Talk:Dustin Hoffman

Portrait of Dustin Hoffman

I find the portrait picture "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Dustin_Hoffman_cropped.jpg" of poor quality (grainy, poor contrast) and would suggest placing another picture that could be used under "fair use". Anyone got an idea? 71.98.73.148 03:49, 14 August 2007 (UTC)

Sydney Pollack

I (mis?)remember Sydney Pollack saying that he'd gladly give back his Oscar for Tootsie, if only he could also give back the time he spent working with Hoffman. I've been unable to find again the interview/article/editorial where he expressed this opinion. Koyaanis Qatsi 01:43, 1 Sep 2003 (UTC)

Try this link, It's there. http://www.nndb.com/people/882/000022816/

Yeah, I heard that, it was in a book I was reading. That wacky Pollack. But Jessica Lange was the only person to get an Oscar out of Tootsie. Perhaps the comment was made much later on, after Out of Africa. ...._(Complain)^{(Let us to it pell-mell)} 08:37, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

POV

Could someone edit this article for POV? It seems like the article writer just can't get over how great Dustin Hoffman is. I want facts, not typical Hollywood hyperbole, like "Immortal actor Lawrence Oliver" or "Hoffman didn't want to do big, mindless films." Just show me what he did and I'll judge for myself. --Pathogen 18:39, 15 May 2006 (UTC)

Agreed. I'm very close to putting this article in more standard bio format, eliminating all the little discussions of his films that more properly belong in each film's own article. Objections? --Patchyreynolds 23:16, 11 April 2007 (UTC)

Absolutely agreed. I was going to suggest deleting it altogether.... Movies should be linked to, not explained here. ----David Be 16:09, 4 May 2007 (UTC)

Family roots

Hoffman was born in Los Angeles, California to Jewish American parents, Harry Hoffman and Lillian Gold (who were born in Romania but whose parents Max and Pauline were born in Russia).

Whose parents were Max and Pauline? His mother's? His father's? One of each? Why are the given names of his grandparents even worthy of mention? JackofOz 03:44, 12 July 2006 (UTC)

Names of grandparents are not relevant enough to be on a bio unless they are notable). However, ancestry is relevant info. Article improving (talk) 15:25, 9 August 2009 (UTC)

Complete filmography

I just watched Yours Mine and Ours starring Henry Fonda and Lucille Ball 1968 version. About halfway through when Henry Fonda approached the flight signaler to keep the mail plane from taking off so he could board and be with his wife (L. Ball) when she birthed. I believe that flight signaler was Dustin Hoffman. Sure looked like him anyways. Can anyone confirm?

I missed "American Buffalo" from 2007 in this list of Mr. Hoffman's filmography. Could someone add it?

Height

He may haver been 5'6" in his early years but people shrink with age so unless a recent measurement can be provided this stat should be removed. Gillean666

Please note: This is not a forum for general discussion about the article's subject.

What is it about then? Gillean666

His height is relevant to his bio and talk page, as he is significantly horter than average and that fact has been pointed out a few times. Article improving (talk) 15:25, 9 August 2009 (UTC)

Dustin Hoffman about 10 years ago on the Oscar telecast said he was 5'6 3/4" tall. I met him in 1984 and was less than a yard away from him and can attest that he is about 5'7" -- but that was 27 years ago! How time flies! And yes, his height was always a major thing about him. It was always mentioned, just as it was about Alan Ladd. He was unusual in that he admitted how short he was.Shemp Howard, Jr. (talk) 01:13, 6 February 2012 (UTC)

Straw Dogs

Seeing as 'Straw Dogs" was made before Texas Chainsaw Massacre, it seems utterly pointless to say "Often (falsely) dubbed as England's answer to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre..." - unless one can offer some refeernce of someone saying that Straw Dogs was Engloand's answer to TCM. I've removed the point. --TTKK 20:37, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

Structure of article

There's no reason for the Hoffman article to contain little paragraphs about each of his notable film, standing apart from almost every other cinema actor's article. Instead, he should have the standard filmography with separate mention made for only exceptional events in his career (e.g., a significant award, a move into directing, etc.). Any discussion of the individual film's plots, trivia, etc. should be on those individual pages. Any objections to my cutting those? --Patchyreynolds 22:05, 10 March 2007 (UTC)

No objections, totally reasonable. --David Be 16:11, 4 May 2007 (UTC)

Agreed. This article also needs cleanup for Wikification, unsourced statements, and overly-effusive language. --JD79 01:17, 17 August 2007 (UTC)

Can anyone make an argument for maintaining the lengthy prose recitation of each film role Hoffman has taken? The filmography already accomplishes this. The career section does not exist to list every film (again) but to speak about notable roles, characters that proved of social impact, parts that have passed into film history, etc. Do "Mad City" and Sleepers" actually need to be mentioned in separate sentences? At all outside of the filmography? Much of the article--as it now stands--does nothing more than recite his filmography. Partly because of this, I think, topics that actually deserve a fuller unfolding--his renowned Oscar acceptance speech for "K vs. K," his famous difficulty during the production of "Salesman"--don't receive examination. Comments? --Patchyreynolds (talk) 16:13, 1 March 2008 (UTC)

All right, then. I'm about to do this. --Patchyreynolds (talk) 13:35, 10 March 2008 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Marathon Man2.jpg

Image:Marathon Man2.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Wikipedia:Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images uploaded after 4 May, 2006, and lacking such an explanation will be deleted one week after they have been uploaded, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.BetacommandBot 05:19, 6 June 2007 (UTC)

Edits

In reading through the article, then consulting this page, I saw that there has been discussion about the extent to which details are taken and the POV since May of last year. I had a go at the article, and did some major surgery to the films section, mostly. It could stand more work, maybe paring down the films to the very major ones, and highlighting hits, misses and awards, leaving the rest to the filmography. I hope this doesn't cause too much controversy, but someone had to do it. Wildhartlivie (talk) 08:23, 18 November 2007 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:All the President Men.jpg

Image:All the President Men.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Wikipedia:Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images lacking such an explanation can be deleted one week after being tagged, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you. BetacommandBot (talk) 05:37, 2 January 2008 (UTC)

WP:WikiProject Actors and Filmmakers priority assessment

Per debate and discussion re: assessment of the approximate 100 top priority articles of the project, this article has been included as a top priority article. Wildhartlivie (talk) 06:35, 1 March 2008 (UTC)

Open letter in support of Scientologists in Germany

Is there any reason why Hoffman's support for Scientologists in Germany is not mentioned here? Together with Goldie Hawn, Oliver Stone and other Hollywood stars he signed an open letter to the German government in the nineties, accusing Germany of discrminating against Scientologists. Very widely reported at the time and still occasionally mentioned in the press today. [1] Jayen466 12:09, 9 December 2008 (UTC)

Actually I remember that. He did indeed sign a letter supporting the rights of scientologists in Germany. If I recall correctly it was circulated by his friend Costa Gavras. There are a hell of a lot of things about Dustin Hoffman that are not in this article, and in my opinion that may well be one of the least important things about him that are not. --TS 22:50, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

Personal life

I've removed this from the "Personal life" section because it seems to have little or nothing to do with Hoffman's personal life. It seems to be a public statement made by Hoffman as a young actor in 1974:

In 1974, Hoffman on a talk show stated that the Oscars were "obscene, dirty and no better than a beauty contest." When presenting an award at that year's Oscar ceremonies, Frank Sinatra responded strongly: "And contrary to what Mr. Hoffman thinks, it is not an obscene evening. It is not garish and it is not embarrassing".

Ref: name=imdb-quote

• Memorable Quotes of the 47th Annual Academy Awards at Internet Movie Database.
• Retrieved 2008-01-23.

Perhaps it belongs elsewhere. Ideas? --TS 22:03, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

Death?

I just rolled back a report of Hoffman's purported death. There was no source and there is nothing on Google News. --TS 20:04, 12 January 2009 (UTC)

List of awards in lead paragraphs

I took out a poorly-constructed phrase "who has won a considerable amount of major awards for his work" that was intended to replace the list of awards that Hoffman has won. The specific difference between the two versions was the sometime WP:PEACOCK phrase "award-winning." I simply don't see how saying "won a considerable amount of major awards" is at all an improvement over "award-winning" nor do I see that there's a difference between them regarding whether the phrase is a fluffing of an otherwise empty resume. In Hoffman's case, there is no danger of peacock here--the awards he has won help define him, and they are global in stature. These aren't gold stars for good behavior awarded by the grade school teacher's assistant; they aren't peacock terms. Binksternet (talk) 14:42, 24 February 2009 (UTC)

Given that your only interest is edit-warring, I filed a notice at the NPOV noticeboard, asking for assistance. Crotchety Old Man (talk) 14:47, 24 February 2009 (UTC)

Binksternet is correct, you are incorrect, and you are edit-warring as well. WP:PEACOCK refers to wikipuffery, not for legitimately notable accomplishments. Please stop adding the tags inappropriately to articles about actors. Per WP:MULTI, please hold further discussion at the WP:NPOVN thread you started. THF (talk) 15:31, 24 February 2009 (UTC)

Additional info re Dusty's time in Fargo, ND

While here he also directed TWO FOR THE SEESAW. I was his stage manager, learned alot about what became my avocation, and had the feeling there was something special about him. Thank you. 65.164.217.149 (talk) 19:45, 18 March 2009 (UTC) Rosemary Dimmer Coleman

New image

Bravo! SoCoColl (talk) 10:57, 10 April 2009 (UTC)

His "more important films"

Hook, Meet the Fockers, and Last Chance Harvey? Why are these listed among his "more important films"? Why those instead of Straw Dogs, Papillon, and Straight Time?

• I helped contribute to this list so I guess I should respond. If you notice, all of the films in the list are ones for which Hoffman either earned or was nominated for a major award (an Oscar, Golden Globe, etc.) This seemed to me to be an impartial way of formulating such a list. The list also begins with "Some of his more important films are..." The "some" indicates that this list isn't meant to be definitive or complete.Plumadesabiduría (talk) 15:37, 24 July 2009 (UTC)

Item removed from lede

This was recently removed from the article's lede:

• Dustin Hoffman attended game one of the NBA Finals between the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers at the Staples Center, and the camera was put on him during the "Kiss Cam" session. Hoffman's wife was sitting on one side, and actor Jason Bateman on the other. Hoffman and Bateman shared a passionate kiss to the roars of the crowd.

I agree of course that that does not belong in the lede of the article, if anywhere in it at all, but I thought it was a quaint little notice about Hoffman's well known humoristic antics even when off duty, so I added it here. He is one of the most personally charming people in the business. Cordially, SergeWoodzing (talk) 13:26, 5 June 2010 (UTC)

Mr Hoffman even earlier

Wish I could find any reference anywhere to his performance back in either '69 or '70 on PBS. He was so stunningly original I, for one, could not forget him. He was a 'nobody' and look at where he went, where he went. The other actor was Orson Bean. It was set at some merry-go-round/carousel. Mr Hoffman's highly 'method' take was like nothing I'd ever seen and clearly is forever embedded. Wish I could see it again. Is it archived? What was it? 108.7.159.219 (talk) 20:24, 18 January 2011 (UTC)watcher88

It was "The Star Wagon"Shemp Howard, Jr. (talk) 01:09, 6 February 2012 (UTC)\\

Gene Hackman

Gene Hackman was expelled form the Pasadena Playhouse for lacking talent after 3 months. He did not stay there two years. Perhaps it was Hoffman who stayed there two years.Shemp Howard, Jr. (talk) 01:09, 6 February 2012 (UTC)

Method Acting?

There's nothing here on method acting, but Hoffman was one of the more renowned method actors in American film. 74.136.38.179 (talk) 16:43, 8 May 2012 (UTC)

Nothing about basketball?

I understand he's a big NBA fan. 69.172.158.114 (talk) 05:09, 15 October 2013 (UTC)