Philip Seymour Hoffman Rip

[Ric.ror]

Quite a shock

[emmie]

i agree wholeheartedly, which is why i don't understand those who take recreational drugs, not even cannabis, having seen the problems that it has caused.

[emmie]

you are right, and on principle i see no difference between them, however i do feel sorry for the family that is left picking up the pieces.

[jno]

there has been an outpouring of sympathy from people who did know what he was like.

[emmie]

they couldn't have known him that well, seeing as how he died from a drugs overdose, you are assuming that they knew he had a drug habit, one that would take his life.

[emmie]

most of the Hollywood people who have commented on the news, talk of him being a lovely man, a fine actor and he probably was, his family however are now without a father.

[jno]

it was common knowledge that he'd taken drugs, emmie, he'd admitted it publicly.

[andy-hughes]

divebuddy - "Nobody ever comments about a dead junkie on a council estate. but one from Hollywood always brings an out-pouring of sympathy from people who can't have the faintest idea what he was really like."

I think the reason why PSH's death is news is because he was a talented actor and his death means a loss of that talent.

That is not to say that his death is any more or less important or tragic that anyone else's - but the loss of his talent is a separate issue, and that is what the movie world, and media commentators, are talking about.

On a human level, he was a family man and his wife and children have lost him on a far more important level.

[emmie]

from the BBC

Last year, Hoffman told celebrity news website TMZ that he had sought treatment for drug abuse.

He told the website he had used prescription drugs, and briefly heroin, before seeking help.

[emmie]

he said on another piece that he had battled with the demon of drugs since mid to late 80's, that's a long time, he had been clean for a long while, so why go back to it. It is a sad loss but as been said no one says much about the junkies that die on streets every day, in whatever place you can think of. I feel sorry for families who lose their loved one this way,

[Prudie]

It's very normal to eulogise people after they've died, think of all the funerals you've attended. His friends and the Hollywood scene are not going to knock him at the moment.

[emmie]

they never do, no one comes out and openly says you shouldn't take drugs, it's not about being personal because of one man, but it would seem that it's an acceptable face of celebrity, to take drugs, how many have lost their lives from the the Hollywood set, seems a shame doesn't it, all that money and still not happy.

[jno]

how many have lost their lives from the the Hollywood set

Not that many.

[Prudie]

Possibly not jno but immediately I can think of Heath Ledger, River Phoenix, Brittany Murphy off the top of my head.

[emmie]

actually too many, and not just from the Hollywood type set up, i can think of Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison,
Marilyn Monroe, but this lists lots over the years, many quite surprising.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_drug-related_deaths

[pixie373]

It's "News" because people have heard of him (I haven't), but it's just as tragic as a "junkie on a council estate". No more or less. It's always sad when someone dies prematurely, presumably unintentionally.

[emmie]

Prudie, indeed, those in recent years, Heath Ledger, River Phoenix...