Another acclaimed film actor has been cut down in his prime. An industry reeling from the premature deaths of Heath Ledger, James Gandolfini and, only a couple of months ago, Paul Walker, must now contend with the loss of Academy Award winner Philip Seymour Hoffman, 46, dead from what is being reported as an apparent drug overdose.
Last seen on the big screen in the 2013 release "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire," Hoffman received an Academy Award for Best Actor for his compelling, fiercely intelligent performance as Truman Capote in "Capote" (2005), a film dramatizing events surrounding the writing of Capote's nonfiction triumph "In Cold Blood." Hoffman was also nominated for Best Supporting Actor for playing a figure inspired by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard in Paul Thomas Anderson's "The Master" (2012). Hoffman's co-stars in the film were the similarly Oscar-nominated Amy Adams and Joaquin Phoenix.
In the space of seven years, Hoffman, who, like Gandolfini, specialized in both leading man and character roles, was nominated for an astounding four Academy Awards, including Best Supporting Actor nods for "Charlie Wilson's War" (2007) and "Doubt" (2008). In the former he played a maverick CIA agent in 1980s Afghanistan opposite Tom Hanks in the title role, in the latter a Roman Catholic priest accused of child sexual abuse opposite Meryl Streep and, again, Amy Adams. The actor also made noteworthy contributions to "Boogie Nights" (1997), "The Big Lebowski" (1998) and "Cold Mountain" (2003).
Hoffman, who was born in 1967 in Fairport, N.Y., near Rochester, attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, and graduated with a BFA in drama. He worked in the New York stage, receiving three Tony nominations, including best actor, for his work in Sam Shepard's "True West," Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman" and Eugene O'Neill's "Long Day's Journey into Night."
He played one of the doomed brothers opposite Ethan Hawke in the great Sidney Lumet's acclaimed, late effort "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead" (2007).
Like Gandolfini and Walter Matthau before them, Hoffman was a leading man in spite of the lack of a leading man's looks. For some of the greats, force of personality and screen presence trump cheekbones, thick locks and dreamy eyes. Hoffman was one of these. With his usual shaggy, gray-blond hair, short beard, easy smile and lumpen face and form, Hoffman, who lived in New York City's Greenwich Village, could be mistaken for a college professor or a bohemian.
What made him and these other actors great leading men was their charisma, magnetism and the way they took command of the screen. In "Capote," Hoffman, who was a big 5 feet, 10 inches, seemed to shrink himself to Capote's famously short, boyish stature. Hoffman will be seen again as the scheming Head Gamemaker Plutarch Heavensbee in "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 1," which is in post- production. It is not clear if he shot footage for "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 2."
At any rate, these vulgar mega-blockbusters are not what he is going to be remembered for. He'll be remembered for "Capote" and "The Master." And for dying long before his time.
Put the internet to work for you.
No comments:
Post a Comment