Philip Seymour Hoffman, Oscar-Winning Actor, Found Dead in NY Apartment

Photo Credit: The Washington Post Philip Seymour Hoffman, the stage and screen actor who progressed from scene-stealing supporting roles to an Oscar-winning portrayal of writer Truman Capote in “Capote,” has died. He was 46.

Mr. Hoffman was found dead in his apartment in Lower Manhattan shortly before noon Sunday, and his death is being investigated as a possible drug overdose, said Detective James Duffy, a spokesman for the New York Police Department. The New York City medical examiner’s office is expected to perform an autopsy as early as Monday, and that examination will include a toxicology report.

Police said they received a 911 call about 11:36 a.m. Sunday. When they arrived at the apartment, they found Mr. Hoffman unconscious and unresponsive on the floor of a bathroom. According to an unnamed police official who was not authorized to comment publicly, Mr. Hoffman was found with a needle in his arm and several bags of what appeared to be heroin. The official said Mr. Hoffman was supposed to meet a colleague Sunday morning and did not show. An associate went to his home and found him there. Police were still at the scene Sunday afternoon.

In interviews, Mr. Hoffman acknowledged a history of drug abuse.

“I got sober when I was 22 years old” and went into a drug rehabilitation program at the time, Mr. Hoffman told CBS’s “60 Minutes” in 2006. Asked whether he abused drugs or alcohol, Mr. Hoffman said: “It was all that stuff. Yeah. It was anything I could get my hands on. Yeah. I liked it all.”