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Philip Seymour Hoffman dead at 46

Philip Seymour Hoffman, who won a best actor Oscar in 2006 for his portrayal of writer Truman Capote in Capote and created a gallery of other vivid characters, many of them slovenly and slightly dissipated comic figures, has died. He was 46.

He was found dead in his bathroom in the city’s Greenwich Village area at 11.30am local time. The cause of death hasn’t been officially determined, but a drug overdose is suspected.

“He was found dead in his bathroom of an apparent drug overdose,” an NYPD spokesman said.

His family released a statement on Sunday afternoon New York time: “We are devastated by the loss of our beloved Phil and appreciate the outpouring of love and support we have received from everyone. This is a tragic and sudden loss and we ask that you respect our privacy during this time of grieving. Please keep Phil in your thoughts and prayers.”

Hoffman, who was no matinee idol figure with his tubby, lumpy build and limp blond hair, made his career mostly as a character actor. He was nominated for Oscars four times in all.

In one of his earliest films, he played a spoiled prep school student in Scent Of A Woman in 1992. One of his breakthrough roles came as a gay member of a porno film crew in Boogie Nights, one of several movies directed by Paul Thomas Anderson that he would eventually appear in.

He often played comic, slightly off-kilter roles in movies such as Along Came Polly, The Big Lebowski and Almost Famous.

More recently, he was Plutarch Heavensbee in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and was reprising that role in the two-part sequel, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, which is in the works. In Moneyball, he played Art Howe, the grumpy manager of the Oakland Athletics who resisted new thinking about baseball talent.

Just weeks ago, Showtime announced Hoffman would star in Happyish, a new comedy series about a middle-aged man’s pursuit of happiness.

In The Master, he was nominated for the 2013 Academy Award for best supporting actor for his role as the charismatic leader of a religious movement. The film, partly inspired by the life of Scientology founder L Ron Hubbard, reunited the actor with Anderson.

He also received a 2009 supporting nomination for Doubt, as a priest who comes under suspicion because of his relationship with a boy and a best supporting actor nomination for Charlie Wilson’s War, as a CIA officer.

Born in 1967 in Fairport, New York, Hoffman was interested in acting from an early age, mesmerised at 12 by a local production of Arthur Miller’s All My Sons. He studied theatre as a teenager with the New York State Summer School of the Arts and The Circle in the Square Theatre. He then majored in drama at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.

Trained in the theatre, with a versatility and discipline more common among British performers than Americans, he was a character actor who could take on any role, large or small, loathsome or sympathetic.

On the stage, he performed in revivals of True West, Long Day’s Journey Into Night and The Seagull, a production that also featured Meryl Streep and Kevin Kline. In 2012, he was more than equal to one of the great roles in American theatre – Willy Loman in Death Of A Salesman, a performance praised as heartbreaking by Associated Press theatre critic Mark Kennedy.

“Hoffman is only 44. But he nevertheless sags in his brokenness like a man closer to retirement age, lugging about his sample cases filled with his self-denial and disillusionment,” Kennedy wrote.

“His fraying connection to reality is pronounced in this production, with Hoffman quick to anger and a hard edge emerging from his babbling.”

Speaking at the London Critics’ Circle Film Awards in central London, John Hurt – who starred with Seymour Hoffman in 2003 film Owning Mahowny – said: “It’s a devastating loss. His contribution was massive.”

Celebrities turned to Twitter to mourn the loss of Seymour Hoffman, who they described as one of film’s greats.

 

Philip Seymour Hoffman was prolific on film, as well as holding many notable stage credits. Here are his credits:

FILM

2014
Happyish (TV Series) (post-production), Thom Payne

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 (post-production), Plutarch Heavensbee

A Most Wanted Man, Günther Bachmann

God’s Pocket

2013
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Plutarch Heavensbee

2012
Back Beyond (Video short), Lancaster Dodd

A Late Quartet, Robert Gelbart

The Master, Lancaster Dodd – nominated for Best Supporting Actor Oscar

2011
Moneyball, Art Howe

The Ides of March, Paul Zara

A Child’s Garden of Poetry, (TV Movie) (voice)

2010
Jack Goes Boating, Jack

2009
Arthur (TV Series), Will Toffman
– No Acting Please/Prunella Deegan and the Disappointing Ending (2009) … Will Toffman (voice)

The Invention of Lying, Jim the Bartender

Pirate Radio, The Count

Mary and Max Max, Jerry Horovitz (voice)

2008
Doubt, Father Brendan Flynn

Synecdoche, New York Caden Cotard

2007
Charlie Wilson’s War, Gust Avrakotos

Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead, Andy

The Savages, Jon Savage

2006
Mission: Impossible III, Owen Davian

2005
Capote, Truman Capote

Empire Falls (TV Movie), Charlie Mayne

Strangers with Candy, Henry

2004
Along Came Polly, Sandy Lyle

2003
Cold Mountain, Reverend Veasey

Mattress Man Commercial (Video short), Dean Trumbell

Owning Mahowny, Dan Mahowny

2002
25th Hour, Jacob Elinsky

Red Dragon, Freddy Lounds

Punch-Drunk Love, Dean Trumbell

Love Liza, Wilson Joel

2000
Almost Famous, Lester Bangs

State and Main, Joseph Turner White

1999
The Talented Mr. Ripley, Freddie Miles

Magnolia, Phil Parma

Flawless, Rusty

1998
Patch Adams, Mitch

Happiness, Allen

The Big Lebowski, Brandt

Next Stop Wonderland, Sean

Montana, Duncan

1997
Liberty! The American Revolution (TV Mini-Series)
Joseph Plumb Martin
– The Times That Try Men’s Souls: 1776-1777 (1997) … Joseph Plumb Martin
– Oh, Fatal Ambition: 1777-1778 (1997) … Joseph Plumb Martin
– The Reluctant Revolutionaries: 1763-1774 (1997) … Joseph Plumb Martin
– Blows Must Decide: 1774-1776 (1997) … Joseph Plumb Martin

Culture (Short) Bill

Boogie Nights Scotty J.

1996
Twister, Dustin Davis

Hard Eight, Young Craps Player (as Phillip Seymour Hoffman)

1995
The Fifteen Minute Hamlet, (Short) Bernardo / Horatio / Laertes (as Philip S. Hoffman)

1994
Nobody’s Fool, Officer Raymer

When a Man Loves a Woman, Gary

The Yearling, (TV Movie) Buck

Szuler, Martin

The Getaway, Frank Hansen (as Philip Hoffman)

1993
Money for Nothing, Cochran (as Philip S. Hoffman)

My Boyfriend’s Back, Chuck Bronski (as Philip Hoffman)

Joey Breaker, Wiley McCall

1992
Scent of a Woman, George Willis, Jr. (as Philip S. Hoffman)

Leap of Faith, Matt

My New Gun, Chris

1991
Triple Bogey on a Par Five Hole, Klutch (as Phil Hoffman)

Law & Order (TV Series), Steven Hanauer
– The Violence of Summer (1991) … Steven Hanauer (as Philip Hoffman)

THEATRE

Broadway

2012
Death of a Salesman [Broadway] Broadway Revival Willy Loman

2007
Jack Goes Boating [Off-Broadway] Jack

2003
Long Day’s Journey Into Night [Broadway] Broadway Revival, 2003 James Tyrone, Jr.

2001
The Seagull [Off-Broadway] Konstantin

2000
True West [Broadway] Broadway Revival, Austin, Lee

1999
The Author’s Voice & Imagining Brad [Off-Broadway] Performer

1998
Shopping and Fucking [Off-Broadway] Mark

1997
Defying Gravity [Off-Broadway] C.B.

1996
The Skriker [Off-Broadway] RawHeadAndBloodyBones

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