The death of American film and theatre star Philip Seymour Hoffman was announced today. An Oscar-winner for his lead in Capote, he was only in his mid-forties and leaves a wife and three children, along with a legacy of some of the finest screen acting of his generation. His career began in indie movies, but he credited his supporting role in Scent of a Woman for getting him noticed, as from then on the demand for his scene stealing never abated. Soon after he was in other smaller roles in movies as diverse as horror comedy My Boyfriend's Back to alcoholism drama When a Man Loves a Woman to Paul Newman vehicle Nobody's Fool, but when he took a part in Paul Thomas Anderson's debut Hard Eight he never really looked back.
He and Anderson maintained a partnership which afforded Hoffman the chance to act some of his greatest roles, which meant examples of the best performances around: the lovelorn crewmember in Boogie Nights, the nurse in Magnolia (Hoffman was most proud of that), the gangster on the phone to Adam Sandler in Punch-Drunk Love and the avuncular but sinister cult leader in The Master, their final collaboration.
