Philip Seymour Hoffman: The final farewell

Family and close friends bid their final farewells on Friday at a private funeral for actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, whose tragic death of an apparent overdose at the age of 46 robbed the entertainment world of one of its finest talents.

Cate Blanchett, Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore, Michelle Williams, Joaquin Phoenix, Mary Louise Parker and Chris Rock were among the Hollywood stars who attended the service at the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola on Manhattan’s Upper East Side to mourn the death of the Oscar-winning actor.

Blanchett, who spoke at the funeral along with director Paul Thomas Anderson, braved the cold in a long black coat as the hearse bearing Hoffman’s coffin pulled away from the church on Park Avenue.

She declined to comment as tears streamed down her face.

New York director and screenwriter Amos Poe said the funeral “was beautiful, just like Phil”. Many of the actors at the service had worked with Hoffman.

Williams lost her former partner, actor Heath Ledger, to an accidental drug overdose in 2008.

Scores of photographers, camera crews and reporters stood on piles of snow across from the large church, while fans were kept behind a barricade.

“I saw him in Long Day’s Journey Into Night and I thought he showed real genius. I am here paying my respects,” said a tearful Mary Catherine Wright, who lives nearby. “He is remembered by most people for his movie roles, but I think his theater performances were pretty remarkable,” she added.

Hoffman, whose body was discovered in his Greenwich Village apartment, is survived by his long-term partner, Mimi O’Donnell, and their three young children, Cooper, Tallulah and Willa.

A memorial service is planned for later this month.

Phenomenal character actor

Although Hoffman was found with a syringe in his arm, the cause of his death was still undetermined on Friday pending the results of further studies.

Four people were charged with drug offences, possibly connected to the substances found at the actor’s home. The charges against one were subsequently dropped and the other three have denied any involvement.

Hoffman, a best actor Oscar winner for his role in the 2005 biographical film Capote, won accolades for his versatility on the stage and screen.

“He was an old shoe of a guy who could just transform himself,” New York stage actress Noelle McGrath said at an earlier vigil, adding that he was one of the most phenomenal character actors ever.

From his Tony-nominated role as Willy Loman in Arthur Miller’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play Death of a Salesman to complex characters in such films as Happiness, in which he played an obscene phone caller, and Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead, Hoffman transfixed audiences with his talent.

He also earned Tony award nominations for Long Day’s Journey Into Night and True West. On the big screen, the actor appeared in blockbusters such as The Hunger Games series and garnered best supporting actor Oscar nominations for The Master, Doubt and Charlie Wilson’s War.

Although he talked openly about his past struggles with substance abuse, Hoffman’s untimely death was a shock and came just as police spoke of more heroin hitting the streets of New York.

“Unfortunately, our city, like America, has got a continuing, constantly changing narcotics problem,” New York NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton said after a crime commission meeting on Friday. “The issue of heroin, which has been so much referenced in the death of Mr. Hoffman, is appearing to be increasing again,” he added.

Friends and Hollywood stars also paid their respects at a wake on Thursday, and Hoffman was remembered at a candlelight vigil outside the Labyrinth Theater Company in Greenwich Village on Wednesday evening.

He had been a member and a former artistic director of the New York company, which is one of the nation’s leading ensemble theater groups.