Celebrate Dustin Hoffman’s 80th birthday with some of his little-known Hollywood stories
Dustin Hoffman made his film debut in 1967 and has spent the last five decades as a Hollywood legend. But there are still some little-known facts about him that you may not have heard.
In the ’60s, he moved from Los Angeles to New York to pursue acting and ended up literally surrounded by inspiration: His first roommates were the then-unknown actors Robert Duvall and Gene Hackman. Hoffman and Hackman appeared together onscreen in 2003’s Runaway Jury but Hoffman has never shared screen time with Duvall. There’s still time, though.
Hoffman made his film debut in 1967’s The Tiger Makes Out, in which he had a small role as the character Hap. However, he was only paid $200 for a day’s work on the movie.
Hoffman got into the Guinness Book of World Records under “Greatest Age Span Portrayed by a Movie Actor.” In the 1970 movie Little Big Man he played a character who aged from 17 to 121.
Hoffman has yet to appear in a superhero movie but was almost Batman’s nemesis in 1992’s Batman Returns. He was the first choice for the role of the Penguin, but Warner Bros. hired Danny DeVito instead.
Hoffman and Robert De Niro played in-laws during the final two films of the Meet the Parents franchise. On set, De Niro took the time to remind Hoffman of their very first meeting, in 1969. Hoffman was attending a benefit at a New York restaurant, and an unknown De Niro was his waiter. De Niro recalls that the first thing Hoffman said to him was “How’s the flounder?”
In other entertainment news, celebrate International Cat Day with a few celebrity cat ladies:
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