Philip Seymour Hoffman, one of the leading actors of his generation and an Academy Award winner for “Capote,” has been found dead at his Manhattan apartment.
Police believe he was victim of an apparent drug overdose.
Hoffman, 46, was discovered with a syringe in his arm and two small bags of suspected heroin were found in his home.
Hoffman, who is survived by three children with his partner
Mimi O’Donnell, had detailed his struggles with substance abuse
in the past.
Tributes have been made by many Hollywood stars.
Kevin Costner said: Philip was a very important actor and really takes his place among the real great actors. It’s a shame, because who knows what he would have been able to do? But we’re left with the legacy of the work he’s done and it all speaks for itself.”
Sentiments shared by Gary Oldman who said: “He had a danger to him, he had a vulnerability to him. I mean, all those qualities that what I think make someone watchable and very special.”
Hoffman, who brought a workmanlike intensity to his roles, often played characters with innate intelligence and logical minds riven by underlying passion.
The blond, thickset actor’s on-screen persona could range from professorial to unkempt, from the aloof intellectual to the everyman.
He appeared in blockbusters such as “Twister” and “The Hunger Games” series. But he was more often associated with the independent film world for his portrayals of often disturbing and complex characters in such films as “Happiness,” in which he played an obscene phone caller, and “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead.”
In one of his last roles, Hoffman appeared in “A Most Wanted Man”, a spy thriller set for release across Europe later this year.
