Robert Downey Jr.

COMING SOON!

He was Oscar-nominated for his role in Chaplin but is as famous an addict as an actor. Could the talented but troubled performer finally have overcome his personal demons?

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Robert Downey Jr
born: 04-04-1965
birth place: Greenwich Village, New York

It seemed to all observers that everything was going swimmingly in Downey Jr’s life until in August 1996, age 31, he had his first brush with the law. Initially stopped for speeding, he was promptly arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol as well as possession of heroin and an unloaded firearm. He was remanded to a secure drug rehabilitation centre and given a suspended prison sentence of three years. He was granted permission of bail, with requirements of random drug testing and drug counselling.

Despite the dent to his image, negative press and battling his personal demons, the by now well-respected actor continued to receive offers of film roles, including Robert Altman’s ‘The Gingerbread Man’ (1998) and ‘Wonder Boys’ (2000), in which he played a bisexual literary agent. There was ‘Gothika’ (2003), a horror film with Halle Berry and Penelope Cruz and ‘The Singing Detective’ (2003), produced by Mel Gibson, who also had a supporting role.

The story of Downey Jr’s continuing love affair with drugs and the consequences he faced as a result became what most people wanted to know about this interesting and sometimes enigmatic man. He later claimed it all began when his father offered him a cannabis joint at the tender age of eight.

On the set of the first film after his arrest, ‘Two Girls and a Guy’ (1997), Downey Jr was required to take daily drug tests. Whilst he remained ‘clean’ during filming, he was soon back to his old habits and, on 17th October 1997, had his probation revoked after continued drug use. In December 1997 he was sentenced to 180 days at the Los Angeles County Jail, for violating probation and missing his mandatory drug tests.

Unable to stay out of trouble, even whilst in prison, Downey Jr was involved in a fight with another inmate on 13th February 1998. On 31st March 1998 he was moved from jail to a drug rehabilitation centre to complete his six-month sentence and provoked a flurry of objections when he was released to work on a film.

On 6th August 1999, Malibu Judge Lawrence Mira claimed to have no other option than to sentence Downey Jr to prison, in order to save his life. Following three violations of probation for drug and alcohol abuse in a three-year span, since 1996, it seemed clear that Downey Jr could not give up his destructive habits on his own. Judge Mira invoked Downey Jr’s three-year suspended sentence and he was moved to a state prison Reception Centre in Wasco, California.

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