Philip Seymour Hoffman (1967-2014)
by Mick LaSalle
They say the graveyards are full of indispensable men, and yet it’s hard not to see the death of Philip Seymour Hoffman as a disaster for motion pictures and for the art of screen acting. To look back on what this consummate American actor accomplished just in the last 15 years is to imagine what he might have done over the next 25 or 30 – except we can’t even have the satisfaction of imagining: Hoffman was always surprising us.
An unprepossessing boy-man caught between types, he started out not looking like anybody or like anything in particular. He turned that into an advantage, by showing he could play everything. His features were raw, his body almost uncouth, and yet he was capable of remarkable delicacy. A real artist, his center was impossible to locate because it was always different, and changing. He could be light or heavy, warm or cold.
What remained consistent was his power of thought, which he brought to bear on all his great work, including, notably, the title role in “Capote,” one of the most astonishing and sublime chameleon performances in American cinema.
There are rare actors such as this – people that audiences want to look at, people audiences can’t help wanting to look at, even if they don’t quite know why. In the case of Hoffman, his opacity was an odd gift – a quality present even in his throwaway performance, such as in “Hunger Games: Catching Fire.” With Hoffman, we never really knew what he was thinking – but we always understood that he was thinking, and that it was something interesting and mesmerizing and slightly out of reach.
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http://blog.sfgate.com/mlasalle/2014/02/02/philip-seymour-hoffman-1967-2014/
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Those are the ages of his kids... the fatherless kids he loved less than drugs
...............
Disease is disease is disease.
Very sad, tragic.... let's find a way to not let this DISEASE take another victim !!!
I didn't know he had children. Tragic for his family and for all who appreciate artistry. 
I am so sad. What an actor....genius.
