The Life and Art of Philip Seymour Hoffman

This ebook — featuring a selection of stories, reviews and interviews from The New York Times archives — focuses on the life and career of the actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, who died at age 46 of an apparent drug overdose in New York in early February 2014. Mr. Hoffman, a gifted actor who was critically acclaimed for his multilayered performances in a wide range of character roles, was nominated four times for the Academy Award, winning the best actor Oscar in 2006 for “Capote.” Throughout his career, he appeared in more than 50 films, including “The Master,” “Doubt,” “Charlie Wilson’s War,” “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead,” “Synecdoche, New York,” “Almost Famous,” “Boogie Nights” as well as Hollywood blockbusters like “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” and “Mission: Impossible III.”
The actor also made his mark on and off Broadway, with major roles in “Death of a Salesman,” “True West” and “Long Day’s Journey Into Night,” and he received three Tony Award nominations. In his review of Mr. Hoffman as Willy Loman in “Death of a Salesman,” Ben Brantley, the theater critic of The Times, said: “That Mr. Hoffman is one of the finest actors of his generation is beyond dispute.”