Philip Seymour Hoffman, one of the most admired actors of his generation, died from an apparent drug overdose in an apartment in Manhattan on Sunday morning. He was 46 years old.
Hoffman was thrice nominated for Academy Awards as a supporting actor — as a priest in “Doubt,” a C.I.A agent in “Charlie Wilson’s War,” and as the Hubbard-like leader in “The Master.” That trio of performances could be rearranged to include so many others — as the main character crumbling at the center of “Synecdoche, New York,” or the conflicted and merciless angler in Sidney Lumet’s “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead,” or the heartfelt portrayal of schizo rock critic Lester Bangs, the saving grace of the otherwise lackluster “Almost Famous.” There are so many others, to list them all is beside the point.
As a film actor, he will always be remembered for his Oscar-winning role as the writer Truman Capote in Bennett Miller’s “Capote.” The film told the story behind Capote’s “In Cold Blood,” which began as a series of stories in the New Yorker before being published as a book. “Not only does Mr. Hoffman achieve an impressive physical and vocal transformation,” New York Times critic A.O. Scottwrote of the performance, “but he also conveys, with clarity and subtlety, the complexities of Capote’s temperament.”
I’ll always remember him in the role of Phil Parma, the male nurse caring for the dying Jason Robards, in Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Magnolia.” Watching the film recently, it feels bloated, a whirlwind of ideas and over-the-top characters. But Hoffman’s performance stands out for me because of it’s understatedness, the way he manages to take a minor role and make it the underlying heart of the film. He’s the calm center of the storm that surrounds him.
Hoffman also had an extensive career in the theater, most notably in work with the Labyrinth Theater Company. He would act alongside John C. Riley in Sam Shepard’s “True West” (the actors would switch roles in different performances), and star in two productions directed by Mike Nichols: Anton Chekhov’s “The Seagull,” and most recently as the main character in Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman.”
Earlier this month, Hoffman was at the Sundance Film Festival promoting two films: “God’s Pocket” and “A Most Wanted Man.” Only two weeks ago, Showtime had picked up “Happyish,” a series starring Hoffman, for a full season. To a much younger generation, he appeared in the second film in the “Hunger Games” trilogy, and was set to appear in the third.
He is survived by his longtime partner, Mimi O’Donnell, and their three children. He will be sorely missed.
