Dustin Hoffman

Thu 19th Feb - 7:00PM

In the 60s, his quirky looks singled him out from previous generations of dashing leading men. Roles in The Graduate, Midnight Cowboy and Marathon Man put him into the limelight.

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Dustin Hoffman
born: 08-08-1937
birth place: Los Angeles, USA

Hoffman was born to Lillian Gold, a jazz pianist, and Harry Hoffman, who worked as a prop supervisor/set decorator. His brother, Ronald, is a lawyer and economist.

Prior to making his ‘big break’, Hoffman worked as an attendant in a psychiatric hospital, a waiter, a dishwasher, a typist, a Times Square headline crier during a newspaper strike, and as a toy salesman at Macy's department store.

However, he didn’t have long to wait for his first major movie role. He played the part of Benjamin Braddock in 'The Graduate' in 1967, a memorable performance which brought him his first Oscar nomination.

Two years later Hoffman earned his second Best Actor nomination for his performance in Midnight Cowboy (1969) alongside Jon Voight. As street hustler Ratso Rizzo, Hoffman showed the kind of versatile acting ability that would continue to shine throughout his legendary career.

The 1970's brought the young Hoffman many more diverse roles that would keep the critics at bay. These included Straw Dogs (1971), Papillion (1973), Lenny (1974), which handed Hoffman his third Oscar nomination, All the President's Men (1976) and Marathon Man (1976).

He actually won his first Oscar in 1980, for his role in 'Kramer vs Kramer'. Directed by Robert Benton, Hoffman played workaholic Ted Kramer whose wife, played by Meryl Streep, unexpectedly leaves him and he has to raise their son alone. Ted is forced to juggle his priorities: success in advertising and single parenthood. In traditional feel-good fashion, he comes to see what's truly important and finds himself growing up far too late. When his ex-wife returns to reclaim their child, he finds everything he's fixed breaking all over again.

Next up was Tootsie (1982), yet another Oscar-nominated part. Here he delivers a brilliant performance as an out-of-work actor, Michael Dorsey, who resorts to drag to win a role. The film was particularly notorious for the on set battles between director Sidney Pollack and Hoffman, which was later translated onscreen when Hoffman persisted that Pollack should play Dorsey's agent. Pollack credited both Hoffman and this film for building a second career as an actor.

His Oscar success was repeated eight years later by a second Academy award for his portrayal of an autistic man in 'Rain Man'. Barry Levinson’s production was hailed by many as one of the most objective, unsentimental portraits of a handicapped person in American cinema.

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