I know Hunger Games fans are intense, but…
When I heard he had died, I think my first thought was “Let it be a heart attack, not suicide or a drug overdose. It’s so much easier on the family if it’s a heart attack.”
I’m sure his family and friends will wonder if there was anything else they could have done and be tormented with the idea.
So sad.
Police are saying that he was found with 50 bags of heroin. Is there any reasonable possibility that such an amount is appropriate for personal use, or does this suggest that he may have been dealing?
People who are habituated to opiates can take amounts that would literally kill an elephant. I have no idea if PSH had that kind of tolerance. And “50 bags” isn’t exactly a precise amount.
He was wealthy from movies. I’d suspect it was a load for personal use.
Or he was going to invite a bunch of friends to a heroin party.
Given the stories about him recently getting out of rehab, it’s possible that he had that sort of tolerance, lost it, and then started using again in the same amounts he did before he sobered up.
It occurs to me that Gene Hackman is a similar sort of actor (and also one of the greats).
Cops found a whole pile of prescription pills also. Enough to fill a small pharmacy.
- Clonidine hydrochloride (a blood-pressure medication).
- Buprenorphine (an addiction treatment drug).
- Vyvanse (used to treat attention-deficit disorder).
- Hydroxyzine (to treat anxiety).
- Methocarbamol (a muscle relaxer).
And of course 70 bags of heroin
Read more here: NYPD hunting for Hoffman’s heroin dealer
He was absolutely brilliant in Magnolia.
that only makes it sooooo much easier, no one would think it strange, just sad, or perhaps expected.
Also he was brilliant in Along Came Polly. Cringeworthy character in a funny way but he was great. I laugh when I think of him trying to play basketball “Let it rain!!” and he misses by a mile. And one of the great tiny details in a movie – he sprawls out on the couch with his legs spread out, wearing heather gray athletic shorts and inevitably, perfectly, they’re coming apart a tiny bit where all the seams meet. I like to think he had a hand in that idea. 
But otherwise I am crushed. He was absolutely my favorite actor and I will miss everything he could have done. His poor kids. My friend told me when we were at their house for the Superbowl and another friend’s boyfriend who didn’t know who he was said “Ah, he’s dead. Hey, don’t pick up heroin”. Well, yeah, but take a moment to acknowledge it’s sad, don’t jump right to fuck him, he did it to himself.
[slight hijack]
It’s not a disease.
Calling it a disease makes people feel like it “isn’t their fault”.
Being an addict is not something that happens unless you expose yourself to something and your body/brain says you can’t live without another “fix.” Whether it be gambling, drugs, sex, or whatever, the addiction is real, but calling it a disease removes responsibility away from the addict and puts it on some mysterious, uncontrollable genetic trigger that absolves the addict from the responsibility of their dangerous and selfish behavior.
Sorry, i didn’t mean to hijack this thread and i know there is a better place for this, but I just get so frustrated when people call addiction a disease.
Someone didn’t sneeze on PSH and make him a heroin addict. He did that all by himself. He could have been in a room full of heroin and heroin addicts shooting up, and he would have been just fine. When he decided to put that drug in his body (by himself, not being tied down and forced to ingest it against his will), and continued to do it, he created his own problem. Calling it a disease is not fair to the countless diseases out there that are real.
This is a sad death, but he didn’t die from ALS or cancer.
[/slight hijack]
As for PSH and his death. Wow, this one surprised me. I had no idea he had a drug problem. He was a guy I loved to hate. He often played roles that were edgy and hard to like, like the priest in Doubt, or the preacher in Cold Mountain. I remember hating hin in Scent of a Woman, and he was rather unlikeable in The Talented Mr. Ripley.
However, he was a fine actor, and his performances were almost always memorable. No matter the size of the role, he always seemed to bring his “A” game. He always made me notice him, which always impressed me. His role in Cold Mountain, for example, was rather small, and yet he was excellent. I loved him in Charlie Wilson’s War.
No matter the role, he was always believable and I can’t remember a single role in which he disappointed me. I wasn’t crazy about Pirate Radio, but that entire movie didn’t work for me. Loved him in Charlie Wilson’s War, Capote, Doubt, The Talented Mr. Ripley and Cold Mountain, among others.
He will be missed. A rare talent.
If this was Hoffman’s acting troupe, my friend was also among the group and Hoffman was often instrumental in getting my friend various roles. He told me recently (Thanksgiving) that Hoffman had resumed drinking and become prone to behaving a bit loopy when they interacted. Hoffman was developing a show for a pay cable channel about a debauched advertising executive with Hoffman playing lead (my friend was to be cast as another regular) and the show was interspersed with the ad exec’s wild dreams. From my friend’s description – and he is talented and thus paints a great picture – it sounded hysterical. The pilot was gettng jerked around by station reps, but it’s scrapped now, of course. 
I have read about more than one addict saying that even though they may not be addicted to alcohol, they are more prone to returning to addictive substances while drinking. I wonder if this is what did in Hoffman. (I am not an addiction expert – except when it comes to my own).
Doubt - Doubt (8/10) Movie CLIP - What Have I Done? (2008) HD - YouTube
A magnificent film with magnificent actors.
In an interview on NPR’s “Fresh Air” in 1999, Hoffman mentioned he had a problem with substance abuse when he was in his early 20s. However, I didn’t recall hearing anything about any problems until a couple years ago when he checked himself into rehab for heroin addiction and that was a bit of a suprise since he didn’t display any of the usual signs people associate with a celebrity addict (e.g…, bizarre public behavior, incoherent interviews, clashes with the law, getting fired from movies and plays, etc.). What I did notice though is that he’d been looking a lot older. The guy was two years younger than me but he already looked like he was in his late 50s.
Had I ever bothered to do anything that would have been worth making a major motion picture about, he would have been my first pick to play me. Really good actor, looked enough like me that it wouldn’t be a total stretch.
Funny you should mention that. My wife and I both over-shot his age by 10 years. We both guessed late 50’s also.
He was younger than me, too. Now there’s a daunting thought.
Not a bad comparison. I see your point.
I agree completely. Addiction is a symptom of a deeper underlying problem, not a disease unto itself. Drying out in rehab is only a band-aid. It doesn’t make the underlying problem go away.