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 Hoffman, 46, was discovered unresponsive on the bathroom
floor of his Greenwich Village apartment by police responding to
a 911 call, and Emergency Medical Service workers declared him
dead at the scene, New York City police said in a statement. An
investigation was under way.
A police spokesman said investigators found Hoffman with a
syringe in his arm and recovered two small plastic bags in the
apartment containing a substance suspected of being heroin. A
police department source earlier told Reuters that Hoffman had
died of an apparent drug overdose.
Hoffman, who is survived by three children with his partner Mimi
O'Donnell, had detailed his struggles with substance abuse in
the past.
"We are devastated by the loss of our beloved Phil and
appreciate the outpouring of love and support we have received
from everyone," Hoffman's family said in a statement issued
through his publicist.
"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," it added. A representative said the
family would not make any further statements for now.
Onlookers gathered on Sunday afternoon near Hoffman's apartment
in a four-story red brick building in a fashionable neighborhood
of the West Village, where many other actors keep homes. The
entire block was cordoned off by police.
Rachel Melman, a neighbor who described herself as a fan, said
she frequently saw him around the neighborhood.
"I never spoke to him, but I always wanted to," she said, adding
that she would see him sitting on the scaffolding of the
building, often dressed in socks and no shoes, "just reading and
hanging out there.
"Of course I'm sad. It was such a shocker," she said.
CNN, citing a law enforcement official, reported that Hoffman
was last seen alive at 8 p.m. Saturday. He had been expected to
pick up his children on Sunday but failed to show up, prompting
playwright David Katz and another person to go to his apartment,
where they found him dead, CNN said.
Hoffman spoke in the past of struggling with drugs, including a
2006 interview in which he told CBS he had at times abused
"anything I could get my hands on. I liked it all."
His death, if confirmed from an overdose, would recall the 2008
death of actor Heath Ledger, who was found dead in his Manhattan
apartment from a lethal combination of drugs.
Born in upstate New York near Rochester, Hoffman won the Best
Actor Oscar for the 2005 biographical film "Capote," in which he
played writer Truman Capote. He also received three Academy
Award nominations as best supporting actor, for "The Master" in
2013, "Doubt" in 2009 and "Charlie Wilson's War" in 2008.
After more than a dozen earlier roles, Hoffman burst onto the
film scene in 1997's "Boogie Nights," in which he played a
lovelorn gay man in a movie about the porn industry that helped
make Mark Wahlberg a star.
PORTRAYED DISTURBING CHARACTERS
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.
[to top of second column] |
 Hoffman 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 the latter, he played a son who schemes to rob
his parents' jewelry store, resulting in their deaths. Hoffman could
also play nice, as in his portrayal of an angelic nurse in
"Magnolia."
Other noteworthy films included "Moneyball," "The Savages," "Cold
Mountain" and "Scent of a Woman," one of his earliest films, which
garnered its star, Al Pacino, an Oscar.
Lionsgate, the studio behind "The Hunger Games," called Hoffman "one
of the most gifted actors of our generation."
"We're very fortunate that he graced our 'Hunger Games' family.
Losing him in his prime is a tragedy, and we send our deepest
condolences to Philip's family," the studio said in a statement.
Hoffman also frequently appeared on Broadway,
earning Tony award nominations for his role as the main character
Willy Loman in "Death of a Salesman," and for his parts in "Long
Day's Journey Into Night" and "True West."
"If you missed him as Willy Loman, you missed a Willy Loman for all
time," actor Steve Martin said on Twitter on Sunday.
"This is a horrible day for those who worked with Philip," Tom
Hanks, who co-starred with him in "Charlie Wilson's War," said in a
statement. "He was a giant talent. Our hearts are open for his
family."
And British comedian Russell Brand, who has discussed his own
struggles with drug abuse, offered his sympathies to Hoffman's
family on Twitter. "Addiction kills, I hope all who need it have
access to abstinence based recovery," he wrote.
Showtime, the cable television network which had
just ordered a 10-episode comedy, "Happyish," starring Hoffman and
produced by his company, Cooper's Town Productions, mourned the loss
of the talented actor.
"Philip Seymour Hoffman was one of our generation's finest and most
brilliant actors. He was also a gifted comedic talent. It was a
great privilege and pleasure to work with him and we are all
absolutely devastated by this sudden loss," it said.
 Hoffman appeared last month at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah
for the premiere of "A Most Wanted Man," an espionage thriller based
on the John le Carre novel in which he played German spy Gunther
Bachmann.
At the premiere, Hoffman told Reuters that he
connected to Gunther's personality, a man driven by the shame of
previous failure into an obsessive pursuit of capturing terrorists
by any means necessary.
"I think it'd be hard for anyone not to connect with the loneliness.
He's pretty lonely, driven, obsessive guy, unforgiving of himself in
a lot of ways. A lot of traits that a lot of people carry in one
grade or another," Hoffman said.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said via Twitter: "Saddened by Philip
Seymour Hoffman's tragic and untimely passing. Today New York mourns
the loss of one of stage and screen's greats."
(Reporting by Victoria Cavaliere and
Chris Michaud; additional reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis, Piya Sinha
Roy and Mary Milliken in Los Angeles and Angela Moon and Chris
Francescani in New York; editing by Cynthia Johnston, Dan Grebler,
Leslie Adler and Eric Walsh)
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