We will never know how successful River Pheonix could have been had he not tragically lost his life at the tender age of 23. We look at other child stars who have paid a high price for fame and fortune

Never before has a boy wanted more

Jack Wild, who at the age of 16 was nominated for an Oscar for his role as the Artful Dodger in the musical Oliver!, was later to experience the deepest pitfalls of fame.

So disturbed was he by the loss of his childhood, that he sent an open letter to the then 11-year-old Harry Potter star, Daniel Radcliffe, warning him of the potential danger ahead.

'Like other child stars, I paid a high price for my instant success,' he wrote. 'I was suddenly a jet-setter, briefly the toast of Hollywood and London's West End. My immature wishes and naive opinions were treated with respect.

'It was all so flattering and seductive that if you we're not careful, you came to believe you really deserved superstar treatment. That was part of my problem; that and a craving for booze.'

A millionaire at 18, Wild was an alcoholic at 21. Eventually, after years of heavy drinking, smoking and drug abuse he was diagnosed with mouth cancer, and he died in 2006, at the age of 53.

'What you talking 'bout Willis?'

The stars of Seventies US sitcom Diff'rent Strokes seem particularly cursed.

A 10-year-old Gary Coleman became the highest-paid child star of his generation, eventually earning £1 million a series as cheeky Arnold Drummond, with his catchphrase 'What you talking 'bout Willis?'

Although much of his earnings went on medical bills and suing his adoptive parents for mishandling his money, by August 1999 he was declared bankrupt after blowing a £10 million fortune. He was forced to auction dinner dates with himself to pay the bills and ended up working as a used car salesman.

'My parents were more interested in the business than in caring about me as their son,' says Chicago-born Gary, now 39. 'I discovered they had taken 20 per cent of my earnings.'

His co-stars also fell on hard times. Todd Bridges, who played Willis, blew his money on cocaine and was arrested for shooting a drug dealer while Dana Plato, who played Kimberley, checked into rehab after attempting to hold up a video store with a toy gun.

Bridges said: 'Fame is like a needle in your arm. When it's withdrawn, life is brutal.'

The curse of the child catcher

For Heather Ripley, who played Jemima in the film musical Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, it was the breakdown of her parents' marriage, after she hit the big time that caused her years of suffering. She and her mother upped sticks from their home town of Dundee to film at Pinewood, and in their absence her father had an affair which led to her parents' divorce. Ripley blamed herself.

She explains: 'The most common thing people say to me is, "When I was a child I wanted to be you", and they're shocked when I tell them how miserable the whole experience was.

'I saw my father only three times during filming and I missed him terribly. All I remember is sitting around in trailers waiting for it to stop raining so we could shoot scenes. It was 99 per cent boredom and one per cent fun.'

Ripley's acting career stalled shortly afterwards and she ended up working as a chambermaid. She eventually found happiness as a campaigner on environmental issues and is living in a New Age commune.

Life imitating art?

Mark Savage, who shot to fame at the age of 14 as vicious bully-boy 'Gripper' Stebson in Grange Hill, suffered years of abuse from people in the street after his character was dropped.

'It was a nightmare,' he recalls. 'I was attacked on the street and on the bus so many times that I lost count. It was open season on Gripper. I became very nervous and jumpy.'

Kilburn-born Mark, now 41, is currently unemployed and has been living rough or in London bedsits for the last 15 years. He blames his loss of 'growing-up time' on early stardom.

He says: 'People of the same age group don't accept you when you're a child star.'