I'm quite shocked and saddened by the news of Philip Seymour Hoffman's death today. I think he's one of the first actors who has died during my lifetime whose acting I really was a fan of. I made an effort to see his new movies specifically because he was in them, and thought he was probably in the top 20 actors making movies today.

The fact that he died of an apparent drug overdose (rather than a heart attack or other health problem, as I assumed initially) is even more depressing.

I'll always remember him most strongly in the role where I first noticed him: as the butler in The Big Lebowski. His facial expressions cracked me up.