Philip Seymour Hoffman overdosed on heroin, cocaine and more

Philip Seymour Hoffman died of an accidental overdose involving a powerful cocktail of drugs, authorities announced Friday.
Heroin, cocaine, benzodiazepines and amphetamine were found in the actor's system, causing "acute drug intoxication," according to the report from New York's Office of Chief Medical Examiner.
Hoffman's body was found Feb. 2 in the bathroom of his New York apartment with a syringe still in his forearm, so confirmation of an overdose wasn't unexpected, though the details shed some further light on the extent of the actor's drug use. Taking heroin with cocaine is known as "speedballing," which also killed stars John Belushi and River Phoenix.

The Oscar-winning actor was remembered at a private funeral held Feb. 7 in Manhattan that was  attended by numerous celebrities, including many actors who'd worked with Hoffman in various films including "The Talented Mr. Ripley," "Doubt," "Boogie Nights," "Capote," "Magnolia" and "The Master."
Hoffman, who at the time of his death was reportedly estranged from Mimi O'Donnell, his partner of 14 years, left behind three children: Willa, 5, Tallulah, 7, and Conner, 10. In his will, drafted before the girls were born, he expressed a desire that his son be brought up in Manhattan, with Chicago and San Francisco as runner-up cities.
In related news, Hoffman's friend David Bar Katz, one of two people who found the actor's body, has settled a libel lawsuit with the National Enquirer, which in the wake of the death ran a false story saying the two men had been lovers and that Katz had watched Hoffman freebase cocaine.
Two days after publishing the story, the Enquirer apologized and withdrew the piece. A "David Katz" allegedly interviewed for the article was not the actual David Bar Katz.
"The issue was never me being outraged at being accused of being gay — we're theater guys, who cares?" Katz told the New York Times. "The issue was lying about the drugs, that I would betray my friend by telling confidences."
Though the amount of the settlement was confidential, the paper said, Katz's newly established American Playwriting Foundation will use the money to award a $45,000 prize annually for an unproduced play — and it's reportedly funded for years to come.

FBI reopens 40-year-old art-heist case at Amherst College

A nearly 40-year-old cold case involving the theft of a valuable work of art from Amherst College has been reopened in the hopes of locating the Dutch Golden Age painting.
The FBI is working with Amherst's Mead Art Museum to locate a work stolen in 1975 from the museum in Massachusetts. The canvas, which dates from the 17th or 18th century, was one of three paintings torn from their frames during a break-in.
Mead Art Museum officials announced this month that they are working with the Boston division of the FBI and the FBI's Art Crime Team to try to solve the case.

The missing work is Jan Baptist Lambrechts' "Interior With Figures Smoking and Drinking." In the years since the theft, officials have recovered the other two pieces: Hendrick Cornelisz van Vliet's "The Interior of the New Church, Delft" and Pieter Lastman's "St. John the Baptist."
In 1989, police in Illinois recovered the paintings by Van Vliet and Lastman during a drug sting. Myles Connor Jr., a notorious bank robber, was arrested for the theft and he later detailed the art heist in his 2009 book "The Art of the Heist."
The missing Lambrechts painting is registered with the National Stolen Art File.

Heath Cummings, the museum's director of security, said in a release this month that after collecting and reviewing old files, news articles and witness recollections, "it is safe to say we have learned all we can about the theft, enough to officially reopen the investigation."
Individuals with any information relating to the theft, or to the location of the painting, should contact the FBI at (617) 742-5533 or online at https://tips.fbi.gov
The missing work is an oil on canvas painting and measures about 22 inches by 19.5 inches.

Rocker Tommy Lee engaged to Sofia Toufa; marriage will be his 4th

Tommy Lee is getting married again: The rocker has popped the question to girlfriend Sofia Toufa.
The founding Motley Crue drummer and Toufa, a Greek-German singer, announced their engagement Monday on Twitter.

"There comes a time in a mans life when you just know your partner is for LIFE!!" the 51-year-old wrote. "Say hello to my fiancé and soon to be wife @SOFIofficial"


Toufa, 30, who goes by the stage name SOFI, cutely dubbed herself "something that rhymes with Beyonce!!!!!"
The bride-and-groom-to-be have been dating since 2009.
It'll be the fourth marriage for Lee, who previously wed Elaine Starchuk, Heather Locklear and Pamela Anderson, with whom he has two sons, Brandon, 17, and Dylan, 16. (Anderson recently remarried ex-husband Rick Salomon.)


Lee was also engaged to Prince's ex-wife Mayte Garcia, but the couple never made it down the aisle.
In January, Motley Crue announced that the band would be splitting up after its final 72-date farewell tour.

Will Jimmy Fallon's 'Tonight Show' be a slam-dunk for movie stars?

As the dominant force in late-night television, Jay Leno's "The Tonight Show" was an essential stop for movie stars flogging their upcoming films. But Monday marked the dawn of a new era for "Tonight," one with Jimmy Fallon at the reins, raising the question of whether the new host will succeed in drawing the same A-list talent as his predecessor.
Like Leno, Fallon has a reputation as something of a softball interviewer, which should suit the Hollywood PR machine just fine. Unlike Leno, however, Fallon isn't a late-night institution, at least not yet, and the simple fact that he's not Leno could mean he'll have to work a bit to land the major movie stars — particularly amid all the competition he now faces from Jimmy Kimmel, Jon Stewart and others. (When Leno took the helm in 1992, the late-night field was of course much thinner.)
How frequently Hollywood's big names pop up on Fallon's "Tonight Show" could come down to whether he can duplicate Leno's ratings success. An average of 11.3-million total viewers tuned in to the premiere Monday, which doesn't match the 14.6 million who watched Leno's last episode but does beat out Conan O'Brien's 2009 "Tonight Show" premiere (9.2 million). Bigger numbers, in turn, are of course more likely to help a studio open a film.

Fallon's guest schedule for his first week is a bit light on big-screen talent, in part because this time of year tends to be a somewhat fallow period for movie releases.
Fallon's first guest was none other than Will Smith, one of the most popular actors on the planet and the star of the upcoming romantic drama "Focus." However, Smith didn't talk up his movie projects, instead chatting with Fallon about snowboarding, Olympic curling and skydiving. His most memorable moment on the show was donning baggy overalls and a printed T-shirt alongside Fallon to demonstrate "The Evolution of Hip-Hop Dancing."
Fallon's other guests this week will include comedian Jerry Seinfeld, comic actress Kristen Wiig, "American Hustle" star Bradley Cooper, First Lady Michelle Obama, funnyman Will Ferrell and singer-actor Justin Timberlake.