Stars That Went Out Too Soon

Dylan Schnepf ‘14

Staff Writer

Philip Seymour Hoffman, one of the greatest actors of generation X, left this world on Groundhog Day of this year, which is a memory no one wants to relive. Known to his loving fans as PiSH, Hoffman commanded every role that he acquired. His most prestigious role came in 2005’s Capote, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. However, the most outstanding detail of his life was his cause of death. Philip was found in the bathroom of his West Village apartment by his playwright friend David Bar Katz. Medical examiners have not released and official cause of death, but investigators found both heroin and prescription pills on the premises. Philip is survived by his partner, Mimi O’Donnell, and their three children. Hoffman started abusing drugs at 22, been rehabilitated, and relapsed 20 years later.

Hoffman’s death highlights how drug abuse is all too often associated with fame. Philip is no the only troubled star that has passed recently. Cory Monteith of Glee fame combined a lethal mix of alcohol and heroin. Lisa Robin Kelly, who played Laurie Foreman on That ‘70s Show, ended her life by overdosing on multiple drugs. Lastly, Chris Kelly, one half of the hip-hop outfit Kriss Kross, tragically ended his life by a simultaneous overdosing on cocaine and heroin. Certainly these four celebrity deaths barely scratch the surface of all the overdoses and poisonings that that permeate the entertainment industry.

There are several other stars that have gone before them like Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison, who passed way before their time. So it begs the question of which facet of the “Hollywood lifestyle” causes this detriment. Not all stars fall into this trap, but whenever a child star turns out “normal” there is almost an implied applause. Why is it that drug abuse is always just associated with the performing arts? The overused phrases of “they’re just trying to escape” or “she just got in with the wrong crowd” fill the air. But it seems that no one has tried to discover this afore mentioned limbo, or attempted to identify this “wrong crowd”. This, I believe, is the saddest fact of them all.