February 2, 2014
NEW YORK—Actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, one of the leading actors of his generation, who won an Academy Award for his title role in the film “Capote,” was found dead in his Manhattan apartment on Sunday in what a New York police source described as an apparent drug overdose.
Hoffman, 46, was found unresponsive on the bathroom floor of his Greenwich Village apartment by police responding to an emergency 911 call, and Emergency Medical Serviceworkers declared him dead on the scene, the New York City Police Department said in a statement. An investigation was ongoing.
Philip Seymour Hoffman
(Photo courtesy atlantablackstar.com)
Hoffman spoke in the past of struggling with drugs, including a 2006 interview in which he told CBS he had abused “anything I could get my hands on. I liked it all.”
The actor had completed a detox program for substance abuse, including snorting heroin, in May, according toVariety.
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 on Sunday afternoon.
“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 at this time.
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.