Writes Dustin Hoffman, in "Dustin Hoffman: Duvall, Hackman and our wild 1960s in New York/In 1958, a terrified Hoffman arrived in Manhattan to try and make it as an actor. In an extract from his new memoir, he recounts a thrilling decade of odd jobs, partying with Robert Duvall and sleeping on Gene Hackman’s kitchen floor" (London Times).
November 10, 2026
"I felt completely alienated from the other students and underappreciated in general."
"Recently I came upon a programme I saved for a 1956 run of Henrik Ibsen’s Peer Gynt at the Playhouse’s West Balcony Theatre in Pasadena. I remember desperately wanting to play Peer Gynt, but I was cast in two small parts: 'slave' and 'ugly boy'.... Besides [me and Gene Hackman], the people at the Playhouse were all beautiful. These tall, perfect blond guys like Robert Redford, 'walking surfboards,' as the actor and screenwriter Buck Henry used to say, the kind of guys who’d get cast on Bonanza. They were always wearing fake guns in holsters in the hallway at school, and they would practise drawing their weapons. That was a leading man. We were character actors, and that was just fine with us. To be frank, we were snobs...."
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8 comments:
Holy smokes that is a long title.
Ah. The title is Look at Me.
Robert Redford was not tall...well, maybe compared to Hoffman. I think he has confused Redford with Jon Voight.
Gene Hackman was cranky because Hoffman showed up at his door and would not leave. He was just hanging out with Hackman, like a puppy who needed a friend. Finally, Gene had to find an apartment for Hoffman to get him out of his house.
*like* Robert Redford
found my glasses
"Robert Redford was not tall...well, maybe compared to Hoffman..."
Redford was, according to the internet, 5 foot 10 and a half inches. I think he'd have been perceived as less handsome if he were any taller. Paul Newman was probably only 5 foot 8 inches, and he was perceived as even better looking than Redford. People value tallness in men when they think about it in the abstract, but I'm pretty sure that overall good looks are better served by average height, that is, 5'8" or 5'9". So 5'10" is all that's needed to read as tall, within the realm of the very handsome man.
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