Actor Philip Seymour Hoffman Remembered Through His Films, Quotes and Photos.

above photo by Mark Abrahams

All of a sudden my blogging about Super Bowl spots seems so shallow and insignificant. That's because we lost one of the greatest actors of all time this Sunday Morning.



above: Philip Seymour Hoffman at the 2014 Sundance Film festival in a tintype photo by Victoria Will for Esquire Magazine

Now I'm not one who gets 'crushes' on movie stars, nor do I pretend to know them based on my knowledge of their films or the gossip I have read in magazines. But I truly had a great respect for Philip Seymour Hoffman, whose passing leaves me saddened and empty. Found with a needle in his arm in his West Village apartment by a friend at 11:30 am this morning, it seems he has lost his battle with drugs. After 23 years clean, he fell off the wagon a year ago, did ten days in rehab in May of 2013, but apparently heroin got the best of him. Numerous news reports will follow, details will emerge, but it doesn't change the fact that his superb talent is no longer, denying us future performances.

Having won an Oscar in 2006 for his amazing 2005 turn as the lead role in 'Capote,'  he also boasts memorable performances (worth seeing if you have not) in such films as The Master, The Savages, Doubt, Moneyball, Before The Devil Knows You're Dead, Charlie Wilson's War, Boogie Nights, Almost Famous, Magnolia, Happiness, The Talented Mr. Ripley and The Big Lebowski.

In this small tribute to the actor which could never do his talent justice, I am sharing with you many of my favorite portraits of him, personal quotes of his, a full filmography, his honors, awards and a short bio.


above portrait of Philip Seymour Hoffman as Truman Capote by Nigel Parry

On playing Capote, Philip said "I knew that it would be great, but I still took the role kicking and screaming. Playing Capote took a lot of concentration. I prepared for four and a half months. I read and listened to his voice and watched videos of him on TV. Sometimes being an actor is like being some kind of detective where you're on the search for a secret that will unlock the character. With Capote, the part required me to be a little unbalanced, and that wasn't really good for my mental health. It was also a technically difficult part. Because I was holding my body in a way it doesn't want to be held and because I was speaking in a voice that my vocal cords did not want to do, I had to stay in character all day. Otherwise, I would give my body the chance to bail on me."


above portrait of Philip Seymour Hoffman by Miller Mobley

On quitting drinking at age 22, Philip said "I think I would have drank myself to death, literally, if I didn't just stop, once and for all when I did. I am not ever going to preach to anyone about drugs or drinking. But, for me, when they were around, I had no self control."


above portrait of Philip Seymour Hoffman by Herb Ritts

"Other people disagree with me, but Scent of a Woman really was my breakthrough. I was working in the prepared foods section of a deli when I was cast in that movie, and I've never had a non-acting job since. That's amazing". - Philip Seymour Hoffman


above portrait of Philip Seymour Hoffman by Brigitte Lacombe

"Actors are responsible to the people we play. I don't label or judge. I just play them as honestly and expressively and creatively as I can, in the hope that people who ordinarily turn their heads in disgust instead think, 'What I thought I'd feel about that guy, I don't totally feel right now.' " - Philip Seymour Hoffman on his responsibility as an actor.


above portrait of Philip Seymour Hoffman by Dan Busta

"My favorite thing about acting is being alone and going through the scripts and working on it and getting ideas and asking myself questions, looking outside myself for them and researching and getting to the bottom of something and being creative with it as an actor and how to express it in a creative fashion. That's my favorite part. And, the actual acting of it." - Philip Seymour Hoffman


above portrait of Philip Seymour Hoffman by unknown photographer

"Acting is so difficult for me that, unless the work is of a certain stature in my mind, unless I reach the expectations I have of myself, I'm unhappy. Then it's a miserable existence. I'm putting a piece of myself out there. If it doesn't do anything, I feel so ashamed. I'm afraid I'll be the kind of actor who thought he would make a difference and didn't. Right now, though, I feel like I made a little bit of difference." - Philip Seymour Hoffman


above portrait of Philip Seymour Hoffman by Christopher Wahl

"Study, find all the good teachers and study with them, get involved in acting to act, not to be famous or for the money. Do plays. It's not worth it if you are just in it for the money. You have to love it." - On his advice to aspiring actors.


above portrait of Philip Seymour Hoffman by Inez van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin

I don't think most people knew of his enormous body of work, playing both comedic and dramatic roles, voiceovers and more. I am devastated by the fact that he will not be able to bring us more on-screen joy but am thrilled that he has left behind a legacy of movies that will continue to entertain for decades.


above: his incredible range can be illustrated by his roles in Boogie Nights (above left) to Doubt (above right)

Here are his films in chronological order from most recent:

Presently in post production
• TV series (Happyish) and
• The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1

2014
• God's Pocket
• Recently wrapped: A Most Wanted Man
• Recently wrapped: Günther Bachmann

2013
•The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (Plutarch Heavensbee)

2012
• Back Beyond (Video short in which he played Lancaster Dodd)
• A Late Quartet (Robert Gelbart)
• The Master (Lancaster Dodd)

2011
• Moneyball (Art Howe)
• The Ides of March (Paul Zara)
• A Child's Garden of Poetry (TV Movie) (voice)

2010
• Jack Goes Boating (Jack)
• Arthur (TV Series playing Will Toffman)
• No Acting Please/Prunella Deegan and the Disappointing Ending (2009) ... Will Toffman (voice)
• The Invention of Lying (Jim the Bartender)
• Pirate Radio (The Count)
• Mary and Max - Max Jerry Horovitz (voice)

2008
• Doubt (Father Brendan Flynn)
• Synecdoche, New York (Caden Cotard)

2007
• Charlie Wilson's War (Gust Avrakotos)
• Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (Andy)
• The Savages (Jon Savage)

2006
• Mission: Impossible III (Owen Davian)

2005
• Capote (Truman Capote)
• Empire Falls (TV Movie playing Charlie Mayne)
• Strangers with Candy (Henry)

2004
• Along Came Polly (Sandy Lyle)

2003
• Cold Mountain (Reverend Veasey)
• Mattress Man Commercial (Video short playing Dean Trumbell)
• Owning Mahowny (Dan Mahowny)

2002
• 25th Hour (Jacob Elinsky)
• Red Dragon (Freddy Lounds)
• Punch-Drunk Love (Dean Trumbell)
• Love Liza (Wilson Joel)
• Almost Famous (Lester Bangs)

2000
• State and Main (Joseph Turner White)

1999
• The Talented Mr. Ripley (Freddie Miles)
• Magnolia (Phil Parma)
• Flawless (Rusty)

1998
• Patch Adams (Mitch)
• Happiness (Allen)
• The Big Lebowski (Brandt)
• Next Stop Wonderland (Sean)
• Montana (Duncan)

1997
• Liberty! The American Revolution (TV Mini-Series)
- The Times That Try Men's Souls: 1776-1777 (1997) ... Joseph Plumb Martin
- Oh, Fatal Ambition: 1777-1778 (1997) ... Joseph Plumb Martin
- The Reluctant Revolutionaries: 1763-1774 (1997) ... Joseph Plumb Martin
- Blows Must Decide: 1774-1776 (1997) ... Joseph Plumb Martin
• Culture (Short in which played Bill)
• Boogie Nights (Scotty J.)
• Twister (Dustin Davis)

1996
• Hard Eight Young Craps Player (as Phillip Seymour Hoffman)

1995
• The Fifteen Minute Hamlet (Short in which he played Bernardo / Horatio / Laertes )

1994
• Nobody's Fool (Officer Raymer)
• When a Man Loves a Woman (Gary)
• The Yearling (TV Movie, played Buck)
• Szuler (Martin)
• The Getaway (Frank Hansen)

1993
• Money for Nothing (Cochran)
• My Boyfriend's Back (Chuck Bronski)
• Joey Breaker (Wiley McCall)

1992
• Scent of a Woman ( he played bartender George Willis, Jr. and claims this as his 'breakout' role)
• Leap of Faith (Matt)
• My New Gun (Chris)

1991
• Triple Bogey on a Par Five Hole (Klutch)
• Law & Order (TV Series)

Some of his awards, nominations and honors:




to see a complete list of awards and honors, go here



IMDb Mini Biography By: Jon C. Hopwoo:
Film and stage actor and theater director Philip Seymour Hoffman was born in the Rochester, New York, suburb of Fairport on July 23, 1967. After becoming involved in high school theatrics, he attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, graduating with a B.F.A. degree in Drama in 1989. He made his feature film debut in the indie production Triple Bogey on a Par Five Hole (1991) as Phil Hoffman, and his first role in a major release came the next year in My New Gun (1992). While he had supporting roles in some other major productions, his breakthrough role came in Paul Thomas Anderson's Boogie Nights (1997). He quickly became an icon of indie cinema, establishing a reputation as one of the screen's finest actors, in a variety of supporting and second leads in indie and major features, including Todd Solondz's Happiness (1998), Flawless (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Paul Thomas Anderson's Magnolia (1999), Almost Famous (2000) and State and Main (2000). He also appeared in supporting roles in such mainstream, big-budget features as Red Dragon (2002), Cold Mountain (2003) and the upcoming Mission: Impossible III (2006).

Hoffman is also quite active on the stage. On Broadway, he has earned two Tony nominations, as Best Actor (Play) in 2000 for a revival of Sam Shepard's "True West" and as Best Actor (Featured Role - Play) in 2003 for a revival of Eugene O'Neill (I)'s "Long Day's Journey into Night". His other acting credits in the New York theater include "The Seagull" (directed by Mike Nichols for The New York Shakespeare Festival), "Defying Gravity", "The Merchant of Venice" (directed by Peter Sellars), "Shopping and F*@%ing" and "The Author's Voice" (Drama Desk nomination). He is the Co-Artistic Director of the LAByrinth Theater Company in New York, for which he directed "Our Lady of 121st Street" by Stephen Adly Guirgis. He also has directed "In Arabia, We'd All Be Kings" and "Jesus Hopped the A Train" by Guirgis for LAByrinth, and "The Glory of Living" by Rebecca Gilman at the Manhattan Class Company.

Hoffman consolidated his reputation as one of the finest actors under the age of 40 with his turn in the title role of Capote (2005), for which he won the Los Angeles Film Critics Award as Best Actor. In 2006, he was awarded the Best Actor Oscar for the same role.

My heart goes out to his family, friends and fans,
Rest in peace, Philip.

Artists Jaime Wardey and Andy Moss Remember Normandy For Peace One Day.

To Celebrate Peace One Day on the 21st of September, British artists Jamie Wardley and Andy Moss (both from Sand In Your Eye) accompanied by numerous volunteers, took to the beaches of Normandy with rakes and stencils in hand to etch thousands of silhouettes representing fallen people into the sand.







The objective was to make a visual representation of 9000 people which equates the number of Civilians, Germans Forces and Allies that died during the D-day landings, 6^th June during WWII as an example of what happens in the absence of peace.








Titled The Fallen 9000, The original team consisted of 60 volunteers, but as word spread nearly 500 additional local residents arrived to help with the temporary installation that lasted only a few hours before being washed away by the tide.

"On Peace Day we quietly and harmoniously drew 9000 people in the sand so that people can understand the loss with their own eyes. This was a quiet day with a very loud statement. The message of the Fallen is now travelling the globe, those people that lost their lives are no longer with us but on Peace Day 21st September 2013 they spoke." - Jaime Wardley

Learn more here

Actor of Screen and Stage, James Gandolfini Dies Far Too Young.

Best remembered as mob boss Tony from seven seasons on "The Sopranos" for which he won three Emmys, actor James Gandolfini has sadly and unexpectedly passed away. The New York Times reports, with confirmation from HBO, that the actor died Wednesday morning in Rome of a massive heart attack while vacationing with his family.


above: Still of James Gandolfini, Steven Van Zandt, Michael Imperioli and Tony Sirico in The Sopranos

The 51 year old New Jersey native was both a superb stage actor (he appeared as Michael in God of Carnage on and off Broadway) and screen actor who helped to make HBO Sunday Nights an occasion in homes worldwide.

His loss will be felt by family, friends and fans alike.

The Disco Queen's Reign Has Ended. Donna Summer Has Danced Her Last Dance.

The Queen of Disco, Donna Summer, has died at the age of 63 after a battle with lung cancer. Known for such pulsing anthems as "Last Dance," ''Love to Love You Baby" and "Bad Girls," Donna's songs became the soundtrack for a glittery age of sex, drugs, dance and flashy clothes.

Her family released a statement saying Summer died Thursday morning and that they "are at peace celebrating her extraordinary life and her continued legacy."





Donna Summer Downloads, Albums and CDs

You will be missed. We loved to love you, baby.

UPDATED: A Look At the 9/11 Memorial, Museum and Monument Designs at Ground Zero.

above: aerial view rendering of the 9/11 Memorial

above: one of the two 9/11 Memorial bronze name-etched reflecting pools in the foreground and the 9/11 Museum Pavilion entry in the background

Today, on the 10th anniversary of the tragic terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centers' twin towers and the Pentagon, there will be several memorials taking place as we honor the victims with moments of silence and reflection.

Below, President Obama, President Bush and their wives visit the Reflections of Absence this morning:


above photo by Robert Deutsch-Pool/Getty Images

The 9/11 Memorial will be dedicated on September 11, 2011 (today) in a special ceremony for victims’ families. Therefore, it is fitting that today I share with you photos, renderings, images and information about the 9/11 Memorial; its monuments, plaza and museum at the site of Ground Zero.


above photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

above photo AFP PHOTO/POOL/Justin Lane


Reflecting Absence



above: Water Falls in the Memorial North Pool (Photo by Joe Woolhead)

The 9/11 Memorial by Michael Arad (formally named "Reflecting Absence") is located at the site of the former World Trade Center complex, and occupies approximately half of the 16-acre site. The memorial features two enormous waterfalls and reflecting pools, each about an acre in size, set within the footprints of the original twin towers.



above: an aerial renderings of 9/11 Memorial Plaza and site


above: a cross-section of the Memorial Plaza and the Museum Pavilion and interior

above and below: rendering of the Bronze Names Parapets




above: a birdseye view of the 911 Memorial Monuments at night

The 2,983 names
The 2,983 names of the men, women, and children killed in the attacks of September 11, 2001 and February 26, 1993, are inscribed into bronze parapets surrounding the twin Memorial pools, located in the footprints of the Twin Towers.



Every name has a code containing N for North Pool or S for South Pool, followed by a panel number that locates it on one of the Memorial Pools.



Names are placed within nine primary groups.


Around the North Pool:
World Trade Center North
Flight 11
February 26, 1993

Around the South Pool:
World Trade Center South
First Responders
Flight 175
Pentagon
Flight 77
Flight 93

Requested adjacencies within these groups:
Names are arranged by affiliation, so that the employees of a company or the crew of a flight are together. The next-of-kin of the victims and surviving colleagues made additional requests for specific names to be inscribed next to one another. Some requests were between relatives and friends; others were between people who had just met, but who responded together as events unfolded.



This design allows the names of family, friends, and colleagues to be together, as they lived and died. The requested adjacencies reflected on the Memorial make it unique from any other in existence.


above: rendering of interior of the Memorial Hall, a view of the reflecting pools from beneath

You can search for a name on the memorial here.

Memorial Plaza by Peter Walker and Partners

above: With its grove of trees, the Memorial’s plaza is an actual green roof for the structure housing the 9/11 Memorial Museum (May 2011, Photo by Joe Woolhead).

The landscape architecture of Memorial Plaza was designed by Peter Walker and Partners of Berkeley, CA. and is one of the most sustainable, green plazas ever constructed. Its irrigation, storm water and pest management systems will conserve energy, water and other resources.



above: renderings of the 9/11 Museum Plaza

Rainwater will be collected in storage tanks below the plaza surface. A majority of the daily and monthly irrigation requirements will be met by the harvested water.


above: The Survivor Tree Blooms on the Memorial Site (Photo by Amy Dreher)

The Memorial Museum and Entry Pavilion
The Museum’s entry pavilion was designed by the Norwegian architecture firm, Snøhetta and the underground museum exhibit space by Aedas, Museum architects.

The Mission of the Memorial Museum, located at the World Trade Center site, is to bear solemn witness to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 and February 26, 1993.


above: a birdseye rendering of the Museum’s entry pavilion

Visitors to the Memorial Museum will be presented with a sequence of experiences which allow for individual and personal encounters within an overall context of a historical narrative.


above: a rendering of the Museum’s entry pavilion

The nature of the Museum is such that the shell of the space, comprising existing foundations, the slurry wall and other in-situ elements of the site is as much an artifact of 9/11 as the contents of the exhibitions.


above: a rendering of the Museum atrium with Twin Tower "tridents."

Visitors will enter through a pavilion that houses an auditorium for public programming, a multi-purpose area for contemplation and refreshment and a private suite reserved for victims’ family members. Two of the original steel tridents from the Twin Towers will be enclosed within the pavilion’s grand glass atrium, standing as references to the past, while signaling hope for the future.


above: rendering of Memorial Exhibition in the heart of the museum site

Memorial Design Exhibition
The introductory exhibit leads to a gently ramped “ribbon,” toward the core exhibitions at bedrock, the archeological heart of the World Trade Center site.


above: rendering of the interior of the Museum

This descent echoes the ramp that once was used by construction workers to help build the World Trade Center and was again used in the aftermath of the attacks for the recovery and clean-up of the site and by victims’ family members to access bedrock on anniversaries of 9/11.


above: rendering of interactive tables and artifact cases

From the ramp, vistas will be created, providing a sense of the vastness of the site and the scale of the original Towers. Visitors will be able to stand between the locations of the original Twin Towers and experience their scale, which will be referenced by two metal-clad, ethereal volumes. The ramp that will bring visitors to the core Museum exhibitions has already been framed in steel and concrete.


above: rendering of space for remembrances

above: interactive tables and Wall of Faces

The final descent to the base of the site will take visitors alongside the Vesey Street Stair remnant – also known as the “Survivor Stairs,” which was used by hundreds to escape the destruction of the Towers on 9/11.


above: The "Survivor's Staircase" before being moved to the museum

After today's dedication ceremony the 9/11 Memorial will be open to the general public.

This post is in sincere remembrance of those lost in this tragedy. May they rest in peace.

More information can be found here.

some images courtesy of the LMCD and many of the computer renderings in this post were created by Squared Design Lab