Actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, who won an Academy Award for the film «Capote,» was found dead in his New York City apartment in what a 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 Service workers declared him dead on the scene, the New York City Police Department said in a statement. An investigation was ongoing.
The New York Times, citing a law enforcement official, said investigators found a syringe in Hoffman’s arm and an envelope containing what was believed to be heroin.
A police department source 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 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.
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 the movie about the porn industry that helped make Mark Wahlberg a star.
Soruce: Buenos Aires Herald