He’s been my hero since I was 12...

He’s been my hero since I was 12. As an ex-addict that decided to get sober partially due to him dying two days before my Birthday, after I spent an afternoon with him, it hit me hard. My fiancé worked for Downtown Pets in Manhattan, a company known for its celebrity clientele. She frequently saw actors and walked their dogs, and would tell me about it. Everyone from Adam McKay and Will Farrell to Alan Rickman and Ryan Gosling (who she saw save a woman from getting hit by a taxi; panty wetness probably ensued).
One day, we were watching Before the Devil Knows You're Dead and she goes "that's him!" I said "who?" and she proceeded to tell me that Philip Seymour Hoffman, my lifelong hero, was "that actor you love" that [I] she sees every day walking his kids to school when she walks Jake. I. Pulsar believe THAT was the person she was talking about. Jake's owner lived in Will Ferrell's building on West 12th Street, right down the street from Philip and Mimi's apartment. She knows I don't get star-struck, but PSH was on another level for me. She suggested that I come with her to the Village on one of my days off from school to meet him. I never did, until about a year later when she was doing an overnight at Adam McKay's and insisted that I come with her.

I met her in the village and we walked over to West 12th to the building, and she said she had one more walk to finish, and then she'd meet me back here. I kissed her goodbye, and lit up a cigarette out front, figuring I'd just wait for her to be done and chainsmoke. About 2 minutes after she turned the corner, a larger fella with a green long sleeve shirt and cargos walked directly at me and said "Hey, man, can I bum a cigarette?" It was Philip. Seymour. Fucking. Hoffman. I froze, and fumbled for my smokes. I said, quite cringe-inducingly, "they aren't Marb Lights, like you usually smoke, but they're Camels." He laughed and goes: "Wow, thank you, Samantha was right!" In my befuddlement and awkwardness in the moment, I didn't notice my fiancé come around the corner and walk toward us with a huge smile on her face. She had told him about me a few weeks prior and they set it up for me.

Other urls found in this thread:

reddit.com/r/movies/comments/7ut9en/today_marks_4_years_without_philip_seymour/dtnkpe9/
twitter.com/NSFWRedditVideo

She goes "alright babe, have fun I'll be back in about an hour" and left. I stood, still in disbelief, and he goes "Want to grab something to eat?" I'm sure I managed to sputter out a Yes and we walked, bullshitting the whole way, to a Greek spot a few blocks away. We sat on the patio as he ordered almost everything on the menu and we talked about movies, music, Breaking Bad, what I was doing in Grad School, the play he was doing (Death of a Salesman), Samantha, and his kids. We talked about Upstate New York, where we are both from, him Fairport and me Herkimer, and I told him how much I liked Jack Goes Boating (his first, and subsequently only, film he directed) and he told me about the plans he had for his next one.
We had such a great lunch, and when the check came, I went for my wallet and he stopped and gave me the scariest look I've ever seen, and told me not to even think about it. I laughed and he ran to the bathroom. I was standing half in the bar and half in the patio when I see our (awesome) waitress come to clear the table. She picks up the check and looks as though she's about to cry. I ran briskly walked over thinking he might have accidentally forgot to tip or something (actors have been known to innocently forget) and asked "is everything okay? I'm sorry did he accidentally forget to leave you something?" as I quickly grabbed my wallet. She said "No, not at all…oh my god…Phil comes here at least once a week. He knows I'm a single mother and my baby girl has Autism" and she held up three crisp 100 dollar bills. I almost cried. Even if you need anything else to prove that Man is a hero, look no further.
He came out of the bathroom and we meandered back toward his place. He told me how appreciative of his fans, and how dedicated I was. I then told him that he had given me inspiration because I was nursing a pretty heavy painkiller addiction from my back, and he had quit years ago (I didn't know at this time that he had relapsed and would soon be dead less than a year later) and he told me how important it was to get off of them; the people you lose and hurt, my fiancé, etc. He talked more about Death of a Salesman and how he had played that role of Willy Loman in high school. He GUSHED about Andrew Garfield, Finn Witrock, Fran Kranz, and Glenn Fleshler who were all in the play, too. He asked if we wanted to see Death of a Salesman, which, of fucking course I do. He said that there would be two tickets for Samantha and I next Friday (April 2012) at Will Call. We said our goodbyes, as I profusely thanked him and then he said words that I'll never forget: "I'd love to do this again, sometime." I couldn't believe it. He bummed another smoke from me and walked home. I sat in absolute bliss outside waiting for my fiancé to finish work.

Sure enough, that next week there were two, third-row, Center tickets for us as "featured guests of Mr. Hoffman" at the (Ethel) Barrymore Theater in Midtown. We watched the most unbelievable play I've ever seen, and were then wisked into the back wings to meet the cast and say our thank-you's to Philip. That was the last time I ever saw him, and then two days before my birthday, as we were Upstate for a Birthday weekend, I woke up to the most horrifying 31 text messages from friends telling me that Philip Seymour Hoffman, my hero, had overdosed and died. I'll never forget the day I spent with him, and I can't thank him enough for his grace and kindness. I went to get help for my addiction the next week, and I've been sober since.

Here is an Holla Forums gold. You deserve it.

this place is turning into 2008 something awful.

I wish this place would go back in time
so it wouldn't exist :^)

See kids, this is why moral and values are the best things you can get
You might have money, fame, dope, bang any women like OP's fiancee and he himself cleaning your shoes with his tongue along with an army of fags, but if you don't have values, all these will be in vain and you will feel empty until you kick that chair and feel la petite mort

That is a good pic. I like it a lot.

t. salty incel

At least i'm alive and my butt remains untouched, buddy