Was Dustin Hoffman underpaid for the Graduate? ( Photo Credit – Wikimedia )
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While The Graduate shot Dustin Hoffman into stardom, it didn’t exactly fill his bank account. After the film made over $35 million in six months, Hoffman walked away with just $4,000, and a trip to the unemployment line.
Back in 1967, The Graduate changed the landscape of modern filmmaking. Mike Nichols, already a respected director, wanted a lead who looked and felt real. He passed on Hollywood heartthrobs like Robert Redford, Warren Beatty, and Jack Nicholson. They were too confident, too clean-cut. Instead, Nichols rolled the dice on a little-known stage actor with a big nose and nervous energy. That actor? Hoffman.
He wasn’t convinced he belonged on a film set. “I couldn’t sleep, I was so nervous,” Hoffman told Vanity Fair in 2008. “This is not the part for me. I’m not supposed to be in movies.”
But Nichols believed in him. Even as Hoffman second-guessed himself and worried he’d get booted from the production. He had good reason. His co-star and former roommate Gene Hackman was fired just three weeks into filming. Hoffman stuck around. Barely.
The Graduate became the highest-grossing film of 1967 and a cultural lightning bolt. Hoffman’s performance as the awkward, drifting Benjamin Braddock resonated with a generation. But while the studio cashed in, Hoffman’s paycheck didn’t reflect the hit he helped create. He was paid just $17,000. After taxes and expenses, he only had $4,000 to show for it.
He didn’t land a string of roles immediately, either. Hoffman even had to file for unemployment after the movie’s release. The irony? His face was on posters across America while he stood in line for benefits.
But things didn’t stay bleak for long. By the early ’70s, Hoffman was starring in Midnight Cowboy, Little Big Man, and Papillon. His career skyrocketed, and his reputation as one of the finest character actors of his generation followed.
As for The Graduate, it became a full-blown classic. The film racked up award nominations, earned Mike Nichols an Oscar for Best Director, and continued to gain fans across decades. From the opening chords of The Sound of Silence to that iconic bus ride ending, the movie left a mark.
And Hoffman? He may have started broke, anxious, and jobless, but The Graduate made sure he never stayed that way for long.
