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Dustin Hoffman lost his virginity when he was 15 years old after his brother, Ronny, threw a party. The girl he slept with thought he was Ronnie.
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While having dinner with
Paul McCartney, Dustin told the story of the death of Pablo Picasso and his famous last words, "Drink to me, drink to my health. You know I can't drink anymore." Paul had a guitar with him and immediately played an impromptu chord progression while singing the quote. Thus,
Picasso's Last Words (Drink to Me), one of the highlights of the
Band On The Run album, was made.
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Apparently, Hoffman's screen test for
The Graduate consisted of him fumbling his lines and awkwardly trying to grab
Katharine Ross's behind, which angered her. As he left thinking he didn't get the role, his awkwardness was just what director
Mike Nichols needed for Benjamin Braddock.
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In Dustin Hoffman and
Anne Bancroft's first encounter in the hotel room (a scene from
The Graduate), Anne did not know that Dustin was going to grab her breast. Dustin decided offscreen to do it, because it reminded him of schoolboys trying to nonchalantly grab girls' breasts in the hall by pretending to put their jackets on. When he did it onscreen, director
Mike Nichols began laughing loudly offscreen. Dustin began to laugh as well, so rather than stop the scene, he turned away from the camera and walked to the wall. Dustin banged his head on the wall, trying to stop laughing, and Nichols thought it was so funny, he left it in.
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Tootsie's crew would only give bad news to Dustin if he was in drag. They said he was "much nicer as a woman".
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He is one of the main supporters and contributors to the Santa Monica College Madison Theatre in Santa Monica, CA.
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The bathroom scene in
Gary Fleder's
Runaway Jury (2003), where Roar confronts Finch is the first ever dialog in a movie between him and
Gene Hackman. It was added when someone on the crew found out that the two, though they had been friends for 50 years, had never starred in a movie together.
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Before Dustin Hoffman auditioned for
Midnight Cowboy, he knew that his all-American image could easily cost him the job. To prove he could do it, he asked the auditioning film executive to meet him on a street corner in Manhattan, and in the meantime, dressed himself in filthy rags. The executive arrived at the appointed corner and waited, barely noticing the "beggar" less than ten feet away who was accosting people for spare change. At last, the beggar walked up to him and revealed his true identity, getting the part.
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I'm walkin' here!, the famous line he says in
Midnight Cowboy reached #27 on AFI's 100 years... 100 movie quotes.
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In 1993 he, together with
Anne Bancroft, accepted the Oscar for "Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium", on behalf of
Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, who wasn't present at the awards ceremony.
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In
Rain Man (1988), Dustin said his character in the film was the hardest role to get right. It was tough to deviate from the script because he had such simple lines. He was actually angry at himself at one point for his own shortcomings while in production.
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For
Midnight Cowboy (1969), Dustin had to do the classic "Hey! What'sa matter, I'm walking here!" scene with the taxi 13 times, in which he was practically hit on several occasions.
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In April of 2005 he was the recipient of a Lincoln Center tribute.
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On May 11, 2008,
Entertainment Weekly named Hoffman's role as Mr. Bergstrom in second season's episode
Lisa's Substitute as the fourth of 16 great guest stars on
The Simpsons.
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He's active in a commercial campaign with the Swedish clothing company KappAhl.
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His performance as Raymond Babbitt in
Barry Levinson's
Rain Man (1988) is ranked #88 on
Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time.
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Hoffman was voted the 28th Greatest Movie Star of all time by Entertainment Weekly.
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Dustin was influential in getting
Jonah Hill's first acting role in
I Heart Huckabees (2004). His kids saw Jonah perform at a comedy club. Once Dustin saw a performance himself, he later called him to come to the initial script read for the movie.
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When Dustin received the script for
Stranger Than Fiction (2006), he noted that it was one of the best he had ever read.
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Dustin's first TV appearance was in the show
Naked City, in 1961.
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Dustin was working as aroma tester for coffee company Maxwell House.
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Dustin founded a production company, Punch Productions.
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In 2004, Dustin became a real hero, when he tried to save a woman enduring from an allergic reaction to a bee sting.
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Dustin was born into a Jewish family, but he didn't get a religious breeding.
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Dustin became a famous, because of his difficult roles like a crippled street hustler in
Midnight Cowboy (1969), a woman in
Tootsie (1982) and an autistic idiot savant in
Rain Man (1988).
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Death Of a Salesman (1985) was his favorite acting experience.
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When Dustin was a child, his mother called her dog "Tootsie". It was the reason for the movie title
Tootsie (1982).
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As of 2001, Dustin has won six Golden Globe Awards and has been nominated 13 times. Dustin won an Emmy Award in 1986 for the TV presentation of Death of a Salesman. Dustin also won a People's Choice Award in 1989 and 1990 for Favorite Motion Picture Actor.
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When Dustin was accepted into The Studio, a prestigious acting school, he was actually trying to help a friend get in and had no intention of becoming a student there. Dustin did end up taking a few courses there.
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While filming
Death of a Salesman (1985), Dustin had moved with Lisa to Connecticut and lived five minutes away from
Arthur Miller, the author of
Death of a Salesman.
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Dustin accidentally inspired the ending for
Kramer vs. Kramer while filming some of the final scenes on the elevator.
Meryl Streep was asking Dustin if she got the mascara off her face because she was crying in the previous scene. Dustin said "It's fine, you look terrific". The director was so compelled by the moment that he included it in the final scenes of the movie.
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During filming of
Kramer vs. Kramer, Dustin said he didn't want to make movies any more. At the time of filming, Dustin was going through a divorce while the movie itself was about an intense divorce.
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Dustin wanted to find a unique "limp" for his character in
Midnight Cowboy (1969). To do this, Dustin combed the streets of New York until finding someone with the style depicted in the movie.
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Dustin played the piano until the seventh grade.
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Hoffman was ranked 7th in the UK's Empire magazine of Top 100 best performances of all time in 2006 for his performance as the crippled and dirty con man Enrico Salvatore "Ratso" Rizzo in
John Schlesinger's polemic Academy Award winner film
Midnight Cowboy.
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Hoffman's performance as Michael Dorsey/Dorothy Michael's in
Sidney Pollack's film
Tootsie (1982) was ranked as the 33th best performance of all time by
Premiere Magazine.
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The film he got paid the most for was
Rain Man with $5,800,000 and profits.
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Dustin was entered into the Guinness Book of World Records for "Greatest Age Span Portrayed By A Movie Actor" for
Little Big Man. He portrayed a character from age 17 to age 121.
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Dustin is proud of his home in the Kensington area of London.
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Dustin is the father to Jake (1981), Rebecca (1983), Maxwell (1984), Jenna (1970), Alexandra (1987) and Karina (1966).
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When first starting out Dustin had some hard times and ended up staying with
Gene Hackman and his wife in their apartment.
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Dustin parents named him after one of their favorite actors named Dustin Farnum.
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Dustin was ranked 41st in the UK's Empire Magazine Top 100 Movie Stars of all time in 1977.
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Dustin has a reputation amongst his fellow actors as being difficult to work with.
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Dustin is married to Lisa Gottsengen. They wed on October 12, 1980 and since have had four children. Dustin was first married to
Anne Byrne Hoffman from May 4, 1969 unutil October 6, 1980 when they got divorced after having two children together.
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Dustin also trained at the Pasadena Playhouse for two years.
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Dustin claims he went into acting because he "did not want to work or go into the service."
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Dustin also got some formal training at Los Angeles Conservatory of Music.
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While Dustin was attending college when one of his friends told him to take an acting class because "nobody flunks acting", so he did.
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Dustin attended Santa Monica City College for a short period of time. He was forced to drop out due to bad grades.
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Dustin graduated from Los Angeles High School in 1955.
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Dustin is a mere 5'6 3/4" tall.
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Dustin composed a song "Shooting the Breeze" sung by
Sting on the
Michael Aspel TV show (a UK series). He played piano on the show for the
Sting performance.
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Dustin did a TV commercial for Volkswagen automobiles in 1966.
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In January 1999 Dustin was awarded $3 Million in damages and compensation in a case against a Los Angeles magazine that printed a computer generated image of Hoffman in a dress.