In what appears to be an apparent drug overdose. More as the story develops.
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Oscar-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman was found dead of an apparent drug overdose inside a Greenwich Village home on Sunday, according to a police spokesperson.
Hoffman’s body was found by a friend at 11:30 a.m. Sunday morning in an apartment at 35 Bethune St., sources said.
Police are at the scene and are investigating, sources said.
Hoffman has admittedly struggled with drug addiction in the past, and reportedly checked himself into rehab last year for heroin abuse. The New York Post is reporting a source said Hoffman was found alone with a needle in his arm and an envelope containing what is believed to be heroin in the bathroom of his apartment, the official said.
Born on July 23, 1967, in Fairport, N.Y., outside Rochester, Hoffman made his screen debut in a 1991 episode of Law & Order.
Hoffman was nominated for his supporting work in Charlie Wilson's War (2007), Doubt (2008) and The Master (2012). He received Tony Award nominations for True West (2000), Long Day's Journey Into Night (2003) and, as Willy Loman, in Death of a Salesman (2012).
Hoffman appeared as Plutarch Heavensbee in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013) and continued in the series with The Hunger Games: Mockingjay -- Part 1, now in postproduction. He also has appeared in The Big Lebowski (1998), Patch Adams (1998), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Cold Mountain (2003), Synecdoche, New York (2008), Jack Goes Boating (2010) and Moneyball (2011). Showtime recently picked up his series Happyish (formerly Trending Down) in which Hoffman stars as 42-year-old whose new bosses are half his age.
Mr. Hoffman won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in the 2005 film “Capote,” in which he portrayed the writer Truman Capote.
He is also survived by his young children Tallulah, Cooper and Willa, whom he had with his longtime partner, costume designer Mimi O'Donnell.
In a weird and tragic twist Hoffman had been the subject of a recent death hoax late last week. The hoax was confirmed as false and reports of his death today are now being confirmed as accurate.
MEDIAMASS is responsible for the hoax reports. They often do this when celebrities die in an effort to mess with the media.
So many of us are saddened by this tragic news. Hoffman was loved for his ability to take on the persona of his characters. In a September 2005 interview with NPR, Hoffman talked about preparing to play larger-than-life author Truman Capote.
"You know, you can do the research," he said. "You can read everything you need to read. You can talk to the people you can talk to, to illuminate things to you. You can get, you know, videotapes, audiotapes, all those things, and I had all those things at my disposal, and I would have all those things and I'd be alone in a room, and I would force myself to be alone in that room with those things for an hour or two every day."
A large crowd is gathering outside the apartment holding a vigil in his honor.