OSCAR-WINNING actor Philip Seymour Hoffman has been found dead of an apparent drug overdose – in the bathroom with a hypodermic needle still in his arm – inside a Manhattan home, police say.
A personal assistant found Hoffman’s body in an apartment in the West Village neighbourhood of New York about 11.30am local time (3.30am AEDT), sources told the New York Post.
Cops are at the scene and are investigating, sources said.
Hoffman, 46, has admittedly struggled with drug addiction in the past, and reportedly checked himself into rehab last year for heroin abuse.
Hoffman, who won a Best Actor Oscar for the 2005 film Capote, spent 10 days in a detox facility for heroin use in May last year.
Award winner … Philip Seymour Hoffman had a celebrated career in film and on stage.
At the time, TMZ reported Hoffman had struggled with substance abuse in the past but kicked the habit for 23 years.
His relapse started with prescription pills and escalated to snorting heroin.
Hoffman told TMZ the heroin use lasted about a week before he realised he needed help and checked into a detox facility.
He had credited “a great group of friends and family” for helping him seek treatment to get better.
Oscar recipient … Hoffman accepting his Oscar for his role in Capote. Picture: AP
Hoffman, best best known recently for his role as Plutarch Heavensbee in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, also starred in Moneyball, Doubt and The Big Lebowski.
He is survived by partner Mimi O’Donnell and their three children, son Cooper Alexander, 10, and daughters Tallulah, 7, and Willa, 5.
Hoffman recently attended the premiere of the film A Most Wanted Man during the 2014 Sundance Film Festival.
Frozen actor Josh Gad summed up the feelings of many on Twitter: “My heart is broken, my mind is racing. My idol has died and I am so confused and sad by this tragic loss. RIP”
Star turn… Hoffman as Truman Capote in the 2005 film.
Prodigious talent… Hoffman opposite Joaquin Phoenix in the 2012 movie, The Master. Picture: AP
Basketball fan… The actor at a New York Knicks game at Madison Square Garden in 2010. Actor Matthew Modine is second from left. Picture: Kathy Willens/AP
Source http://www.ebuzztoday.com/
