Philip Seymour Hoffman Found Dead in Apartment

On Sunday, February 2, 2014, Philip Seymour Hoffman was found dead in his NYC apartment. The cause of death was an apparent overdose of heroin, a substance which he had quite a history with. 

A friend found his body in the apartment and phoned police. Hoffman was alone in his bathroom when he was discovered with a heroin-filled needle in his arm, law enforcement sources said. The police responded to the 46-year-old's apartment in the West Village shortly after 11 a.m., police sources told FoxNews.com.

One police source told FoxNews.com that authorities are investigating whether Hoffman received a more potent type of heroin that's being blamed for numerous deaths over the past two weeks, first in the Pittsburgh area and later along the east coast. The substance combines heroin and fentanyl, an opiate used to soothe the pain of cancer patients, and is being blamed for dozens of deaths across the country, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

By Sunday night, nearly 100 reporters and photographers had congregated outside Hoffman's apartment, and a well-wisher had left flowers in the actor's memory. New York police officers debated whether to block the body from waiting photographers as it was wheeled out of the building.

Hoffman was one of the most admired actors around and was renowned for many stellar performances. perhaps the most ambitious and widely admired American actor of his generation, who gave three-dimensional nuance to a wide range of sidekicks, villains and leading men on screen and embraced some of the theater’s most burdensome roles on Broadway.

History reveals that he had gone to great lengths to curb his addiction to drugs and alcohol including several stints in rehab. However, what caused him to relapse remains unknown. The world is deeply saddened by this loss to one of the film industry’s greats and he will certainly be remembered by generations to come.