“Is that true? I feel so detached from the screen that I never get enough sense of someone to want to have sex with them. There are a few of them who are charming, but, no, I’d have to know someone for a long time before I did that. Our leading man/leading lady ideas are just so messed up. That’s why I define myself more as a character actor, not accepting the makeup that will make you look “right”. I want to see more different, interesting, real people onscreen. I could have more of a [laughs] sexual motive toward the screen if there were some real people up there. And there are a few, but not enough. I want to see more De Niros. I want to see more Spike Lees. I want to see more women, especially, up there.”

—	River Phoenix, 1991.Why do fans want to have sex with movie stars?

River with Calvert DeForrest and Frank Colangelo / PETA Benefit - Beacon Theater NY 1989

“Happy birthday (a day belated) to that beautiful soul called River Phoenix. He would have been 44 had his flame not dimmed so early. But while he burned brightly, I was blessed to cross his path several times, and he was every bit that delicate combination of earth-bound yet ethereal that can often weigh down those bestowed with greatness and purpose. And tragically, It proved too much to handle. I loved him as artist and human- and will PETA Benefit Concert in 1989 at the Beacon Theater in New York where River performed live for the first time with his band Aleka’s Attic- which was Seattle Alternative two years before ‘grunge’ was even a musical sub-genre. An unlikely lovely addition to the party was my dear late friend Calvert DeForrest (aka Larry “Bud” Melman) and his pal, character actor Frank Colangelo. Together we organized to bring attention to cruelty against gentle creatures. At the time, little did I realize dear River was the most fragile creature of all… and would be broken and gone a few years later. I miss him. I cherish him. “I’ll see ya when I see ya…” - Tim Sullivan