Another tragic loss for Hollywood - A tribute to Philip Seymour Hoffman

In nearly six years ago, when the circle of Hollywood peers knew of Heath Ledger's death, it was tragic news to all to see this emerging screen legend in Brokeback Mountain to leave so sudden. Although his posthumous Oscar win for The Dark Knight as the Joker really made an everlasting impression for moviegoers to remember him, every one feels sorry for his daughter Matilda to witness such tragedy at only an age of around 3, especially when Heath had a divorce with Michelle Williams. Amidst the Awards season when we honour performances of 2013, it is heartbreaking to see another tragic loss of not only a talented actor, but also one who has always been around with the industry and the audience. He was a father to three with a healthy marriage life, a talented actor in mainly Hollywood as well as in the TV industry and theatre productions, an Oscar Best Actor winner for Capote in 2005 along with other nominations for Best Supporting Actor in his notable works, and he is the one and only one, Philip Seymour Hoffman.

My first memory of Philip in films was rather vague, but the very impression he has created on me is his sneaky interpretation of challenging roles from Truman Capote in Capote for which he won his Oscar Best Actor to Lancaster Dodd in The Master. Whenever he was on screen, you would feel that he was up to something hideous or villainous, yet sometimes he was just playing the surprising opposite. As I had never read the Hunger Games series before, I nearly thought he was evil in the second film The Hunger Games: Catching Fire until the very end. This misjudgement from me clearly showed how brilliant he was in acting and tricking the audience, yet constantly amazed us in the huge variety of roles he did.

His first debut in a major motion picture was Scent of A Woman in 1992 in which Al Pacino won his Oscar Best Actor. His role in this film was rather rebellious and naive, but helped him made a progress in his film career. Director Paul Thomas Anderson has hired him to make brief appearances in Boogie Nights, Magnolia and Punch-Drunk Love. As his style and impression on Hollywood built, he moved on to the difficult roles like playing Truman Capote in a plot where Capote was researching on his famous book In Cold Blood along with the company of Harper Lee who wrote To Kill A Mockingbird played by Catherine Keener. Then he displayed his evil side in Mission Impossible III and until recent years along his major roles in The Master, Charlie Wilson's War, The Savages and Synecdoche, New York, he was still taking up small roles with brief appearances in Moneyball and The Ides of March. These performances were all wonderful and memorable no matter they were big roles or not, all because of Philip's capability and vision as an actor.

Unlike The Dark Knight where Joker's whereabouts was left unknown, it would be hard to find someone else to substitute Philip's role as Plutarch Heavensbee in the upcoming The Hunger Games: Mockingjay. I wish I could have met Philip in person to see how he viewed his acting career, and I think he has demonstrated enough in whatever small way. He was 46 and he will be remembered. Rest in peace, Philip.