| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| HTA ID | HTA-0355 |
| Title | Dustin Hoffman — Kramer v. Kramer |
| Date | Late 1979 / Early 1980 |
| Date Confidence | High (Kramer v. Kramer released December 1979; "Hollywood insiders are saying this is the year Dustin Hoffman will take home his first Oscar") |
| Program | PM Magazine |
| Station | WDVM Channel 9, Washington DC |
| Duration | ~8 minutes |
| Format | Celebrity interview |
Henry interviews Dustin Hoffman during the promotional tour for Kramer v. Kramer, the film about a broken marriage and custody battle that critics are calling the defining film of the 1980s — just as The Graduate defined the 1960s. Hoffman is exhausted and hoarse from the press schedule ("I have no voice, but I'm okay"), still chewing a chicken salad sandwich when the interview begins.
The interview covers Hoffman's parallels to the Kramer character — both sacrificed home life for work — and his three previous Oscar nominations without a win. But the piece's real treasure is Hoffman's extended storytelling about his early acting days in New York with Gene Hackman, Robert Duvall, and Elliott Gould. They practiced accents on strangers, staged mock fights in Macy's to attract audiences, and — most memorably — Hoffman bet Hackman he could sell Hackman's 14-month-old son Christopher as a doll at Macy's during the Christmas rush. He placed the passive baby on the counter, announced "Here's a walking, talking, love me, like me doll for $16.95," and a woman tried to buy the child.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| People | Dustin Hoffman (actor), Gene Hackman (referenced), Robert Duvall (referenced), Elliott Gould (referenced), Christopher Hackman (Gene's son), Justin Henry (child actor, Kramer v. Kramer) |
| Organizations | PM Magazine, WDVM, Columbia Pictures, Macy's |
| Locations | Washington DC (interview location) |
| Subjects | Film, acting, Hollywood, divorce, custody |
| Themes | Art vs. life, sacrifice for work, the craft of acting, street performance, method acting origins |
| Keywords | Dustin Hoffman, Kramer v. Kramer, The Graduate, Oscar, Gene Hackman, Robert Duvall, Macy's |
| Career Period | PM Magazine, WDVM Channel 9 (1979–1984) |
"I'm so good an actor, Gene, that I'll sell your kid."
"Pity the painter who can't sell a painting, but pity the actor who can't even paint, because you don't have other actors. You can't practice."
"Gene Hackman and I once got into a mock fight in Macy's... and we amassed maybe 50, 60 people around us, and this was our audience."
"She grabbed him, and she made contact with the skin. I went right up the ceiling."
"I think I have many times picked the film over my life, so to speak."
This is one of the finest celebrity interviews in the archive — not because of the Kramer v. Kramer discussion (competent but standard), but because Hoffman's stories about his early career are extraordinary oral history. The Macy's baby-selling anecdote is a perfect short story: setup (the bet), escalation (the pitch), climax (the woman reaches for the baby), and resolution (she touches skin). These stories reveal the origins of Method acting as a street-level survival skill — young actors so desperate to practice their craft that they turned department stores into theaters.
Henry's interview technique here is notable for restraint. He asks short questions and lets Hoffman's natural storytelling ability fill the space. The opening — Hoffman choking on a chicken salad sandwich — establishes immediate intimacy and strips away the Hollywood veneer. This is a movie star as exhausted working stiff.
| Type | Reference |
|---|---|
| Theme | Celebrity interview — connects to Carol Channing (HTA-0354), Tony Randall (HTA-0342), Baryshnikov (HTA-0347) |
| Theme | Acting/performance craft — unique in archive for depth of craft discussion |
| Career Period | PM Magazine — major celebrity access |
| Historical | Pre-Oscar interview; Hoffman won Best Actor March 1980 |
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Source File | Dustin Hoffman.txt |
| Alternate Files | None identified |
| Source Location | /transcript macwhisper/ (root folder) |
| Transcription Quality | Good |
| Repository Status | Preserved in Source Repository |
Dustin Hoffman won the Academy Award for Best Actor for Kramer v. Kramer at the 52nd Academy Awards on April 14, 1980. This interview was conducted during the promotional tour, likely in late 1979 or very early 1980, making it a pre-Oscar document. The stories about Hackman, Duvall, and Gould are remarkable oral history of the New York acting scene of the early 1960s — three future Oscar winners working part-time jobs and practicing their craft on unsuspecting civilians. Christopher Hackman, the baby Hoffman "sold," grew up to become an actor himself.