on his expressed public yearnings, these things were humanly clear: Corey Haim only wanted to find a place to fit in the world; he wanted to belong; he didn’t want to be adored — but he did want to be loved and cared for by someone outside the facade of the fake Hollywood family everyone in showbiz tries to curry, but can never quite create.