Renfro autopsy planned for Friday

Friends of actor Brad Renfro have told L.A. County coroner’s investigators that he was drinking before his death Tuesday, but authorities said they are still trying to determine how the 25-year-old died.

Coroner’s officials said they plan to perform an autopsy on Friday and continue to interview people who knew Renfro, who had a history of drug problems.

Renfo’s body was found in his Los Angeles apartment, in the 1000 block of South Ogden Drive, by his girlfriend, authorities said. Renfro was declared dead by paramedics at 9 a.m., according to coroner’s spokesman Ed Winter.

“There is no suspicion of foul play,” LAPD Lt. David Evans said.

Renfro’s former attorney, Blair Berk said Tuesday: “Brad was a really gifted young man. It is a tragedy all the way around.”

Renfro, a native of Tennessee, began acting in skits for the anti-drug group DARE at his school. He got his big break when producers of “The Client” – the film adaptation of the John Grisham novel – conducted a national search to find a fresh face to play the role of a boy who encounters danger after he overhears a conversation about a murder. Renfro appeared opposite Susan Sarandon and Tommy Lee Jones in that 1994 movie.

In 1998, Renfro won the lead role opposite Ian McKellen in “Apt Pupil.” He appeared as a convenience store clerk with Scarlett Johansson and Steve Buscemi in 2001’s “Ghost World.”

Despite the promising start to his acting career, Renfro was known for his legal troubles. In the late 1990s, he was arrested for trying to steal a yacht in Florida. In December 2005, he was picked up by LAPD officers during an undercover drug sweep of downtown’s skid row. Police had taken a Times reporter and photographer along during the sweep, and a photo showing Renfro being arrested by two officers was featured on the paper’s front page.

Renfro told a detective who arrested him that he was using heroin and methadone. He ultimately went into a drug rehabilitation program and pleaded guilty to the attempted possession of heroin. Renfro was sentenced to three years’ probation.

richard.winton@latimes.com