Trivia: The emergence of Dustin Hoffman in 1967 heralded the arrival of a new era of Hollywood stardom. Diminutive, wiry and unassuming, he was anything but the usual matinee idol, yet he quickly distinguished himself among the most popular and celebrated screen performers of his generation. A notoriously difficult talent famous for his battles with directors as well as his total immersion in his performances, Hoffman further battled against stereotypes by accepting roles which cast him firmly as an antihero, often portraying troubled, even tragic figures rarely destined for a happy ending. By extension, he broke new ground for all actors -- not only were stars no longer limited to heroic, larger-than-life characterizations, but in his wake virtually anyone, regardless of their seeming physical limitations, could attain success on the big screen. Born August 8, 1937 in Los Angeles, Hoffman originally studied to become a doctor, but later focused his attentions on acting, performing regularly at the Pasadena Playhouse alongside fellow aspirant Gene Hackman. Upon relocating to New York City, he worked a series of odd jobs, landing the occasional small television role and later touring in summer stock. Frustrated by his lack of greater success, Hoffman once even left acting to teach, but in 1960 he won a role in the off-Broadway production Yes Is for a Very Young Man. After 1961's A Cook for Mr. General, however, he continued to struggle, and did not reappear onstage for several years, in the meantime studying with Lee Strasberg at the Actors' Studio and becoming a dedicated Method actor. Finally, in 1964 Hoffman appeared in a string of theatrical projects including productions of Waiting for Godot and The Dumbwaiter. Two years later he won a Best Actor Obie for his work in The Journey of the Fifth Horse. In 1967 Hoffman made his film debut with a tiny role in the feature The Tiger Makes Out, a similarly brief appearance in Un Dollaro per Sette Vigliachi followed later that same year, as did a highly-acclaimed turn in the theatrical farce Eh? It was here that he was first spotted by director Mike Nichols, who cast him in the lead role in his 1967 black comedy The Graduate. Though 30 at the time of filming, Hoffman was perfectly cast as an alienated college student, and his work won him not only an Oscar nomination but also made him a hugely popular performer with the youth market. His status as a burgeoning counterculture hero was solidified thanks to his work in John Schlesinger's 1969 Academy Award winner Midnight Cowboy, which earned Hoffman a second Oscar bid. While the follow-up, the romance John and Mary, was a disappointment, in 1970 he starred in Arthur Penn's Little Big Man, delivering a superb portrayal of an Indian fighter -- a role which required him to age 100 years. Directed by his longtime friend Ulu Grosbard, 1971's Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me? was Hoffman's first outright failure. He next starred in Sam Peckinpah's harrowing Straw Dogs, a film which earned harsh criticism during its original release but which, like much of Peckinpah's work, was later the subject of much favorable reassessment. In 1973 Hoffman co-starred with Steve McQueen in the prison drama Papillon, which returned him to the ranks of box-office success before he starred as the legendary stand-up comedian Lenny Bruce in Bob Fosse's 1974 biography Lenny, a stunning portrayal which earned him a third Academy Award nomination. Another real-life figure followed as Hoffman portrayed Carl Bernstein opposite Robert Redford's Bob Woodward in All the President's Men, Alan J. Pakula's riveting docudrama on the Watergate break-in. Next, Hoffman reteamed with director Schlesinger for 1976's Marathon Man, which cast him alongside Laurence Olivier and scored another major hit. The1978 Straight Time, a pet project helmed by Grosbard, was critically acclaimed but a financial disappointment, and 1979's Agatha pleased neither audiences nor the media. The 1979 domestic drama Kramer vs. Kramer, on the other hand, was a major success with both camps, and Hoffman's portrayal of a divorced father finally earned him an Academy Award on his fourth attempt at the prize. He also won a Golden Globe, as well as honors from the New York and Los Angeles critics. Hoffman's next film, the Sydney Pollack-helmed 1982 comedy Tootsie, was even more successful at the box office. Starring as an out-of-work actor who dresses in drag to win a role on a soap opera, he earned yet another Oscar nomination as the film grossed nearly $100 million during its theatrical release. After a long absence, Hoffman returned to the stage in 1984 to portray Willy Loman in a Broadway revival of Death of a Salesman. A year later, he reprised the performance for a CBS television special, earning an Emmy and another Golden Globe. He did not return to films until 1987, when he shared top billing with Warren Beatty in Elaine May's disastrous comedy Ishtar. In the wake of the big-budget project's chilly audience reception, any number of films were discussed as a follow-up, but after much debate Hoffman finally agreed to co-star with Tom Cruise in Barry Levinson's 1988's Rain Man. His performance as a middle-aged autistic won a second "Best Actor" Oscar, and helped spur the picture to become a major financial as well as critical success. The following year Hoffman again turned to Broadway to star as Shylock in a presentation of The Merchant of Venice, followed by the motion picture Family Business, in which he starred with Sean Connery and Matthew Broderick. After making an unbilled and virtually unrecognizable cameo appearance in Beatty's 1990 comic strip adaptation Dick Tracy, Hoffman starred in the 1991 crime drama Billy Bathgate, the first in a string of films which saw his drawing power gradually diminishing throughout the decade. That same year he starred as Captain Hook opposite Robin Williams' portrayal of an adult Peter Pan in the Steven Spielberg fantasy Hook; after 1992's Hero proved similarly lackluster, Hoffman disappeared from the screen for three years. His comeback film, the adventure tale Outbreak, performed moderately well at the box office, but the follow-up, Michael Corrente's oft-delayed adaptation of the David Mamet drama American Buffalo, saw only limited release. Hoffman next joined an ensemble cast also including Robert De Niro and Brad Pitt in Levinson's 1996 drama Sleepers, trailed a year later by Costa-Gavras' Mad City, Sphere and Wag the Dog followed, the latter of which netted Hoffman another Best Actor nomination for his portrayal of Stanley Motss, a neurotic producer reportedly based on Robert Evans. In 2002, Hoffman appeared in the poignant, psychological drama Moonlight Mile. He continued to take selective but memorable supporting roles throughout the new millennium, playing roles like a dedicated lawyer in Runaway Jury and theatrical producer Charles Frohman in Finding Neverland. In 2004, he provided audiences with laughter in the quirky existential comedy I Heart Huckabees, and in 2005 he played Ben Stiller's eccentric father in the Meet the Parents sequel Meet the Fockers, returning to the part in 2010's Little Fokkers. In 2006, the veteran actor grabbed two more opportunities to play up his trademark brand of quirkiness in the Will Ferrell, Emma Thompson comedy Stranger Than Fiction and played a 243 year old owner or a strangely enchanted toy store in Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium. Hoffman also voiced the wise master of Kung Fu Panda in a pair of animated films.

Trivia: Laurence Olivier -- Sir Laurence after 1947, Lord Laurence after 1970 -- has been variously lauded as the greatest Shakespearean interpreter of the 20th century, the greatest classical actor of the era, and the greatest actor of his generation. Although his career took a rather desperate turn toward the end when he seemed willing to appear in almost anything, the bulk of Olivier's 60-year career stands as a sterling example of extraordinary craftsmanship. Olivier was the son of an Anglican minister, who, despite his well-documented severity, was an unabashed theater lover, enthusiastically encouraging young Olivier to give acting a try. The boy made his first public appearance at age nine, playing Brutus in an All Saint's production of Julius Caesar. No member of the audience was more impressed than actress Dame Sybil Thorndike, who knew then and there that Olivier had what it took. Much has been made of the fact that the 15-year-old Olivier played Katherine in a St. Edward's School production of The Taming of the Shrew; there was, however, nothing unusual at the time for males to play females in all-boy schools. (For that matter, the original Shakespeare productions in the 16th and 17th centuries were strictly stag.) Besides, Olivier was already well versed in playing female roles, having previously played Maria in Twelfth Night. Two years after The Taming of the Shrew, he enrolled at the Central School of Speech Training and Dramatic Art, where one of his instructors was Claude Rains. Olivier made his professional London debut the same year in The Suliot Officer, and joined the Birmingham Repertory in 1926; by the time Olivier was 20, he was playing leads. His subsequent West End stage triumphs included Journey's End and Private Lives. In 1929, he made his film debut in the German-produced A Temporary Widow. He married actress Jill Esmond in 1930, and moved with her to America when Private Lives opened on Broadway. Signed to a Hollywood contract by RKO in 1931, Olivier was promoted as "the new Ronald Colman," but he failed to make much of an impression onscreen. By the time Greta Garbo insisted that he be replaced by John Gilbert in her upcoming Queen Christina (1933), Olivier was disenchanted with the movies and vowed to remain on-stage. He graduated to full-fledged stardom in 1935, when he was cast as Romeo in John Gielgud's London production of Romeo and Juliet. (He also played Mercutio on the nights Gielgud assumed the leading role himself.) It was around this time that Olivier reportedly became fascinated with the works of Sigmund Freud, which led to his applying a "psychological" approach to all future stage and screen characters. Whatever the reason, Olivier's already superb performances improved dramatically, and, before long, he was being judged on his own merits by London critics, and not merely compared (often disparagingly) to Gielgud or Ralph Richardson. It was in collaboration with his friend Richardson that Olivier directed his first play in 1936, which was also the year he made his first Shakespearean film, playing Orlando in Paul Czinner's production of As You Like It. Now a popular movie leading man, Olivier starred in such pictures as Fire Over England (1937), 21 Days (1938), The Divorce of Lady X (1938), and Q Planes (1939). He returned to Hollywood in 1939 to star as Heathcliff in Samuel Goldwyn's glossy (and financially successful) production of Wuthering Heights, earning the first of 11 Oscar nominations. He followed this with leading roles in Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca (1940),Pride and Prejudice (1940), and Alexander Korda's That Hamilton Woman (1941), co-starring in the latter with his second wife, Vivien Leigh. Returning to England during World War II, Olivier served as a parachute officer in the Royal Navy. Since he was stationed at home, so to speak, he was also able to serve as co-director (with Ralph Richardson) of the Old Vic. His most conspicuous contribution to the war effort was his joyously jingoistic film production of Henry V (1944), for which he served as producer, director, and star. Like all his future film directorial efforts, Henry V pulled off the difficult trick of retaining its theatricality without ever sacrificing its cinematic values. Henry V won Olivier an honorary Oscar, not to mention major prizes from several other corners of the world. Knighthood was bestowed upon him in 1947, and he served up another celluloid Shakespeare the same year, producing, directing and starring in Hamlet. This time he won two Oscars: one for his performance, the other for the film itself. The '50s was a transitional decade for Olivier: While he had his share of successes -- his movie singing debut in The Beggar's Opera (1953), his 1955 adaptation of Richard III -- he also suffered a great many setbacks, both personal (his disintegrating relationship with Vivien Leigh) and professional (1957's The Prince and the Showgirl, which failed despite the seemingly unbeatable combination of Olivier's directing and Marilyn Monroe's star performance). In 1956, Olivier boldly reinvented himself as the seedy, pathetically out-of-step music hall comic Archie Rice in the original stage production of John Osborne's The Entertainer. It was a resounding success, both on-stage and on film, and Olivier reprised his role in a 1960 film version directed by Tony Richardson. Thereafter, Olivier deliberately sought out such challenging, image-busting roles as the ruthless, bisexual Crassus in Spartacus (1960) and the fanatical Mahdi in Khartoum (1965). He also achieved a measure of stability in his private life in 1961 when he married actress Joan Plowright. In 1962, he was named the artistic director of Britain's National Theatre, a post he held for ten years. To periodically replenish the National's threadbare bank account, Olivier began accepting roles that were beneath him artistically, but which paid handsomely; in the early '70s, he even hawked Polaroid cameras on television. During this period, he was far more comfortable before the cameras than in the theater, suffering as he was from a mysterious bout of stage fright. He also committed two more directorial efforts to film, Othello (1965) and Dance of Death (1968), both of which were disappointingly stage-bound. In 1970, he became Lord Olivier and assumed a seat in the House of Lords the following year. Four years later, suffering from a life-threatening illness, he made his last stage appearance. From 1974 until his death in 1989, he seemingly took whatever film job was offered him, ostensibly to provide an income for his family, should the worst happen. Some colleagues, like director John Schlesinger, were disillusioned by Olivier's mercenary approach to his work. Others, like Entertainer director Tony Richardson, felt that Olivier was not really a sellout as much as he was what the French call a cabotin -- not exactly a ham: a performer, a vulgarian, someone who lives and dies for acting. Amidst such foredoomed projects as The Jazz Singer (1980) and Inchon (1981), Olivier was still capable of great things, as shown by his work in such TV productions as 1983's Mister Halpern and Mister Johnson and, in 1984, King Lear and Voyage Round My Father. In 1979, he was once more honored at Academy Awards time, receiving an honorary Oscar "for the full body of his work." His last appearance was in the 1988 film War Requiem.

Trivia: One of the most unique and distinguished of all Hollywood actors, Roy Scheider first hit his career peak in the 1970s, and will forever be associated with the "American film renaissance" of that decade thanks to his prominent billing in four vital motion pictures from the period: The French Connection (1971), Klute (1971), Jaws (1975), and All That Jazz (1979). As this list demonstrates, Scheider exhibited versatility in choice of material. He also, however, established a trademark persona that carried him from project to project: that of a slightly sardonic, wizened everyman who nonetheless evinced an unmistakable degree of sensitivity and emotional fragility beneath a tough exterior. Born November 10, 1932, in Rutgers, New Jersey, Scheider attended Rutgers University, as well as Franklin and Marshall College, where he studied history; meanwhile, an early boxing injury (in the New Jersey Diamond Gloves Competition) left Scheider with a broken nose that would soon become one of his trademarks. He subsequently joined the United States Air Force and served three years, ascending to the rank of first lieutenant, then returned to Franklin and Marshall for drama work, beginning with a much-acclaimed performance in Shakespeare's Richard III. Scheider inaugurated his professional career as a thespian by cutting his chops on the New York stage, as Mercutio in the New York Shakespeare Festival's 1961 production of Romeo and Juliet, and appeared in a couple of shoestring-budget cheapies (such as the 1963 Curse of the Living Corpse). Additional movie roles followed, but the actor really only made his breakthrough in 1971, with two of the said parts -- in Klute (as the pimp of hooker Bree Daniels) and in William Friedkin's groundbreaking cop thriller The French Connection (as Buddy Russo, the somewhat low-key and subdued partner of Gene Hackman's manic Popeye Doyle). An additional cop role, in The Seven-Ups (1973), followed, but by this point, Scheider had reportedly grown concerned that he would be pegged and typecast as a policeman and decided to branch out with an offbeat turn in the romantic comedy Sheila Levine Is Dead and Living in New York (1975). When that picture unequivocally flopped, Steven Spielberg helped rescue Scheider (and in many ways put the actor on the proverbial map) by casting him as the lead, Police Chief Martin Brody, in the blockbuster shocker Jaws (1975). After this, roles proliferated; Scheider evoked a death-wish-laden Bob Fosse in the gonzo musical drama All That Jazz (1979, a part he inherited from Jaws co-star Richard Dreyfuss), and also chalked up a series of leads in Hitchcockian thrillers including Jonathan Demme's The Last Embrace (1979) and Robert Benton's Still of the Night (1982). Scheider remained equally active through the 1980s and '90s, though his choice of projects waxed slightly more uneven, ranging from the inspired (1986's 52 Pick-Up, 1990's The Russia House) to the abysmal (1986's The Men's Club). The actor retained a firm hold on his craft, however, and delivered some of the finest work of his career late in the game, with prominent roles in David Cronenberg's 1991 Naked Lunch (as a wiseacre physician) and Bart Freundlich's family-themed psychodrama The Myth of Fingerprints (1997, as a seriously deranged father with a seedy and twisted past). The 1990s also found Scheider embarking on a television career for the first time, with a regular role as Captain Nathan Hale Bridger in Steven Spielberg's sci-fi adventure series seaQuest DSV (1993-1996). Scheider would return to television a decade later, with a recurring portrayal of Fyodor Chevchenko on the prime-time drama Third Watch; in the mean time, the actor continued to tackle roles in additional features and even direct-to-video movies, including Time Lapse (2001), Red Serpent (2002), Wes Craven Presents Dracula II: Ascension (2003), and The Poet (2007). By the mid-2000s, Scheider contracted multiple myeloma and began to suffer from related health problems; he died in February 2008 of complications from a staph infection. The actor was 75.

Trivia: AADA alumnus William Devane first came to the attention of critics while working with the New York Shakespeare Festival. In the angry off-Broadway satire MacBird (1967), Devane played the first of many sharkish young men on the make. His entree into films came by way of the 16-millimeter In Country (1969), after which he alternated between icewater villainy (Hitchcock's Family Plot [1976]) and unexpected heroics (Rolling Thunder [1977]). Much of Devane's best work was seen on television: his marked resemblance to the Kennedy clan has served him well as JFK in TV's The Missiles of October (1974) and the Teddy-like patriarch in the 1995 series The Monroes; and he brought just the right blend of aggression, indignation and confusion to his portrayal of blacklisted TV personality John Henry Faulk in Fear on Trial (1977). Devane has also starred as Sgt. Mike Warden on the TV-series version of From Here to Eternity (1979) and duplicitous state senator Gregory Sumner in Knot's Landing . In the following decades, Devane would continue to appear on both the large and small screens, most notably on What About Brian? and 24, as well as movies like Payback and Space Cowboys.

Trivia: Upon earning his BA degree from the University of Chicago, Fritz Weaver began his formal acting training at the H-B studios. Paying his dues with such regional stock companies as Virginia's Barter Theatre and Massachussett's Group 20 Players, Weaver made his first off-Broadway appearance in a 1954 production of The Way of the World. His inaugural Broadway effort was 1955's The Chalk Circle. Weaver went on to appear in such classic stage roles as Hamlet and Peer Gynt, and also amassed a remarkable list of film credits, including two Twilight Zone appearances. In 1964, he made his film debut as the unstable Colonel Caserio in the doomsday thriller Fail Safe. The following year, he starred on Broadway in Baker Street, a musicalization of Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories. In 1970, he won the Tony award for his work as Jerome Malley in Child's Play. Most often cast as aristocratic villains in films (his resemblance to William F. Buckley has not gone unnoticed by producers), Fritz Weaver made his biggest international impact in the sympathetic role of Josef Weiss in the TV miniseries Holocaust (1978). Weaver worked mostly in television for the rest of his career (save for a supporting role in 1999's The Thomas Crown Affair), with guest spots in shows like The Love Boat, Murder, She Wrote, The X-Files, Frasier and Law & Order. Weaver died in 2016, at age 90.

Trivia: Character actor, onscreen from the '40s.

Trivia: French character actor in international films, onscreen from the '50s.

Trivia: American actress Madge Kennedy was already an established Broadway star when she was brought to Hollywood by producer Sam Goldwyn in 1917. Seeking "respectability" (the theatre was considered more respectable than movies), Goldwyn used his formidable lineup of stage-trained leading ladies, including Madge Kennedy and Maxine Elliot, to advertise his entire years' manifest of films. Ms. Kennedy had done mostly comedy on stage, but in films alternated her humorous characterizations with deeply dramatic or tragic roles. She left Hollywood briefly in 1923 to star with W.C. Fields in the Broadway musical Poppy, and three years later retired from films permanently (or so she thought). Busy with several non-acting activities in the '30s and '40s, Madge was coaxed back before the cameras to play an understanding divorce judge in George Cukor's The Marrying Kind (1952). This inaugurated a second career in character parts, some billed (Lust for Life [1955]), some unbilled (North by Northwest [1959]). Kennedy also worked on television, notably in the recurring character of Aunt Martha on Leave It to Beaver. Madge dabbled in theatrical work in the '60s, supporting Ruth Gordon in the Broadway play A Very Rich Woman, and received positive critical attention for her small part as Mrs. Leyden in the 1969 film They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (contrary to popular belief, she was given screen credit for that part). Madge Kennedy's last film, twelve years before her death at 96, was Day of the Locust (1975), appropriately set in Hollywood's Golden Age.