The emergence of Dustin Hoffman in
1967 heralded the arrival of a new era of Hollywood stardom. Diminutive,
wiry and unassuming, he was anything but the usual matinee idol, yet he
quickly distinguished himself among the most popular and celebrated screen
performers of his generation. A notoriously difficult talent famous for
his battles with directors as well as his total immersion in his performances,
Hoffman further battled against stereotypes by accepting roles which cast
him firmly as an antihero, often portraying troubled, even tragic figures
rarely destined for a happy ending. By extension, he broke new ground
for all actors -- not only were stars no longer limited to heroic, larger-than-life
characterizations, but in his wake virtually anyone, regardless of their
seeming physical limitations, could attain success on the big screen.
Born August 8, 1937 in Los Angeles, Hoffman originally
studied to become a doctor, but later focused his attentions on acting,
performing regularly at the Pasadena Playhouse alongside fellow aspirant
Gene Hackman. Upon relocating to New York City, he worked a series of
odd jobs, landing the occasional small television role and later touring
in summer stock. Frustrated by his lack of greater success, Hoffman once
even left acting to teach, but in 1960 he won a role in the off-Broadway
production Yes Is for a Very Young Man. After 1961's A Cook for Mr. General,
however, he continued to struggle, and did not reappear onstage for several
years, in the meantime studying with Lee Strasberg at the Actors' Studio
and becoming a dedicated Method actor. Finally, in 1964 Hoffman appeared
in a string of theatrical projects including productions of Waiting for
Godot and The Dumbwaiter. Two years later he won a Best Actor Obie for
his work in The Journey of the Fifth Horse.
In 1967 Hoffman made his film debut with a tiny role in the feature The
Tiger Makes Out, a similarly brief appearance in Un Dollaro per Sette
Vigliachi followed later that same year, as did a highly-acclaimed turn
in the theatrical farce Eh? It was here that he was first spotted by director
Mike Nichols, who cast him in the lead role in his 1967 black comedy The
Graduate. Though 30 at the time of filming, Hoffman was perfectly cast
as an alienated college student, and his work won him not only an Oscar
nomination but also made him a hugely popular performer with the youth
market. His status as a burgeoning counterculture hero was solidified
thanks to his work in John Schlesinger's 1969 Academy Award winner Midnight
Cowboy, which earned Hoffman a second Oscar bid. While the follow-up,
the romance John and Mary, was a disappointment, in 1970 he starred in
Arthur Penn's Little Big Man, delivering a superb portrayal of an Indian
fighter -- a role which required him to age 100 years.
Directed by his longtime friend Ulu Grosbard, 1971's Who Is Harry Kellerman
and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me? was Hoffman's first
outright failure. He next starred in Sam Peckinpah's harrowing Straw Dogs,
a film which earned harsh criticism during its original release but which,
like much of Peckinpah's work, was later the subject of much favorable
reassessment. In 1973 Hoffman co-starred with Steve McQueen in the prison
drama Papillon, which returned him to the ranks of box-office success
before he starred as the legendary stand-up comedian Lenny Bruce in Bob
Fosse's 1974 biography Lenny, a stunning portrayal which earned him a
third Academy Award nomination. Another real-life figure followed as Hoffman
portrayed Carl Bernstein opposite Robert Redford's Bob Woodward in All
the President's Men, Alan J. Pakula's riveting docudrama on the Watergate
break-in.
Next, Hoffman reteamed with director Schlesinger for 1976's Marathon Man,
which cast him alongside Laurence Olivier and scored another major hit.
The1978 Straight Time, a pet project helmed by Grosbard, was critically
acclaimed but a financial disappointment, and 1979's Agatha pleased neither
audiences nor the media. The 1979 domestic drama Kramer vs. Kramer, on
the other hand, was a major success with both camps, and Hoffman's portrayal
of a divorced father finally earned him an Academy Award on his fourth
attempt at the prize. He also won a Golden Globe, as well as honors from
the New York and Los Angeles critics. Hoffman's next film, the Sydney
Pollack-helmed 1982 comedy Tootsie, was even more successful at the box
office. Starring as an out-of-work actor who dresses in drag to win a
role on a soap opera, he earned yet another Oscar nomination as the film
grossed nearly $100 million during its theatrical release.
After a long absence, Hoffman returned to the stage in 1984 to portray
Willy Loman in a Broadway revival of Death of a Salesman. A year later,
he reprised the performance for a CBS television special, earning an Emmy
and another Golden Globe. He did not return to films until 1987, when
he shared top billing with Warren Beatty in Elaine May's disastrous comedy
Ishtar. In the wake of the big-budget project's chilly audience reception,
any number of films were discussed as a follow-up, but after much debate
Hoffman finally agreed to co-star with Tom Cruise in Barry Levinson's
1988's Rain Man. His performance as a middle-aged autistic won a second
"Best Actor" Oscar, and helped spur the picture to become a
major financial as well as critical success. The following year Hoffman
again turned to Broadway to star as Shylock in a presentation of The Merchant
of Venice, followed by the motion picture Family Business, in which he
starred with Sean Connery and Matthew Broderick.
After making an unbilled and virtually unrecognizable cameo appearance
in Beatty's 1990 comic strip adaptation Dick Tracy, Hoffman starred in
the 1991 crime drama Billy Bathgate, the first in a string of films which
saw his drawing power gradually diminishing throughout the decade. That
same year he starred as Captain Hook opposite Robin Williams' portrayal
of an adult Peter Pan in the Steven Spielberg fantasy Hook, a major disappointment
for all involved; after 1992's Hero proved similarly lackluster, Hoffman
disappeared from the screen for three years. His comeback film, the adventure
tale Outbreak, performed moderately well at the box office, but the follow-up,
Michael Corrente's oft-delayed adaptation of the David Mamet drama American
Buffalo, saw only limited release. Hoffman next joined an ensemble cast
also including Robert De Niro and Brad Pitt in Levinson's 1996 drama Sleepers,
trailed a year later by Costa-Gavras' Mad City, Sphere and Wag the Dog
followed, the latter of which netted Hoffman another Best Actor nomination
for his portrayal of Stanley Motss, a neurotic producer reportedly based
on Robert Evans. In April of 1999, Hoffman was honored by the American
Film Institute in A Tribute to Dustin Hoffman, a televised ceremony in
which he was presented with an AFI Lifetime Achievement Award. ~ Jason
Ankeny, All Movie Guide
Filmography
Lost City, The (2004)
Runaway Jury, The (2003) .... Wendell Rohr
Neverland (2003) .... Charles Frohman
Confidence (2003)
Moonlight Mile (2002) .... Ben Floss
"Liberty's Kids" (2002) TV Series .... Benedict Arnold
There's Only One Paul McCartney (2002) (TV) .... Himself
Orange British Academy Film Awards, The (2002) (TV) .... Himself
Kid Stays In the Picture, The (2002) (uncredited) .... Himself
2001 Blockbuster Entertainment Awards (2001) (TV) .... Presenter
Directors: Wolfgang Petersen, The (2001) (V) .... Himself
Goldwyn (2001) .... Himself/Narrator
Tuesday (2001) (voice)
73rd Annual Academy Awards, The (2001) (TV) (uncredited) .... Himself
Finding the Truth: The Making of 'Kramer vs. Kramer' (2001) (V) .... Himself
AFI's 100 Years, 100 Laughs: America's Funniest Movies (2000) (TV) ....
Himself
Orange British Academy Film Awards, The (2000) (TV) .... Himself
AFI's 100 Years... 100 Stars (1999) (TV) .... Himself
Film-Fest DVD: Issue 1 - Sundance (1999) (V) .... Himself
Shylock (1999) (archive footage) .... Himself/Shylock
Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc, The (1999) .... The Conscience
... aka Joan of Arc (2000) (Australia) (UK)
... aka Jeanne d'Arc (1999/I) (France)
Being John Malkovich (1999) (uncredited) (archive footage) .... Willy
Loman
American Film Institute Salute to Dustin Hoffman, The (1999) (TV) ....
Himself
Devil's Arithmetic, The (1999) (TV) (uncredited) .... Presenter
"30 Years of Billy Connolly" (1998) (mini) TV Series .... Himself
AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies (1998) (TV) .... Himself
70th Annual Academy Awards, The (1998) (TV) (uncredited) .... Himself
(Past Oscar Winner Tribute Sequence)
Sphere (1998) .... Dr. Norman Goodman
Wag the Dog (1997) .... Stanley Motss
Mad City (1997) .... Max Brackett
Sleepers (1996) .... Danny Snyder
American Buffalo (1996) .... Walt 'Teach' Teacher
American Film Institute Salute to Clint Eastwood, The (1996) (TV) ....
Himself
Outbreak (1995) .... Colonel Sam Daniels
Midnight Cowboy Revisited (1994) (V) .... Himself (interview)
Jonas in the Desert (1994) .... Himself
Comic Relief VI (1994) (TV) .... Himself
Classe américaine, La (1993) (archive footage) .... Peter
... aka Grand détournement, Le (1993) (France)
Aretha Franklin: Duets (1993) (TV) .... Himself
65th Annual Academy Awards, The (1993) (TV) (uncredited) .... Himself
Hero (1992) .... Bernard 'Bernie' Laplante
... aka Accidental Hero (1992)
Wish for Wings That Work, A (1991) (TV) .... Milquetoast the Cross-Dressing
Cockroach
Hook (1991) .... Captain James S. Hook
Billy Bathgate (1991) .... Dutch Schultz
63rd Annual Academy Awards, The (1991) (TV) (uncredited) .... Himself
Dick Tracy (1990) .... Mumbles
Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt (1989) (voice) .... Narrator
Family Business (1989) .... Vito McMullen
Rain Man (1988) .... Raymond Babbitt
Ultimate Stuntman: A Tribute to Dar Robinson, The (1987) (TV) .... Himself
Ishtar (1987) .... Chuck Clarke
Private Conversations (1986)
Death of a Salesman (1985) (TV) .... Willy Loman
... aka Tod eines Handlungsreisenden, Der (1986) (TV) (West Germany)
Terror in the Aisles (1984) (archive footage) .... Thomas Levy (segment
"Marathon Man")
... aka Time for Terror (1984) (Europe: video title English title)
"Strokes of Genius" (1984) (mini) TV Series .... Host of introductory
segments
Tootsie (1982) .... Michael Dorsey/Dorothy Michaels
52nd Annual Academy Awards, The (1980) (TV) .... Himself (presenter, Alec
Guinness Honorary Award/Best Actor)
Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) .... Ted Kramer
Agatha (1979) .... Wally Stanton
Bette Midler: Ol' Red Hair Is Back (1978) (TV)
Straight Time (1978) .... Max Dembo
Marathon Man (1976) .... Thomas Babington Levy (Babe)
All the President's Men (1976) .... Carl Bernstein, Reporter Washington
Post
Reel Radicals: The Sixties Revolution in Film (2002) (TV) (uncredited)
(archive footage) .... Himself (1975 BBC interview)
Lenny (1974) .... Lenny Bruce
Papillon (1973) .... Louis Dega
Alfredo, Alfredo (1972) .... Alfredo
... aka Alfredo, Alfredo (1972) (USA)
Point, The (1971) (TV) .... Narrator/Father (first telecast)
Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About
Me? (1971) .... Georgie Soloway
Straw Dogs (1971) .... David Sumner
Little Big Man (1970) .... Jack Crabb
John and Mary (1969) .... John
Midnight Cowboy (1969) .... Ratso
23rd Annual Tony Awards, The (1969) (TV) .... Himself (presenter)
Millón de Madigan, El (1968) .... Jason Fister
... aka Dollaro per 7 vigliacci, Un (1968) (Italy)
... aka Madigan's Million (1968) (UK)
... aka Madigan's Millions (1969) (USA)
Star Wagon, The (1967) (TV) .... Hanus Wicks
Tiger Makes Out, The (1967) .... Hap
Graduate, The (1967) .... Benjamin Braddock
Journey of the Fifth Horse, The (1966) (TV) .... Zoditch
