Do we like Dustin Hoffman?
Our score: 4 out of 10. No harmful words turned up, but multiple women's allegations, one partial apology and a heated public row keep him in the middle.
Hoffman is the Tootsie guy. In that 1982 Sydney Pollack film he played an out-of-work actor who passes as a woman to land a soap role, and it earned him a Best Actor nomination. Years later he told an AFI audience, tearfully, that he was shocked on seeing the screen test that he wasn’t more attractive, and that it was never a comedy for him. The sources I could open were thin on his early life, so that’s the shape of it.
The trouble started on 1 November 2017. A former intern on the 1985 TV version of Death of a Salesman wrote a Hollywood Reporter column alleging he made sexual comments and groped her when she was 17. Hoffman issued a statement saying he had “the utmost respect for women”, that he was sorry, and that it was “not reflective of who I am”.
The apology got a rougher test a month later, at a Wag the Dog anniversary panel. John Oliver told him that saying it wasn’t him felt like a cop-out, and that he believed the accuser. Hoffman snapped back that Oliver hadn’t been there and called it a “stupid thing” he’d said, adding that he’d apologised only “if” he made anyone uncomfortable. Neither man budged.
More accusers followed in December 2017. A Broadway co-star from 1984 alleged in her own column that he touched her inappropriately every night and pulled down her costume in front of the crew. Variety then reported a woman who said he exposed himself when she was 16, and another who alleged he pushed his hand down her pants during an Ishtar recording. His lawyers called the accusations “defamatory falsehoods”, per the Irish Times, and I found no court case or ruling.
On the harm test, nothing turned up. I found no remarks from him against LGBTQ+ people, trans people, migrants or the climate, and no company-keeping problem. That is a thin search on his politics rather than a full clean bill, and the allegations belong on the other test.
On the good side, his Tootsie remarks on how women are judged on looks are the sort of thing fans remember him for. In 2018 Bill Murray defended him at a New York event, calling him “a really sweet man” and a lifelong flirt. That is one friend’s view and not a ruling. I couldn’t verify any charity work, so I’m not claiming any.