Since his breakout role in The Graduate , people have known Dustin Hoffman’s name.
He’s done a lot in his career, such as starring as the quirky dad in Meet the Fockers , lending his voice to animated films, and even winning two Oscars.
As for his personal life, you might not know that he has six kids! Want to learn more? Here are 10+ interesting things fans didn’t know.
1. He ad-libbed his most famous line:
It is, of course, “I’m walking here!” from Midnight Cowboy .
The actor told The National Post that they timed the walking scene with the traffic light turning green when a cab came out of nowhere.
“I wound up saying, ‘I’m walkin’ here!’ But what was going through my head is: ‘Hey, we’re makin’ a movie here! And you just [expletive] this shot up.’'”
“But somehow something told me you’d better keep it within the character. And then Schlesinger jumps out of the van and goes, ‘What happened? What happened? What happened?’ We told him, he says, we have to do it again just like that. That’s in the movie. It almost hit us, that guy.”
2. He breakout role was in *The Graduate*:
He played a young man who is lured into an affair with a much older woman. She also happened to be the wife of his father’s business partner…
He told The Guardian that he “ plummeted to stardom ” following the movie.
He even still can’t believe he got the role because he said he came off as awkward during his audition.
“[Mike] Nichols chose to give this short, funny-looking Jewish guy the role usually reserved for a tall, handsome protestant,” he said.
3. He has six kids:
That’s quite the handful!
He had two children with his first wife, Anne Byrne Hoffman: Karina and Jenna (Karina was Anne’s daughter who he adopted).
Then, he had four kids with his second wife, Lisa Gottsegen.
This includes Jacob Edward, Rebecca Lillian, Maxwell Geoffrey, and Alexandra Lydia.
“Dustin asked how many children I wanted. I said six, and he said he had two already, so would four be OK. And that’s exactly the way it has played out,” his wife, Lisa, told the Daily Mail .
4. He’s a two-time Oscar-winning actor:
Don’t let his hilarious time as the dad on Meet the Fockers fool you — he’s actually a prestigious actor!
He won the Oscar for Best Actor for Kramer vs. Kramer in 1980 and Rain Man in 1989.
5. He was once roommates with Gene Hackman and Robert Duvall:
There are a lot of celebs who have shacked up before.
Hoffman stayed at Hackman’s New York apartment after they worked together at the Pasadena Playhouse. He later became roommates with their mutual friend, Robert Duvall
6. He holds a Guinness World Record:
Thanks to his role in the 1970 film, Little Big Man , he received the award for Greatest Age Span Portrayed by a Movie Actor.
That’s because he played the character, Jack Crabb, from age 17 to age 121.
7. Before he was an actor, he was studying to be a pianist:
He told The Times where his passion for music came from.
“I didn’t read music easily, and I didn’t have anywhere near perfect pitch. We were in the car [today] next to a cement mixer, and I remembered a song I knew as a kid: ‘cement mixer, put-ti put-ti.'”
“The writer was Slim Gaillard. I would give anything to have been able to do that.”
He continued:
“If God tapped me on the shoulder and said, “You can’t do anything more in your profession. In exchange, I’ll allow you to be a jazz pianist”–[snaps fingers]–like that. Oh, God.”
8. That’s even how he met his wife!
“Dustin was studying to be a classical pianist before he became an actor, and when he was 16 he was the pianist at my parents’ wedding, when my mother was pregnant with me,” Lisa told the Daily Mail .
9. He regrets passing on certain roles:
“After The Graduate , I was kind of first in line of my generation. When I think back, I think, I shouldn’t have turned Ingmar Bergman down twice,” he told The Times .
“I shouldn’t have turned Spielberg down four times.”
He continued on, saying that he even spent time in therapy over it.
“I have spent many years in therapy finding out why. I tried to jeopardize my success, and in spite of myself, I couldn’t succeed. But I’m still sad that I made those mistakes.”
10. He used to work a string of off jobs:
Back when he was a struggling actor, he did what he had to to get by.
This included working in a psychiatric hospital, as a sales assistant in Macy’s toy department, and as a weaver of Hawaiian garlands.
11. He thinks he’s ugly:
It’s sadly why he thought he wouldn’t land the role in The Graduate . He thought that the director was looking for the next Robert Redford.
“You can say it, I’m ugly, I’m ugly!” he told GQ UK .
“I always joke, they’ll have the sexiest man in the world or whatever on the cover of People, and I’ll say, ‘Sorry, honey, never gonna make this cover!'”
“And I never have, because I figure, well, yeah, you’ve gotta be handsome.”
Aw, Dustin!
12. He doesn’t want his kids to watch his movies:
The actor told The Times that this stems from his kids making fun of them.
“Growing up, they made fun of me because I’d say, ‘Let me put this on, you’ll love this.’ They’d say, ‘Is it black and white, or color?’ I’d say, ‘Black and white.’ No!
“Is it a documentary about bugs?” I’d say, ‘Yes, but you’ll love it!’
“They learned not to listen to me. But I don’t have a kid who’s seen everything I’ve done. I don’t want to belabor them in that way.”
Hopefully, they’ve learned to appreciate his work!
