With stints in jail, spells in rehab and an arrest for driving down Sunset Boulevard in the buff, it’s not so long ago that Robert Downey Jr’s career wasn’t looking too good. But in a remarkable comeback, the ex-drug addict is now clean, happily married, the proud owner of a well-received album, and the most sought-after star in the biz. Not content to be seeing off rivals in superhero blockbuster ‘Iron Man’, he also pops up in indie outing Charlie Bartlett, which opens this week. As we venture further into what critics are calling the ‘summer of Robert Downey Jr’, we find out more about Hollywood’s prodigal son.
1. Robert’s dad Robert Downey Sr. was an actor, writer, cinematographer and independent filmmaker and the family moved frequently because of his work. Robert spent time in New York, California, Woodstock, Connecticut, Paris and London as a child.
2. Five-year-old Robert made his big screen debut as a puppy in his father’s 1970 movie Pound. Aww!
3. Robert’s dad introduced him to drugs by offering him a joint at a party at the age of eight. Downey Sr. said later, “We thought it would be hypocritical to not have our kids participate in marijuana and stuff like that.” Hmm, maybe in retrospect it wasn’t such a good idea.
4. Robert went through a Billy Elliot phase and studied classical ballet while living in London at the age of ten.
5. One of Robert’s best pals as a child was Richard Hall, otherwise known as dance star Moby. Their parents used to smoke pot together but the pair hasn’t seen each other for years.
6. Robert dropped out of high school to pursue his acting career at the age of 17.
7. Robert allegedly shocked the cast of 1985 movie Weird Science when he defecated in star Kelly LeBrock’s trailer. Apparently he didn’t appreciate her patronising approach to her younger castmates.
8. Robert wed first wife Deborah Falconer after only six weeks of dating. They had son Indio Falconer Downey and divorced after 12 years.
9. Robert began a romance with Calista Flockhart on the set of Ally McBeal but they went their separate ways when he tumbled off the wagon and ended up in rehab. Unfortunately for Robert, his hopes for a reunion were scampered when she hooked up with current squeeze Harrison Ford. He says, “Once Harrison came on the scene that was it, but I tell myself not many guys can compete with Harrison Ford.”
10. In a bid to “bury” his decadent past and start afresh after his Oscar nod for 1992 film Chaplin, Robert buried the clothes he wore to play a cocaine addict in 1987’s Less Than Zero in his back yard. It’s safe to say it didn’t work.
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