Dustin Hoffman Says ‘The Graduate’ Fame Left Him With $3,000

“I couldn’t go out in the street without people coming up to touch me and ask for my autograph,” Hoffman wrote. Yet he said he was “still basically broke.” He had paid his own way to Los Angeles for the production and retained $3,000 after expenses, according to his recollection cited by Page Six. The figure describes what remained after costs, not necessarily his full contractual salary.

When his money ran out, Hoffman applied for unemployment benefits. Page Six reported that Life magazine photographed him at an unemployment office, where other applicants recognized him. Hoffman said their reactions embarrassed him: they assumed a newly famous actor would not need assistance. After the photo appeared, he decided he could not return.

The financial strain was one of several difficult memories he shared in “Look at Me.” In an October 31 essay for The New Yorker adapted from the memoir, Hoffman described filming “The Graduate” as “a terrible experience.” He had doubts about playing Benjamin Braddock and worried that director Mike Nichols regretted casting him. Hoffman also recalled that co-star Katharine Ross slapped him through 27 takes of a scene that was ultimately cut.

The film’s success brought Hoffman his first Academy Award nomination for best actor; Nichols won the directing Oscar in 1968. Hoffman later won Oscars for “Kramer vs. Kramer” and “Rain Man.” He has said his life would have been completely different without Nichols giving him the role.