News

NYU Tisch School of the Arts has established a scholarship in honor of alumnus Philip Seymour Hoffman.

The $50,000 grant will support Tisch drama students who demonstrate financial need, academic merit and artistic talent. Initial funding was provided by James Declan Tobin, an Irish producer who was inspired by spending time with the Hoffman family.

“Philip Seymour Hoffman is one of the greatest actors of our generation,” Tobin said. “This scholarship will inspire Tisch Drama students to follow his enchanted ways on both the screen and the stage, embodying those moments that are so truthfully evocative of the human experience, and give them the opportunity to thrive. Phil was beloved by his peers and his fans and he often expressed gratitude and love to those around him. With this scholarship, I hope to continue Phil’s legacy of warmth and generosity by creating pathways for Tisch Drama students to reach similar heights.

Fade To Black, released 40 years ago today, is a deliciously demented, and surprisingly tragic, slice of meta-cinema. The tale of a much-maligned matinee maniac gone sour, Fade To Black rides a riveting, tour de force star turn from Dennis Christopher into certifiable legend status. This criminally under-seen thriller received a chilly reception upon its initial release (its Rotten Tomatoes rating of 45% among critics is a tremendous injustice) and did not make much of an impact with domestic audiences, but it has garnered something of a cult appreciation in recent years. To wit, Trailers From Hell Guru Adam Rifkin, a man who knows his movies, cited it as one of his favorite movies about movies in an early episode of our podcast The Movies That Made Me.

Tormented film fiend Eric Binford (Christopher), a stock boy for a movie marketing firm in the heart of Hollywood, lives to reference and rewatch classic cinema,...

A stream of mourners continued to show their love and appreciation for Philip Seymour Hoffman at a wake held in New York City Thursday evening. The actor's longtime partner, Mimi O'Donnell; their three young children; and his mother, Marilyn O'Connor, were joined by other family members and dozens of friends, including a number of Hoffman's famous costars, for the viewing at Frank E. Campbell Funeral Home on Madison Avenue. Amy Adams, Joaquin Phoenix, Cate Blanchett, Justin Theroux, Michelle Williams, Ellen Burstyn were among those paying their respects today. Adams, who played Hoffman's fierce wife in The Master, reportedly cried while discussing him during a taping of Inside the Actors...

Actor and director who could imbue the many wretches, prigs and braggarts he played with a wrenching humanity

Philip Seymour Hoffman, who has died aged 46 of a suspected drugs overdose, had three names and 3,000 ways of expressing anxiety. He was a prolific and old-fashioned character actor, which is not a euphemism for "odd" – it means he could nail a part in one punch, summoning the richness of an entire life in the smallest gesture. And, yes, he could also look splendidly odd, with his windbeaten thatch of sandy hair, porcine eyes and a freckled face that would glow puce and glossy with rage. His acting style was immune to the temptations of caricature. His rise in the 1990s coincided with the emergence of a new wave of American film-makers, and his versatile, volatile talent became integral to some of the most original Us cinema of the past 20 years.

He was...

Oscar-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman has passed away at the age of 46, following a suspected drug overdose.

Hoffman was born in Fairport, New York on July 23, 1967. His mother Marilyn O'Connor was also from New York and is a family court judge and lawyer. He was the son of Gordon Stowell Hoffman, a former Xerox executive, and was one of four children.

The actor attended the 1984 Theater School at the New York State Summer School of the Arts and continued to train with acting teacher Alan Langdon following his graduation from Fairport High School.

Hoffman graduated with a drama degree from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts in 1989, but soon checked into rehab struggling with drug and alcohol addiction.

His first professional acting role came in 1991 when he played a defendant in an episode of Law & Order. A year later, he had his film breakthrough in Scent of a Woman,...

He's made his name playing creeps and freaks. Now Philip Seymour Hoffman is directing his first film, Jack Goes Boating – and he's cast himself as the romantic hero. He tells Simon Hattenstone why it's time to stop beating up on himself

You want crippled communication, Philip Seymour Hoffman is your go-to man. You want all-round weirdos – red-faced, obese, heavy-breathing, sweating, self-loathing sickos – Hoffman's your man. There was a time when Masturbation could have been his middle name. Just look at the CV. As well as appearing in many of the best and bleakest movies of the past 15 years (often, unforgettably, for just a couple of minutes), there is a clear pattern. In Todd Solondz's Happiness he is the dysfunctional creep tossing himself off to strangers on the phone and convinced he is the least desirable man in the world. In Boogie Nights, he is a woeful hanger-on in a ginger bob,...

Actor Charles Davis has died at the age of 84.

The Irish-born star passed away on 12 December following a suspected heart attack in Thousand Oaks, California.

Davis began his career on stage in his native Ireland, but was whisked off to New York City when he was spotted by the producers of hit Broadway musical Finian's Rainbow.

The actor subsequently moved to Hollywood and landed roles in 22 movies, including 1953's The Desert Rats with Richard Burton, The Wreck of the Mary Deare in 1959 with Gary Cooper and Charlton Heston, and 1968's Star! with Julie Andrews.

Davis also appeared on more than 100 TV shows throughout his career, including The Twilight Zone, Perry Mason, and Alfred Hitchcock Presents, as well as clocking up more than 1,000 appearances on Broadway.

In the 1950s he became co-owner of the Hollywood School of Drama and The Hollywood Repertory Theater with actor Dan O'Herlihy, and later went on to expand his resume with roles as a writer, director and film producer. He wrote and directed films including Kennedy's Ireland, Thunder Run and The Violent Ones, before he quit the movie business in 1984 to run for Congress, winning the Democratic primary but losing the general election.

In his later years, Davis taught acting classes at the Actors and Singers Studio in Thousand Oaks, which he co-founded with his daughter, singer/actress Maripat Davis.

Davis is survived by his wife of 59 years, actress Marilyn O'Connor, his daughter and a son.