Leonardo DiCaprio says River Phoenix "disappeared" before his very eyes on the night he died

Speaking to Esquire magazine, he said: "I grew up revering River Phoenix as the great actor of my generation, and all I ever wanted was to have just an opportunity to shake his hand.

"And one night, at a party in Silver Lake, I saw him walk up a flight of stairs. It was almost like something you would see in Vertigo, because I saw there was something in his face, and I'd never met him -- always wanted to meet him, always wanted to just have an encounter with him -- and he was walking toward me and I kind of froze. And then the crowd got in my way, and I looked back and he was gone...

"I walked back up the stairs and back down, and I was like, 'Where did he go?' And he was...?on his way to The Viper Room."

Leonardo, 44, later realised he'd seen River shortly before his sad death, and he was devastated to lose someone he looked up to so much.

He added: "It was almost as if - I don't know how to describe it, but it's this existential thing where I felt like... he disappeared in front of my very eyes, and the tragedy that I felt afterward of having lost this great influence for me and all of my friends.

"The actor we all talked about. Just to be able to have that, always wanting to just - and I remember extending my hand out, and then... two people came in front and then I looked back, and then he wasn't there."