>>No one has said anything about this here. Plenty has been said elsewhere so here we go. No life exists until it is discussed on the UT ;-)
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>>Like many, I was stunned. In articles since his death on Sunday I have learned that he struggled with drugs for years. That was news to me. I knew him only as an actor. One of his contemporaries described him as the greatest actor of his generation and it's hard to disagree with that. He was seldom the lead actor but you always noticed and appreciated him. What I particularly admired was his willingness to live in the character and not act like a movie star. Many of his roles were as cringe-worthy characters. He was fearless.
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>>He was a great man with a fatal weakness. RIP.
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>Did you see Sorkin's piece?
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>"And he said this: “If one of us dies of an overdose, probably 10 people who were about to won’t.” He meant that our deaths would make news and maybe scare someone clean.
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>So it’s in that spirit that I’d like to say this: Phil Hoffman, this kind, decent, magnificent, thunderous actor, who was never outwardly “right” for any role but who completely dominated the real estate upon which every one of his characters walked, did not die from an overdose of heroin — he died from heroin. We should stop implying that if he’d just taken the proper amount then everything would have been fine.
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>He didn’t die because he was partying too hard or because he was depressed — he died because he was an addict on a day of the week with a y in it."
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>http://entertainment.time.com/2014/02/05/aaron-sorkin-philip-seymour-hoffmans-death-saved-10-lives/

The other aspect to this sad story, to which you speak and which cnn.com has finally latched on to, is that his death is only one among many. People OD on heroin all the time. It's only when it happens to a celebrity that it becomes news. I have been looking around for volunteer activities and am going to look in this direction. Maybe I can help save one life.