Hoffman's family planning private funeral

A private funeral service in New York is being planned for Friday for the family and close friends of the late actor Philip Seymour Hoffman.

Hoffman's publicist, Karen Samfilippo, said on Wednesday that plans were also under way for a memorial service later this month, also in New York.

She said that in lieu of flowers, the family requested that donations be made in Hoffman's name to two charities - The DreamYard Project and the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation.

Police are investigating the actor's death as a suspected drug overdose.

Law enforcement officials say that Hoffman was found on Sunday with a needle in his arm and that tests found heroin in samples from at least 50 packets in his Manhattan apartment.