Sunday, 10 December 2006

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Dustin Hoffman: I was useless at school

The Hollywood star felt like a loser

It's hard to believe, but A-list actor Dustin Hoffman – who picked up Academy Awards for Kramer vs kramer and Rain Main – felt a failure at an early age.

‘I wasn’t intelligent or like most people,’ says Dustin, 69. ’I could barely get through school.

‘My brother was captain of the football and baseball team – and I was the comedian. Someone saying:”Boy, you’re a real comedian,” is like someone saying: “Boy, you’re a real loser".'

The 'real loser' studied acting because a friend of his told him: 'They don’t flunk you. It’s like the gym, nobody gets an F.'

At the Pasadena Playhouse College of Theater Arts, Dustin met another Hollywood veteran, Superman star Gene Hackman.

He was kicked out after three months ‘because he had no talent,’ Dustin tells The Sunday Times.

‘I found work where I could fail with dignity because 90 per cent of us didn’t get jobs.’

Of course, Dustin got his big break in The Graduate and has never looked back. And that Gene Hackman – also a double Oscar winner – hasn't done badly either.

Elaine Harries