"RDJ"

Who is it about?

When designing “TONY’s PHARMACY ON WHEELS” we were inspired by the life of Robert Downey Jr.

Robert Downey Jr. was born on April 4, 1965 in New York's Greenwich Village, an art district. His family name was actually Elias, but his father, Robert Downey Sr., took his stepfather's surname when he joined the army at the age of 15.

RDJ's childhood home could be described as rather unconventional. His father, Robert Downey Sr. is a director, screenwriter and actor, and his mother, Elsie Downey, is an actress. His father cast him as a 5-year-old in the absurd and used RDJ in his own film projects. His parents' comedy "Pound", in which all the actors play dogs.

After his parents divorced, he moved to LA with his father, attended Santa Monica High School and met some of his future acting colleagues. In 1982, he dropped out of school and moved back to his mother in New York to start an acting career.

Headers:

"TONY's" is the connection between Robert Downey Jr. and Iron Man. In his most successful and best paid role, he plays the entrepreneur and genius Tony Stark.

 

Design background:

The rather casual environment of his childhood brought RDJ into contact with drugs at an early age. In the documentary released in 2022, he says: "There was always a lot of hashish and cocaine." His father allowed him to try marijuana for the first time when he was only 6 years old. The drugs developed into a kind of emotional bond between the two. "When my father and I took drugs together, it was as if he was expressing his love for me - in the only way he knew how," he said in an interview in 1988.

The resulting addiction to hard drugs and alcohol caused a serious setback in Downey Jr.'s career in the mid-90s: After several stays in addiction clinics and court appearances, Robert was sentenced to six months in prison in 1997 for repeatedly violating probation conditions.

He has to serve this sentence after he found himself in a police chase during one of his drug binges in 1996 because he was driving too fast. During the subsequent vehicle inspection, the police found cocaine, heroin and a loaded weapon.

After the first trial, Downey repeatedly violated probation and deceived psychologists during several drug treatment sessions. As a result, the 6 months became 3 years.

Downey then asserted that he had changed recently and asked for another opportunity for therapy. The judge did not agree with his arguments or those of defense attorney Robert Shapiro, who had also defended former football star OJ Simpson. He was eventually released after 16 months.

What kind of phone number is that?

In the USA, 1-800- is the area code for calling a hotline. The letters behind it stand for individual digits. When cell phones still had keys, people wrote using T9 (“text on 9 keys”), a system for easier text input on cell phones without touchscreens. “THE HIGH WAY” connects the Chase on the highway in Malibu, and the drug-addicted phase in RDJ's life.