Hoffman, Dustin (1937—)

Beginning in the late 1960s, Dustin Hoffman established himself as one of his generation's finest film actors and helped usher method acting into the American cinema mainstream. From his first screen success as Benjamin Braddock in The Graduate (1967), Hoffman appeared in a series of diverse films that showcased his great range and indicated the rise of the character actor as superstar. He and actors such as Gene Hackman, Jack Nicholson, and Robert De Niro symbolized a new breed of movie star that was known more for fully inhabiting their characters than for their perfect profiles. Hoffman was, at times, criticized for being "difficult" to work with, but none could criticize his ability to employ the teachings of the method tradition that stressed the performer's ability to temporarily "be-come" his character.

Born on August 8, 1937, in Los Angeles, California, this son of a Columbia Pictures set decorator and an aspiring actress was named after silent screen cowboy star Dustin Farnum. He developed an early interest in performing, and his acting career began at age 12, when, as the shortest boy in John Burroughs High School, he was recruited to play Tiny Tim in a production of A Christmas Carol. He was an accomplished pianist and enrolled in the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music to study classical and jazz piano. By 1957, he began to devote less time to his music and increasingly concentrated on acting. He studied at the famed Pasadena Playhouse and later moved to New York. He entered The Actor's Studio, where he developed his craft alongside his roommates, future film stars Robert Duvall and Gene Hackman. Under the direction of noted acting teacher Lee Strasberg, Hoffman was taught the method's performance goal of becoming rather than acting. To support himself he took on a series of jobs, such as janitor, waiter, and weaver of Hawaiian leis. He even worked as a hospital attendant in a psychiatric ward, where he observed the patients' behaviors in the hopes of improving his dramatic technique. Hoffman established himself as a respected New York theater actor in the early 1960s by appearing in acclaimed works like The Journey of the Fifth Horse and the British comedy Eh? However, Hoffman's ultimate goal was to become a film star.

After years of honing his craft, Hoffman became an "over-night" sensation in 1967 with the release of director Mike Nichols's The Graduate. The film concerned an innocent college graduate who is seduced by an older woman. Although Charles Webb's novel, upon which the film was based, described the character of Benjamin Braddock as a handsome, well-bred, surfer-type, Nichols gave the role to the short, dark Hoffman. Furthermore, at age 30, Hoffman was a decade older than the character. Hoffman's performance as the confused and depressed college graduate who begins an affair with a friend of his parents, the infamous Mrs. Robinson, captured the mood of the American youth of the late 1960s who had grown disenchanted with their parents' generation. Author Jeff Lenburg quoted a letter to The New York Times written by a university student shortly after the film's release to demonstrate the impact it had upon the youth culture. The student wrote: "I identified with Ben … I thought of him as a spiritual brother. He was confused about his future and about his place in the world, as I am. It's a film one digs, rather than understands intellectually." The baby boomer generation's uncertainty of the future was best captured in the film's final scene where Ben and Elaine (Mrs. Robinson's daughter) flee her wedding and mother only to realize the uncertainty of their final destination. Hoffman was nominated for an Academy Award for his portrayal of the embodiment of 1960s youth angst.

Following his early success in The Graduate Hoffman appeared in a number of landmark films. In 1969, he starred as the tubercular small-time street hustler Ratso Rizzo in Midnight Cowboy. The controversial film about male prostitution was an enormous hit and the first x-rated film to win the Academy Award for best picture. For Little Big Man (1970), Hoffman aged on screen from a teen to the age of 121 to play Jack Crabb, a witness to U.S. mistreatment of the American Indians. He portrayed the doomed comedian Lenny Bruce in Lenny (1974) and starred as Washington Post reporter Carl Bernstein in the Watergate drama All the President's Men (1976). He was named best actor in 1979 for his performance as a divorced father facing a child-custody battle in Kramer vs. Kramer. In 1984, he returned to the stage for a widely praised performance as Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman. His ability to play both straight drama and broad comedy is seen in his most acclaimed roles. In Tootsie (1982) Hoffman mocked his reputation as a difficult actor by playing a man who disguises himself in drag to get a job on a soap opera. For Rainman (1988) he masterfully depicted an autistic savant. He earned a second Oscar for this classic performance. Hoffman remained a popular performer into the 1990s and scored another hit as a Hollywood producer attempting to cover up a presidential sex scandal in Wag the Dog (1998). Hoffman's filmography also contains one of Hollywood's most notorious disasters—the comedic misfire Ishtar (1987).

Dustin Hoffman has remained a star after more than 30 years in film because he invests all his portrayals with sensitivity and realism. He commented on his technique by stating: "All I know is I try to be as personal as I can in my work, by being personal, to be able to bring to it a truth in what I observe and what I feel." Through his method acting skills and non-flashy, realistic appearance he opened mainstream American film to a style of performance that had seldom been achieved before on screen.

—Charles Coletta

Further Reading:

Anderson, Christopher. The New Book of People. New York, G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1986.

Brode, Douglas. The Films of Dustin Hoffman. Secaucus, Citadel Press, 1983.

Lenburg, Jeff. Dustin Hoffman: Hollywood's Anti-Hero. New York, St. Martin's Press, 1983.