Huffington Post reports on the death of Blake Heron, star of the 1996 film ‘Shiloh’. He was 35.
Reports indicate that Heron was found by his girlfriend in his La Crescenta-Montrose home. Though they attempted to revive him for forty minutes, it was too late. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Though no cause of death has been reported, he was known to have been sick with what was assumed to be the flu for the last few days, with medicine for the illness found in his home. It was not predicted to be life threatening at the time, however.
Heron had been open about his struggle with addiction for several years. Though he has reported as clean since 2008, the website TMZ recently claimed that he had been seen going to rehab. Whether a relapse had anything to do with his death is so far unknown.
Fittingly, Heron’s most recent project was the Tribeca Film Festival’s “A Thousand Junkies” in 2017, marking his first major role in nearly 13 years. In it, he starred alongside Tommy Swerdlow and TJ Bowen as three heroin addicts who were abandoned by their dealer and their attempts to get their fix elsewhere.
Heron spoke about his own addiction leading up to the film, talking about it in a video while promoting the film. “I started doing drugs when I was about 12, typical smoking weed at first and drinking and what not. It quickly progressed…and I lost everything. I lost my career, I lost all of my money, I lost possessions, and most importantly, I lost myself. I felt like I lost my soul.”
Heron leaves behind his mother and father, as well as his aforementioned girlfriend. There are currently no details on any funeral or memorial services they plan to hold.
