Philip Seymour Hoffman, RIP

[J.A.W.]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-26009575#"

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/03/movies/philip-seymour-hoffman-actor-dies-at-46.html?emc=edit_na_20140202&_r=0

[GA Russell]

Oscar-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman was found dead in a New York City apartment Sunday from an apparent drug overdose, law enforcement sources tell FoxNews.com.

[sidewinder]

Shocking news - a considerable acting talent and tragically young. RIP - I remember reading once that as a youngster he used to do lifeguard stints in a private pool facility in NYC whilst Miles Davis was doing laps.

Edited February 2, 2014 by sidewinder

[AllenLowe]

this is crazy.

[Larry Kart]

this is crazy.

Very sad, but what's crazy about a one-time addict dying of a drug overdose?

[JSngry]

Threads merged, overlap cleared, and this is sad, so sad, in many ways, this death is.

[Leeway]

Memorable performance in IN COLD BLOOD, many other fine performances. A sad ending.

EDIT: CAPOTE is the correct title.

Edited February 2, 2014 by Leeway

[JSngry]

this is crazy.

Very sad, but what's crazy about a one-time addict dying of a drug overdose?

I tell you what, I just finished watching all the color Dragnets (1967-1970), and although, yes, the remembered over-the-top portrayal of hippie drug insanity was there as remembered, what was also there (and less remembered) was the sobering (and continuously proven true) message that there are too many unhappy endings to continued drug use. It's only fun until it's not, and what you're able to muster when it's not is so often literally a matter of life and/or death - and may or may not be a choice that you get to make for yourself. Blue-faced LSD boy was over-the-top, but people dieing from drugs, that's real, and no amount of misplaced-crazy TV will change that fact.

I really dug Hoffman's work. He will be missed. Dammit.

[Dan Gould]

Stunning news. He was especially good in Before the Devil Knows You're Dead.

[ghost of miles]

Shocking and sad, and yes, Jsngry, "crazy" was one of the first words that sprang to my mind as well. Probably my favorite actor and about my age. A number of the artists I've admired from my own generation have died young, or relatively young--David Foster Wallace, Elliott Smith, Kurt Cobain, River Phoenix, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and now Hoffman. They all had substance-abuse problems, which contributed directly or indirectly to the death in every instance except for Wallace and Smith (who were both sober when they killed themselves).

Edited February 2, 2014 by ghost of miles

[Cyril]

Shocked to hear of Phillip Seymour Hoffman’s death.

[erwbol]

I never expected this. I feel like I've just been handed a toe.

R.I.P.

[Scott Dolan]

Just awful.

So talented, so young.

Apparent drug overdose.

Just fucking sad...

[Sundog]

A real shame. I enoyed many of his roles and always made it a point to see anything he was in.

[jazzbo]

Damn.

[kinuta]

Such a terribly sad and shocking loss of a brilliant talent. I'm stunned.

[marcello]

He's from this Area, so the news is doubly shocking. He was one of those actors that if you saw his name linked to a film, you kew at least his part would be great.

[Chuck Nessa]

I second Marcello's second sentence.

[Rooster_Ties]

Third. Huge loss. I imagine he elevated every film he was in - certainly those I saw.

[Guy Berger]

It's funny - I didn't become "aware" of him until fairly late in his career - and then retrospectively realized he was in a ton of movies I'd seen ("The Big Lebowski"! "Scent of a Woman"!). Great actor, never mailed it in.

[papsrus]

From CNN:

A needle was in the actor's left arm, and eight empty glassine-type bags that usually contain heroin were found in the apartment, law enforcement sources told CNN.

The bags were stamped with "Ace of Hearts" and "Ace of Spades" -- street names for the heroin, the sources said.

I have never encountered heroin, and don't really know anything about the mindset of an addict when he/she is in the midst of using, but when I read that he was found with a needle in his arm, I immediately thought he must have taken a high dosage that took him down fast, if not instantly. And now this additional information (if true) that there were eight empty bags of the stuff in the apartment? It makes a person think that he likely would have, or should have known the dosage was excessive/dangerous/lethal.

But again, when an addict is in the middle of the storm, I suppose he/she doesn't care about any of that. And the line between getting high and basically killing yourself fades fast.

I, like others, always enjoyed his films and am saddened that a wonderfully creative man was taken far, far too soon. Tragic. RIP

[king ubu]

Stunning news. He was especially good in Before the Devil Knows You're Dead.

Never been too big on him, but yeah, he was great in that film (which though seemed a tad unfinished to me - but still pretty good).

Sorry way to go.

[skeith]

sorry to hear this happening to one of my favorite actors

[David Ayers]

I do watch Hollywood movies but I never heard of this guy, but his death is being rammed down my throat by the BBC and one of the national papers slavishly reproduces a claim from his camp that he had been clean for 23 years. Right. Culture industry marketing 'storm' (i.e. blip)..

[BillF]

I do watch Hollywood movies but I never heard of this guy, but his death is being rammed down my throat by the BBC and one of the national papers slavishly reproduces a claim from his camp that he had been clean for 23 years. Right. Culture industry marketing 'storm' (i.e. blip)..

Well, I've only seen him in three films - Capote, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead and The Master - but he was pretty remarkable in all.

Ironic that in the second he played a wealthy and apparently successful man who was secretly addicted to heroin.

Edited February 3, 2014 by BillF