Dustin Hoffman, 85, Endured Years Of Prejudice Before Finding Fame And Eventually Happiness As A Granddad

Aug 16, 2022 by apost team

Dustin Hoffman is an award-winning actor and filmmaker. He is remembered for his versatile performances and anti-heroes, as well as for taking on many roles as emotionally vulnerable characters. He has a trustworthy appearance and heartbreaking acting abilities, making him one of Hollywood’s best.

Born in 1937, Hoffman grew up in Los Angeles, California. From a young age, he knew that he wanted to pursue a career in the arts. Hoffman first had a love for music and studied at the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music, before later embarking on a career change into acting. This sparked him to take acting classes at the Pasadena Playhouse in Los Angeles. 

It wasn’t long before Hoffman began landing a few minor roles on the stage before finally making his breakthrough into mainstream cinema with his role as Benjamin Braddock in the 1967 film “The Graduate.” The role earned him his first-ever Academy Award nomination and led to a great career trajectory. Some of Hoffman’s other notable films include “Tootsie” and “Rain Man."

Over the decades, Hoffman has continued to stay busy with some of his more recent projects being “Medici” in 2016, “The Meyerowitz Stories” in 2017 and “Into the Labyrinth” in 2019.

When he’s not working, Hoffman enjoys spending time with his wife Lisa. These days, the couple enjoys their happily ever after and have a beautiful family together. They married in Roxbury, Connecticut, in October 1980, and have since had four children together. Hoffman also has one stepdaughter and a daughter from his first marriage. Now, 85, Hoffman is enjoying his role as a doting grandfather to his grandchildren.

Back before his success, Hoffman was just another actor struggling to find work. In speaking with reporters he recalled how "there were two papers … (they) would list the parts available, and they would say: ‘Leading men, leading women, leading juveniles, leading ingénues; character leading men, character ingénues, character juveniles” — language that was all somewhat coded to mean not someone like him. 

However, Hoffman's luck changed when at 30 he unexpectedly landed a role in "The Graduate." Remembering the career-changing film, Hoffman recalled how he suddenly "plummeted to stardom" all thanks to director Mike Nichols. “Nichols chose to give this short, funny-looking Jewish guy the role usually reserved for a tall, handsome protestant,” said Hoffman, who had battled discrimination, namely antisemitism, in the industry and struggled to find parts that would even consider him. When asked whether he thinks there's less discrimination now, Hoffman said, “I don’t think that’s ever going to go away … I think there’s always going to be some kind of bigotry ...”

Hoffman recalled his own long fight for recognition. “The truth of it is that I got a lot of crappy parts offered to me and I didn’t want to make movies any more; I wanted to go back to the theatre.” It was a year before Hoffman accepted a role in the film "Midnight Cowboy." Perhaps because Hoffman's character, Ratso Rizzo, bared some resemblance to the actor. Remembering the film, Hoffman said: “I was closer to Ratso Rizzo when I was going to school — that’s what I felt like. I was an outsider, on the periphery looking in."

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He continued, "And when I came to New York I did all those odd jobs, and if you’re cleaning toilets for a living you’re not that far from being Ratso so it wasn’t that difficult a part.” 

However, Hoffman had the support of his wife and together the couple survived the more difficult years. When asked how they found such lasting success in their marriage, she revealed: “We work hard at it … I knew I was going to end up with Dusty, and that my life would be traveling around with him.” 

That travel through the decades has landed the couple comfortably now in their golden years, enjoying their grandkids. They've been photographed taking grandson Augustus for a walk in his pram before. Then, while recording "Appleblossom the Possum," Hoffman found himself the envy of these youngsters. Recalling his granddaughter Daisy Jo's reaction, he said: “When she found out I was going to do the voices … she said, ‘Oh, he always gets the best parts.’”

Oddly enough, this unsung marsupial seems to be where Hoffman has finally seen the world's prejudices reversed. Recalling the project, Hoffman said, "I had seen possums in my life and I always found them quite ugly." However, the actor found himself changed. "It was a rare occasion of having in life a prejudice that is quickly dissolved … But (after reading "Appleblossom") and meeting a real possum (Mary), I decided that they’re quite beautiful.” He continued, “I think (the author) reversed an unwarranted prejudice against possums." 

While Mary the Possum won't be accepting awards for her role, she perhaps has something unexpectedly in common with Hoffman, having overcome adversity and won the audience's hearts. 

What's your favorite Dustin Hoffman movie? Let us know — and be sure to pass this article on to friends, family and any "Tootsie" fans!