Philip Seymour Hoffman (1967–2014) was an American actor, director, and producer of film and theater. Best known for his character roles – typically lowlifes, bullies, and misfits – Hoffman gained recognition for his supporting work in films like Boogie Nights (1997), Happiness (1998), and The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999). For his portrayal of the author Truman Capote in Capote (2005), he won multiple accolades including the Academy Award for Best Actor. Three more Oscar nominations came for his performances in Charlie Wilson's War (2007), Doubt (2008), and The Master (2012). While he mainly worked in independent films, including The Savages (2007) and Synecdoche, New York (2008), Hoffman also appeared in Hollywood blockbusters, such as Mission: Impossible III (2006) and The Hunger Games (2013–2015). He was also an accomplished theater actor and director: his performances in three Broadway plays all led to Tony Award nominations. Hoffman died in February 2014, of combined drug intoxication, at age 46. He is remembered for his fearlessness in playing reprehensible characters, and for bringing depth and humanity to such roles.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Seymour_Hoffman
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
962:
Pope John XII crowned Otto the Great as Holy Roman Emperor, the first in nearly 40 years. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_I,_Holy_Roman_Emperor
1536:
An expedition to the New World led by Spanish conquistador Pedro de Mendoza founded what is now Buenos Aires, Argentina. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buenos_Aires
1848:
The Mexican–American War ended with the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which gave 1.36 million square kilometres (530,000 sq mi) of Mexican territory known as the Mexican Cession to the United States in exchange for US$15 million. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Guadalupe_Hidalgo
1943:
World War II: The Soviet Red Army captured 91,000 tired and starving German soldiers, ending the Battle of Stalingrad, one of the bloodiest battles in human history. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Stalingrad
1990:
President F.W. de Klerk declared the end of apartheid in South Africa. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apartheid
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
amerce: (transitive) To impose a fine on; to fine. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/amerce
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
On and on and on and on he strode, far out over the sands, singing wildly to the sea, crying to greet the advent of the life that had cried to him. Her image had passed into his soul for ever and no word had broken the holy silence of his ecstasy. Her eyes had called him and his soul had leaped at the call. To live, to err, to fall, to triumph, to recreate life out of life! A wild angel had appeared to him, the angel of mortal youth and beauty, an envoy from the fair courts of life, to throw open before him in an instant of ecstasy the gates of all the ways of error and glory. On and on and on and on! --A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/A_Portrait_of_the_Artist_as_a_Young_Man