DiCaprio: 'River Phoenix was my hero'

Leonardo DiCaprio has revealed that he met River Phoenix on the night he died.

The actor told Esquire that Phoenix had been his idol when he was a teenager.

"When I was 18, River Phoenix was far and away my hero," he said. "I always wanted to meet him. One night, I was at this Halloween party, and he passed me. He was beyond pale - he looked white.

"Before I got a chance to say hello, he was gone, driving off to the Viper Room, where he fell over and died. That's a lesson."

DiCaprio has previously said that the deaths of Phoenix and Heath Ledger have scared him off drugs.