Rain Man is a 1988 drama film written by Barry Morrow and Ronald Bass and directed by Barry Levinson. It tells the story of an abrasive and selfish yuppie, Charlie Babbitt, who discovers that his estranged father has died and bequeathed all of his multimillion-dollar estate to his other son, Raymond, an autistic savant of whose existence Charlie was unaware.

The film stars Dustin Hoffman as Raymond Babbitt, Tom Cruise as Charlie Babbitt and Valeria Golino as Charlie's girlfriend, Susanna. Morrow created the character of Raymond after meeting Kim Peek, a real-life savant; his characterization was based on both Peek and Bill Sackter, a good friend of Morrow who was the subject of Bill, an earlier film that Morrow wrote.^[1] Rain Man received overwhelmingly positive reviews at the time of its release, praising Hoffman's role and the wit and sophistication of the screenplay.

The film won four Oscars at the 61st Academy Awards (March 1989), including Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Director, and Best Actor in a leading role for Hoffman. Its crew received an additional four nominations.^[2] The film also won the Golden Bear at the 39th Berlin International Film Festival.^[3]

Plot[link]

Charlie Babbitt (Tom Cruise), a Los Angeles car dealer in his mid-twenties, is in the middle of importing four grey market Lamborghinis. The deal is being threatened by the EPA, and if Charlie cannot meet its requirements he will lose a significant amount of money. After some quick subterfuge with an employee, Charlie leaves for a weekend trip to Palm Springs with his girlfriend, Susanna (Valeria Golino).

Charlie's trip is cancelled by news that his estranged father, Sanford Babbitt, has died. Charlie travels to Cincinnati, Ohio, to settle the estate, where he learns an undisclosed trustee is inheriting $3 million on behalf of an unnamed beneficiary, while all he is to receive is a classic Buick Roadmaster convertible and several prize rose bushes. Eventually he learns the money is being directed to a mental institution, which is the home of his autistic brother, Raymond (Dustin Hoffman), of whose existence Charlie was previously unaware. This leads Charlie to ask the question that permeates the movie: "Why didn't somebody tell me I had a brother?"

Although Raymond has autism, he also has superb recall, albeit usually with little understanding of the subject matter, but has no skill in mathematics (in those scenes he merely remembers the answers, and with no understanding of currency.) He is said to be a savant by some doctors. He is frightened by change and adheres to strict routines (for example, his continual repetition of the "Who's on First?" sketch). Except when he is in distress, he shows little emotional expression and avoids eye contact. Numbed by learning that he has a brother and determined to get what he believes is his fair share of the Babbitt estate, Charlie takes Raymond on what becomes a cross-country car trip (due to Raymond's fear of flying) back to Los Angeles to meet with his attorneys. Charlie intends to start a custody battle in order to get Raymond's doctor, Dr. Gerald R. Bruner (Jerry Molen), to settle out of court for half of Sanford Babbitt's estate so that the mental institution can maintain custody of Raymond. Susanna, disgusted by Charlie's self-centeredness and his attempts at using his brother as a pawn to gain the money, leaves Charlie in Cincinnati and disappears.

During the course of the journey, Charlie learns about Raymond's autism, which he initially believes is curable — resulting in his frequent frustration with his brother's antics. He also learns about how his brother came to be separated from his family, as a result of an accident when he was left alone with Charlie when Charlie was a baby. Raymond also sings "I Saw Her Standing There" by The Beatles like he did when Charlie was young, prompting Charlie to realize that Raymond is the protective figure from his childhood, whom he falsely remembered as an imaginary friend named "Rain Man." Charlie proves to be sometimes shallow and exploitative, as when he learns that Raymond has an excellent memory and takes him to Las Vegas to win money at blackjack by counting cards. However, towards the end of their trip Charlie finds himself becoming protective of Raymond, and grows to love him truly.

Charlie finally meets with his attorney to try to get his share of his inheritance, but then decides that he no longer cares about the money and really just wants to have custody of his brother. However, at a meeting with a court-appointed psychiatrist and Dr. Bruner, Raymond is unable to decide exactly what he wants. Eventually, the psychiatrist presses Raymond to make the decision, upsetting him and leading Charlie to request that the doctor back off. Raymond is allowed to go back home to Cincinnati. Charlie, who has gained a new brother and mellowed considerably, promises Raymond as he boards an Amtrak train that he will visit in two weeks.

Production[link]

Roger Birnbaum was the first studio executive to give the film a green-light; he did so immediately after Barry Morrow pitched the story. Birnbaum received "special thanks" in the film's credits.^[2]

Agents at CAA sent the script to Hoffman and Bill Murray, envisioning Murray in the title role and Hoffman in the role eventually portrayed by Cruise.^[1] Martin Brest, Steven Spielberg, and Sydney Pollack were directors also involved in the film.^[4]

Principal photography included nine weeks of filming on location.^[5]

Almost all of the principal photography occurred during the 1988 Writers Guild of America strike; one key scene that was affected by the lack of writers was the film's final scene.^[1] Bass delivered his last rough cut of the script only hours before the strike started and spent no time on the set.^[4]

Release[link]

Critical reception[link]

Rain Man was overall positively received by critics. It garnered an 87% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes with an average score of 7.7/10.^[6] Vincent Canby of The New York Times called Rain Man a "becomingly modest, decently thought-out, sometimes funny film"; Hoffman's performance was a "display of sustained virtuosity . . . [which] makes no lasting connections with the emotions. Its end effect depends largely on one's susceptibility to the sight of an actor acting nonstop and extremely well, but to no particularly urgent dramatic purpose."^[7] Canby considered the "film's true central character" to be "the confused, economically and emotionally desperate Charlie, beautifully played by Mr. Cruise."^[7]

Amy Dawes of Variety wrote that "one of the year's most intriguing film premises ... is given uneven, slightly off-target treatment"; she calls the road scenes "hastily, loosely written, with much extraneous screen time," but admired the last third of the film, calling it a depiction of "two very isolated beings" who "discover a common history and deep attachment."^[5]

One of the film's harshest reviews came from New Yorker magazine critic Pauline Kael: "Everything in this movie is fudged ever so humanistically, in a perfunctory, low-pressure way. And the picture has its effectiveness: people are crying at it. Of course they're crying at it — it's a piece of wet kitsch."^[8]

Commercial performance[link]

Rain Man debuted on December 16, 1988, and was the second on the weekend's box office receipts (behind Twins), with $7 million.^[9] It reached the first spot on the December 30–January 2 weekend, finishing 1988 with $42 million.^[10] The film would end up as the highest-grossing film of 1988 with $172 million.^[11]

Awards[link]

Rain Man won Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Actor in a Leading Role (Dustin Hoffman), Best Director, and Best Writing, Original Screenplay. It was nominated for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration (Ida Random, Linda DeScenna), Best Cinematography (John Seale), Best Film Editing, and Best Music, Original Score.^[12]

The film also won a People's Choice Award as the "Favorite Dramatic Motion Picture".^[2] At the 39th Berlin International Film Festival, the film won the Golden Bear award.^[3]

Effect on popular culture[link]

Rain Man's portrayal of the main character's condition has been seen as inaugurating a common and incorrect media stereotype that people on the autism spectrum typically have savant skills, and references to Rain Man, in particular Dustin Hoffman's performance, have become a popular shorthand for autism and savantism. However, Rain Man has also been seen as dispelling a number of other misconceptions about autism and improving public awareness of the failure of many agencies to accommodate autistic people and make use of the abilities they do have, regardless of whether they are savant skills.^[13]Rain Man has been listed one of the best movies on the subject of autism.^{[14][better source needed]}

The film is also known for popularizing the misconception that card counting is illegal in the United States.^[15]

In the course of the film, it is claimed that Qantas is the only commercial airline that has never had an aircraft crash. While it is true that the company has neither lost a jet airliner nor had any jet fatalities, it had eight fatal accidents and an aircraft shot down between 1927 and 1945, with the loss of 63 people. To this date, the last fatal accident suffered by Qantas was in 1951. The scene in which Raymond reels off a list of statistics of fatal airline crashes was cut by most airlines when showing the film in-flight--except for Qantas, which even promoted one of the movie's writers to first class when he traveled on their airline.^{[citation needed]}

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Rain Man

• Rain Man at the Internet Movie Database
• Rain Man at the TCM Movie Database
• Rain Man at AllRovi
• Rain Man at Box Office Mojo
• Rain Man at Rotten Tomatoes
• Rain Man at Metacritic

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2010)

Kim Peek
Born	Laurence Kim Peek (1951-11-11)November 11, 1951 Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S.
Died	December 19, 2009(2009-12-19) (aged 58) Murray, Utah, U.S.
Cause of death	Heart attack
Nationality	American
Ethnicity	White American
Known for	Megasavant
Religion	The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Parents	Fran Peek, Jeanne W. Buchi

Laurence Kim Peek (November 11, 1951 – December 19, 2009) was an American savant. Known as a "megasavant",^[1][2][3] he had an eidetic memory, but he also experienced social difficulties, possibly resulting from a developmental disability related to congenital brain abnormalities. He was the inspiration for the character of Raymond Babbitt, played by Dustin Hoffman in the movie Rain Man. Unlike Babbitt, Peek had FG syndrome.^[4][5]

Early life[link]

Peek was born in Salt Lake City, Utah^[6] with macrocephaly,^{[citation needed]} damage to the cerebellum, and agenesis of the corpus callosum,^[7] a condition in which the bundle of nerves that connects the two hemispheres of the brain is missing; in Peek's case, secondary connectors such as the anterior commissure were also missing.^{[citation needed]} There is speculation that his neurons made unusual connections due to the absence of a corpus callosum, which resulted in an increased memory capacity.^[8][9] According to Peek's father, Fran Peek, Kim was able to memorize things from the age of 16–20 months. He read books, memorized them, and then placed them upside down on the shelf to show that he had finished reading them, a practice he maintained. He could speed through a book in about an hour and remember almost everything he had read, memorizing vast amounts of information in subjects ranging from history and literature, geography and numbers to sports, music and dates. According to an article in the Times newspaper, he could accurately recall the contents of at least 12,000 books.^[6] Peek lived in Murray, Utah.^[10]

Peek did not walk until the age of four and then in a sidelong manner.^[8] He could not button up his shirt and had difficulty with other ordinary motor skills, presumably due to his damaged cerebellum, which normally coordinates motor activities. In psychological testing, Peek scored below average (87) on general IQ tests.^[11]

[edit] Rain Man

In 1984, screenwriter Barry Morrow met Peek in Arlington, Texas; the result of the meeting was the 1988 movie Rain Man. The character of Raymond Babbitt, although inspired by Peek, was portrayed as having autism. Dustin Hoffman, who played Babbitt, met Peek and other savants to get an understanding of their nature and to play the role accurately and methodically. The movie caused a number of requests for appearances, which increased Peek's self-confidence. Barry Morrow gave Kim his Oscar statuette to carry with him and show at these appearances; it has since been referred to as the "Most Loved Oscar Statue" as it has been held by more people than any other. Kim also enjoyed approaching strangers and showing them his talent for calendar calculations by telling them on which day of the week they were born and what news items were on the front page of major newspapers. Peek also appeared on television. He travelled with his father, who took care of him and performed many motor tasks that Peek found difficult.^[8]

Scientific investigation[link]

In 2004, scientists at the Center for Bioinformatics Space Life Sciences at the NASA Ames Research Center examined Peek with a series of tests including computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging. The intent was to create a three-dimensional view of his brain structure and to compare the images to MRI scans done in 1988. These were the first tentative approaches in using non-invasive technology to further investigate Kim's savant abilities.^[12]

A 2008 study concluded that Peek probably had FG syndrome, a rare genetic syndrome linked to the X chromosome which causes physical anomalies such as hypotonia (low muscle tone) and macrocephaly (abnormally large head).^[5]

Death[link]

Peek died of a heart attack on December 19, 2009.^[10][13]

Appearances[link]

• Brainman, a Discovery Channel documentary
• Inside the Rain Man, a Discovery Channel documentary
• Everything You Need To Know - The Brain, a Discovery Channel documentary
• Human Computer, a Discovery Channel documentary
• Medical Incredible, a Discovery Health Channel documentary
• The Real Rain Man, a Discovery Health Channel documentary premiered on November 26, 2006
• Ripley's Believe It or Not!
• CNN interview by Richard Quest
• Focus Productions. "The Real Rain Man". Extraordinary People. season 2006-07. series 1. RTL Group. Five. http://www2.five.tv/programmes/extraordinarypeople/rainman/. 
• World's Smartest People on The Learning Channel
• Kim and his father were speakers at the inaugural meeting of the Athanasius Kircher Society.^[14]
• Speaker at the Oxford Union
• 60 Minutes
• Accidental Genius, a National Geographic Channel documentary
• Superhuman, "Genius" episode, a Science Channel special premiered on November 7, 2008
• Beautiful Minds: A Voyage Into the Brain, a documentary produced in 2006 by colourFIELD tell-a-vision, a German company
• Den Riktiga Rain Man (The Real Rain Man), a Swedish documentary that was aired July 6th 2006 across the country's channel four (TV-4) TV-station

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Treffert, Darold A. & Christensen, Daniel D. "Inside the Mind of a Savant". Scientific American. December 2005. (requires subscription).
• "NASA Studying 'Rain Man's' Brain". Space.com. Associated Press. November 8, 2004. http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/nasa_peek_041108.html. 
• Peek, Fran (1996). The Real Rain Man: Kim Peek. Salt Lake: Harkness. ISBN 0-9651163-0-1. 
• Portions of the text are the work of the Wisconsin Medical Society and Darold A. Treffert, M.D."Kim Peek - The Real Rain Man"

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Kim Peek

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Kim Peek

• Kim Peek-The Real Rain Man - Wisconsin Medical Society
• Video of the Athanasius Kircher Society Presentation

Dustin Hoffman
Hoffman at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival
Born	Dustin Lee Hoffman (1937-08-08) August 8, 1937 (age 74) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Other names	Sam Etic
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1960–present
Spouse	Anne Byrne (1969–80) Lisa Gottsegen (1980–present)
Children	6

Dustin Lee Hoffman^[1] (born August 8, 1937)^[1] is an American actor with a career in film, television, and theatre since 1960. He has been known for his versatile portrayals of antiheroes and vulnerable characters.^[2]

He first drew critical praise for the play Eh?, for which he won a Theatre World Award and a Drama Desk Award. This was soon followed by his breakthrough movie role as the good-looking but troubled Benjamin Braddock in The Graduate (1967). Since then Hoffman's career has largely been focused on cinema, with only sporadic returns to television and the stage. Some of his most notable films are Papillon, Marathon Man, Midnight Cowboy, Little Big Man, Lenny, All the President's Men, Kramer vs. Kramer, Tootsie, Rain Man, Wag the Dog, and Meet the Fockers.

Hoffman has won two Academy Awards (for his performances in Kramer vs. Kramer and Rain Man), five Golden Globes, four BAFTAs, three Drama Desk Awards, a Genie Award, and an Emmy Award. Dustin Hoffman received the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1999.

Early life[link]

Hoffman was born in Los Angeles,^[1] the second son of Lillian (née Gold) and Harry Hoffman. His father worked as a prop supervisor/set decorator at Columbia Pictures before becoming a furniture salesman.^[3][4] Hoffman was named after stage and silent screen actor Dustin Farnum. His older brother, Ronald, is a lawyer and economist. Hoffman is from an Ashkenazi Jewish family of immigrants from Ukraine^[5] and Romania.^[6][7] His upbringing was not religious or observant.^[8][9] He graduated from Los Angeles High School in 1955 and enrolled at Santa Monica College with the intention of studying medicine, leaving after a year to join the Pasadena Playhouse.^[10]

Career[link]

Early work[link]

Hoffman began his acting career at the Pasadena Playhouse, alongside future Academy Award-winner Gene Hackman.^[11] After two years there, Hackman headed for New York City, with Hoffman soon following. Having considerable difficulty getting roles, he took a series of odd jobs, including working as a restaurant coat checker, working in the typing department of the city Yellow Pages directory, and stringing Hawaiian leis.^{[citation needed]} During this time period he got an occasional bit television role, but left acting briefly to teach in order to support himself. Hoffman also occasionally performed television commercials; an oft-replayed segment on programs that explore actors' early work is a clip showing Hoffman touting the Volkswagen Fastback.

In 1960, Hoffman was cast in a role in an Off-Broadway production and followed with a walk-on role in a Broadway production in 1961. Hoffman then studied at the famed Actors Studio and became a dedicated method actor. Sidney W. Pink, a producer and 3D-movie pioneer, discovered him in one of his Off-Broadway roles and cast him in Madigan's Millions. His first critical success was in Eh? by Henry Livings, which had its US premiere off-Broadway at the Circle in the Square Downtown on October 16, 1966.

Through the early and mid-1960s, Hoffman made appearances in television shows and movies, including Naked City, The Defenders and Hallmark Hall of Fame. Hoffman made his theatrical film debut in The Tiger Makes Out in 1967, alongside Eli Wallach.

In 1967, immediately after wrapping up principal filming on The Tiger Makes Out, Hoffman flew from New York City to Fargo, North Dakota, where he directed a production of William Saroyan's The Time of Your Life for the Emma Herbst Community Theatre. The $1,000 he received for the eight-week contract was all he had to hold him over until the funds from the movie materialized.

Major roles[link]

Hoffman talks to extras on the set of Lenny in Fort Lauderdale, Florida (1974)

In 1966, Mike Nichols cast Hoffman in The Graduate, which prevented him from appearing in the acclaimed Mel Brooks film, The Producers, as Franz Liebkind. The film began production in March 1967. Hoffman received an Academy Award nomination for his performance and became a major star. After the success of this film, another Hoffman film, Madigan's Millions, shot before The Graduate, was released on the tail of the actor's newfound success. It was considered a failure at the box office.

In December 1968, Hoffman returned to Broadway to appear in the title role of Murray Schisgal and John Sebastian's musical Jimmy Shine. For his performance in the production Hoffman won a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Performance. Just a few weeks after leaving the production, Hoffman's next major film, Midnight Cowboy, premiered in theatres across the United States on May 25, 1969. For his role as Ratso Rizzo in the film, Hoffman received his second Oscar nomination and the film won the Best Picture honor. This was followed by his role in Little Big Man (1970) where Jack Crabb, his character, ages from teenager to a 121-year-old man. The film was widely praised by critics, but was overlooked for an award except for a supporting nomination for Chief Dan George.

Hoffman continued to appear in major films over the next few years. Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me? (1971), Straw Dogs (also 1971), and Papillon (1973) were followed by Lenny (1974), for which Hoffman received his third nomination for Best Actor in seven years.

Less than two years after the Watergate scandal, Hoffman and Robert Redford starred as Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, respectively, in All the President's Men (1976). Hoffman next starred in Marathon Man (also 1976), a film based on William Goldman's novel of the same name, opposite Roy Scheider. Hoffman's next roles were less successful. He opted out of directing Straight Time (1978) but starred as a thief. His next film, Michael Apted's Agatha, was with Vanessa Redgrave as Agatha Christie.

Hoffman next starred in Robert Benton's Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) as workaholic Ted Kramer whose wife (Meryl Streep) unexpectedly leaves him; he raises their son alone. Hoffman gained his first Academy Award, and the film also received the Best Picture honor, plus the awards for Best Supporting Actress (Streep) and Director.

In Tootsie (1982), Hoffman portrays Michael Dorsey, a struggling actor who finds himself dressing up as a woman to land a role on a soap opera. His co-star was Jessica Lange. Tootsie earned ten Academy Award nominations, including Hoffman's fifth nomination.

Hoffman in France, September 1985

In 1984, Hoffman starred as Willy Loman in the Broadway revival of the 1949 Arthur Miller play, Death of a Salesman, ^[12] a role he reprised in a tv movie of the same name, for which he won the 1985 Emmy Award in the category of Outstanding Lead Actor in a TV Movie or Miniseries. He also went on to win a Golden Globe for the same performance.

Hoffman's largest film failure was Elaine May's Ishtar, with Warren Beatty. The film faced severe production problems, received almost completely negative reviews from critics and was nominated for three Razzie awards. However, Hoffman and Beatty liked the film's final cut and tried to defend it.^[13][14] Hoffmann and Beatty were unaffected by the flop, and Ishtar became a cult film. James House, who later became a country music artist, served as Hoffman's vocal coach in the film.^[15]

In director Barry Levinson's Rain Man (1988), Hoffman starred as an autistic savant, opposite Tom Cruise. Levinson, Hoffman and Cruise worked for two years on the film, and his performance gained Hoffman his second Academy Award. Upon accepting, Hoffman stated softly to his fellow nominees that it was okay if they didn't vote for him because "I didn't vote for you guys either."^[16] After Rain Man, Hoffman appeared with Sean Connery and Matthew Broderick in Family Business. The film did relatively poorly with the critics and at the box office. In 1991, Hoffman voiced substitute teacher Mr. Bergstrom in The Simpsons episode "Lisa's Substitute", under the pseudonym Sam Etic. As a reference to this episode, during the episode featuring the Itchy & Scratchy movie, Lisa claims that Dustin Hoffman had a cameo in that movie but didn't use his real name.

Throughout the 1990s, Hoffman appeared in many large, studio films, such as Dick Tracy (1990) (where his Ishtar co-star Beatty plays the titular character), Hero (1992) and Billy Bathgate (1991) co-starring with Nicole Kidman who was nominated for a Golden Globe). Hoffman also played the title role of Captain Hook in Steven Spielberg's Hook (also 1991), earning a Golden Globe nomination; in this movie, Hoffman's costume was so heavy that he had to wear an air-conditioned suit under it. Hoffman played the lead role in Outbreak (1995), alongside Rene Russo, Kevin Spacey, Morgan Freeman, Cuba Gooding Jr. and Donald Sutherland. Following that, he appeared in the 1996 revenge-drama/legal-thriller Sleepers (1996) with Brad Pitt, Jason Patric, and Kevin Bacon.

Hoffman during the filming of Last Chance Harvey in 2008

In the mid-1990s, Hoffman starred in—and was deeply involved in the production of—David Mamet's American Buffalo (also 1996), one of the very few "pure art projects"^{[citation needed]} he is known for, and an early effort of film editor Kate Sanford. In 1997, Hoffman starred opposite John Travolta in the Costa Gavras film Mad City and gained his seventh Academy Award nomination for his performance in Wag The Dog, in a role that allowed Hoffman the chance to work with both Robert De Niro and Denis Leary. He next appeared in Barry Levinson's adaptation of Sphere (1998), opposite Sharon Stone, Samuel L. Jackson, Peter Coyote, Queen Latifah and Liev Schreiber. Hoffman next appeared in Moonlight Mile (2002), followed by Confidence (2003) opposite Edward Burns, Andy García and Rachel Weisz. Hoffman finally had a chance to work with Gene Hackman, in Gary Fleder's Runaway Jury (also 2003), an adaptation of John Grisham's bestselling novel.

Hoffman played theater owner Charles Frohman in the J. M. Barrie historical fantasia Finding Neverland (2004), costarring Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet. In director David O. Russell's I Heart Huckabees (also 2004), Hoffman appeared opposite Lily Tomlin as an existential detective team.

Seven years after his nomination for Wag the Dog, Hoffman got a second opportunity to perform again with Robert De Niro, co-starring with Barbra Streisand and Ben Stiller in the 2004 comedy Meet the Fockers, a sequel to Meet the Parents (2000). Hoffman won the 2005 MTV Movie Award for Best Comedic Performance. In 2005, he voiced a horse in Racing Stripes, and appeared in cameo roles in Andy García's The Lost City and on the final episode of HBO sitcom Curb Your Enthusiasm's fifth season. Hoffman appeared in Stranger than Fiction (2006), played the perfumer Giuseppe Baldini in Tom Tykwer's film Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (also 2006) and had a cameo in the same year's The Holiday.

In 2007, he was featured in an advertising campaign for Australian telecommunications company Telstra's Next G network,^[17] appeared in the 50 Cent video "Follow My Lead" as a psychiatrist, and played the title character in the family film Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium. In 2008, although he was reluctant to perform in an animated film, Hoffman had a prominent role as Shifu in the acclaimed film Kung Fu Panda, which was praised in part for his comedic chemistry with Jack Black and his character's poignantly complex relationship with the story's villain. He later won the Annie Award for Voice Acting in an Animated Feature for Kung Fu Panda and has continued into the role in the franchise's subsequent filmed productions outside of the franchise's television series. He next voiced Roscuro in The Tale of Despereaux and played the title character in Last Chance Harvey.

He appeared in Little Fockers, the critically panned yet hugely commercially successful, 2010 sequel to Meet the Fockers.^[18] In 2011, Hoffman reprised his role as Shifu in the commercially and critically successful animated film Kung Fu Panda 2.

Hoffman starred in the HBO horse-racing drama Luck, as a man involved in activities such as bookmaking and casino operations. Luck was cancelled in March of 2012 after three horses died on set.^[19] He will also direct Quartet, a BBC Films comedy starring Maggie Smith and Tom Courtenay.^[20]

Personal life[link]

With Gottsegen (left), and Jake Hoffman (right), at Los Angeles Fashion Week (2007)

Hoffman married Anne Byrne in May 1969.^[21] The couple had two children, Karina (b. 1966) and Jenna (born October 15, 1970). Hoffman adopted Karina (Byrne's child from a previous marriage.) The couple divorced in 1980. He married attorney Lisa Hoffman (née Gottsegen) in October 1980; they have four children – Jacob Edward (born March 20, 1981), Rebecca Lillian (b. March 17, 1983), Maxwell Geoffrey (born August 30, 1984), and Alexandra Lydia (born October 27, 1987). Hoffman also has two grandchildren. In an interview, he said that all of his children from his second marriage had bar or bat mitzvahs and that he is a more observant Jew now than when he was younger; he also lamented that he is not fluent in Hebrew.^[22] In 1970, Hoffman and Byrne were living in Greenwich Village in a building next door to the townhouse destroyed by members of the Weathermen when they detonated a bomb in the building's basement, killing three people. In the 2002 documentary The Weather Underground, Hoffman can be seen standing in the street during the aftermath of the explosion.^[23]

A political liberal, Hoffman has long supported the Democratic Party and Ralph Nader.^[24] In 1997, he was one of a number of Hollywood stars and executives to sign an open letter to then-German Chancellor Helmut Kohl protesting the treatment of Scientologists in Germany, which was published as a newspaper advertisement in the International Herald Tribune.^[25]

There were many rumors and discussions in July 2010 about Hoffman canceling his appearance at the Jerusalem Film Festival as a reaction to the Gaza flotilla raid. However, his representatives told The New York Times there was “no truth” to this report.^[26]

In 2009, he received the freedom of the Italian city Ascoli Piceno for being there during 1972 to shoot the movie Alfredo, Alfredo by Pietro Germi, where he played the role of Alfredo Sbisà.

He is testimonial on 2011 for Regione Marche in Italy, but he was really criticized also for a bad interpretation of Giacomo Leopardi's poetry "Infinito". ^[27]

Filmography and awards[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Dustin Hoffman

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Dustin Hoffman

• Dustin Hoffman at the Internet Movie Database
• Simply Dustin Hoffman
• Top Dustin Hoffman Films
• Dustin Hoffman at the Internet Broadway Database
• Dustin Hoffman at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• Dustin Hoffman video interview at stv.tv, December 2007