Once in a while there’s a talent that is so huge you’re in awe of it and figure you’ll be able to enjoy and marvel at it your entire life. Such was the talent of Oscar winner Philip Seymour Hoffman whose life has ended too soon at 46. The cause: a drug overdose. He was found with a needle hanging out of his arm.

Hoffman was an actor’s actor — someone able to appear totally different in a different role. He was craftsmanship and theatrical artistry in human form. The story was broken by the Wall Street Journal and quickly picked up by news outlets throughout the world because the story is a sad story of someone who was here too briefly. And who is now one more artist whose life ends due to drugs. Here’s some of the coverage and reaction:

The Journal:

—Award-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman was found dead of an apparent drug overdose late Sunday morning in his Manhattan apartment, authorities said.

Law-enforcement officials said a hypodermic needle and two glassine envelopes containing what is believed to be heroin were found in the apartment on Bethune Street in the West Village.

The 46-year-old actor was found unconscious in the bathroom of his fourth-floor apartment in the Pickwick House around 11:15 a.m. by screenwriter David Bar Katz, who called 911, a law-enforcement official said. He was pronounced dead at the scene. “He had a needle sticking out of his arm,” the official said.

Mr. Hoffman was last seen around 8 p.m. Saturday, the official said. He was supposed to pick up his three children—two daughters and a son—from their mother, Mimi O’Donnell, Sunday morning; when he didn’t, Mr. Katz and a friend went to check on him, the official said.

The family of Mr. Hoffman said in a statement released by his manager, “We are devastated by the loss of our beloved Phil and appreciate the outpouring of love and support we have received from everyone.”

Mail Online:

Tragic Oscar winner Philip Seymour Hoffman had separated from his longtime girlfriend Mimi O’Donnell in the months leading up to his death, it can be revealed.

The 46-year-old, who has three elementary-age children with the costume designer, also 46, began renting a $10,000-a-month apartment in Bethune Street in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village in October.

And it was here his body was found today by close friend and playwright David Bar Katz, who had been asked to check up on him by Miss O’Donnell. The actor’s estranged partner was later seen weeping as she entered the property.

…..Mr Hoffman’s last public appearance was at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival in January, where he was promoting his movie, ‘God’s Pocket,’ and also ‘A Most Wanted Man.’

He appeared ‘slightly disheveled and pasty,’ according to the New York Post.

He had a five o’clock shadow, pale complexion and watery eyes, appearing altogether worn out.

He kept some press commitments, posing on the carpet with his Most Wanted co-stars Rachel McAdams and Willem Dafoe, dressed in baggy clothes.

However, he declined a number of interviews, with his representative telling reporters the actor ‘needed a minute and didn’t feel like coming down yet.’

Celebrity reaction is pouring in. Some of it:

The 46-year-old The Hunger Games: Catching Fire actor was found dead of an apparent drug overdose in his New York City apartment early this morning.

Sam Claflin, who plays Finnick Odair in the franchise, was the first of the THG stars to speak out, writing: “PSH – I am genuinely shocked, saddened and speechless.”

Now, other stars such as Steven R. McQueen, Kendall Schmidt, Anna Kendrick, and more are sharing their thoughts.

Click inside to read celebrity reactions to Philip Seymour Hoffman’s death…

Anna Kendrick: Philip Seymour Hoffman. Unbearably, shockingly, deeply sad. Words fail to describe his life and our loss.

Steven R. McQueen: Phillip Seymour Hoffman R.I.P. You were an inspiration to many.

Ashley Madekwe: Saddened by the news of Phillip Seymour Hoffman’s death. An extraordinarily talented actor.”

Kendall Schmidt: Dammit! Lost another great human to drug abuse.. Rest in piece Philip Seymour Hoffman Thank you for all the great art you have left us!

Grant Gustin: Oh my god.. Philip Seymour Hoffman. So terrible. Such an amazingly talented actor. He will be missed.. #rip

Go to the link to read more.

The industry is not only grieving but he has left a bunch of projects with uncertain or incomplete futures, according to The Hollywood Reporter:

Oscar-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman was found dead in New York Sunday morning at the age of 46. The actor, who had been at Sundance just two weeks ago promoting two films, had several other projects for both film and TV on the horizon, including his long-gestating directorial project.

Hoffman, who starred as head gamemaker Plutarch Heavensbee in Lionsgate’s The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, was set to reprise his role in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 1 and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 2. The YA adaptation starring Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson has been filming in Atlanta, with both films being shot back-to-back. At the premiere for Catching Fire, director Francis Lawrence told THR that after the Christmas break they would be shooting for three more months in Atlanta before heading to Europe for two additional months of shooting.

Hoffman had completed his work for Part 1, and had only seven days remaining to shoot on The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 2. Sources say the films’ scheduled release dates of Nov. 21, 2014, and Nov. 20, 2015, respectively, will not be affected by Hoffman’s death.

Hoffman was getting closer to returning to the director’s chair as well (He helmed the 2010 film Jack Goes Boating). On Friday, it was announced that his long-delayed sophomore directorial effort Ezekiel Moss had cast Jake Gyllenhaal and Amy Adams to star.

Exclusive Media had come aboard to handle international rights to the Prohibition-era film, and was planning to launch the project to foreign buyers at Berlin’s upcoming European Film Market. On Sunday, Exclusive announced it would not be bringing the project to Berlin, and producers would be re-grouping to explore the next steps for the film in light of Hoffman’s death.

The Sydney Morning Herald’s Health editor Amy Corderoy notes that his death “is in line with heroine use trends.”

Heroin users do not simply “grow out” of their drug addiction, experts say, with a massive increase in older users occurring in Australia and the US and more people dying of overdose in their 40s and 50s.

Acclaimed US actor Philip Seymour Hoffman was found dead on Sunday afternoon US time (3.30am Monday AEST), after a possible heroin overdose.
The 46-year-old star of stage and screen had apparently battled with mental health and addiction issues since his university years, and last year checked himself into rehab after a relapse in his heroin addiction after being clean for 23 years.

Shane Darke, a professor at the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre at the University of NSW, said the medical community was seeing more and more deaths from heroin among people in their 40s, 50s and even 60s who had cycled in and out of treatment.

“We used to think that people would ‘mature-out’ in their 30s or late 20s, but what we have found now is that … just simply isn’t the case,” he said. “It is a very sticky drug. It’s very addictive; the only drug that is more addictive is nicotine.”
He said his research had found a dramatic increase in the proportion of Australian heroin users aged over 40, from one in 10 in 1996 to one in three in 2010.

SOME BLOG REACTION:

—James Joyner:

A tragic waste.

—Gawker:

Philip Seymour Hoffman is considered one of the greatest actors of his generation, a fact that is sadly confirmed by the outpouring of responses from his peers and admirers in the entertainment community in the wake of his death. After the news broke, they took (where else?) to Twitter to express their thoughts, which range from denial to sadness, and, of source, sympathy to problems with addiction.

It is as clear as it ever was that Hoffman’s work had a profound and lasting effect

–Talk Left:

Hoffman was truly a great actor. Among his memorable performances: “Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead”, “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire”, “Moneyball,” “Capote”, “Almost Famous”, “Boogie Nights”, “Cold Mountain,” “The Talented Mr. Ripley”, “Doubt”, “The Master”, “Synecdoche, New York”, “Charlie Wilson’s War”, “Happiness”, “Ides Of March”, “Scent of a Woman” and “The Big Lebowski.”

Two new films he appeared in premiered recently at Sundance: “A Most Wanted Man” and “God’s Pocket.” Last week Showtime announced he would be in its new series “Happyish,” and he was also scheduled to repeat his role in the next two “Hunger Games” films.

As a writer at Salon says, “A Philip Seymour Hoffman film festival would take weeks, or a month.’

Very sad news indeed.

—Balloon Juice’s John Cole:

There is something in the DNA of men and women like this that just makes them gamblers and livers, and they live hard and burn out way too damned quickly. I’m not trying to glamorize his death in any way, because what he did was just such a stupid and selfish and idiotic thing, and he of all people knew as much, and now there are young kids who will grow up without their dad and a woman who has lost the love of her life. But there is just something about this kind of personality and that god damned smack. I guess Jerry and Lowell George and everyone else in that stupid fucking club decided that they needed some good acting talent, and brought Phillip home, where he will, no doubt, fit in perfectly.

So goddamned sad. Everything he ever touched as an actor was made better.

BTW- he recently did a stint in rehab, and since we really don’t know anything and junkies are total liars, there is no way to know right now if he had been clean since or if he was still chipping to keep regular and just got a strong dose. A lot of relapsing heroin addicts die within a close time period from their latest stint in detox and rehab because their bodies get weaned off the drug, and then when a couple months later when they relapse, they use the amount they were using before and their body just doesn’t have the tolerance it had a few months back, and they overdose.

—Perez Hilton:

Around 11 AM, his personal assistant called 911 when the PA saw Mr. Hoffman’s body, which was fully clothed.

What a horrible thing, all the way around!

The police found heroin in the apartment, which Philip had admittedly struggled with and been to rehab for previously.

Hoffman hadn’t seemed right at the Sundance Film Festival, according to witnesses, and wouldn’t do any interviews.

This is just so, so heartbreaking!

We just wish he’d gotten the help when he needed it!

–Kenneth in the (212)

Sad but not the least bit surprising that the Oscar-winning actor was found dead this morning of an apparent heroin overdose. What’s surprising is how long he was able to be so successful in Hollywood while battling this addiction. He did a lot of great work — “The Talented Mr. Ripley,” “Capote,” “The Savages” — but it was his breakout role as Scotty J in “Boogie Nights” that will stay with me forever. My friend Mark and I still re-enact the scene where he shows Dirk his “new” red car outside the big New Year’s Eve party. RIP, PSH. Didn’t realize we were both born during the Summer of Love, which I know many are feeling for you now.

SOME TWEETS:

JOE GANDELMAN, Editor-In-Chief

Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.

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