By Mary Shaffer
and Jerry Bunin
Telegram-Tribune

Benjamin Braddock, Ratso Rizzo, Ted Kramer, and Michael Dorsay (AKA Dorothy Michaels) are more than just great Dustin Hoffman film roles. They are characters so fully developed and memorably etched in our minds that they define the eras in which they were created.

Earning his seventh Oscar nomination for portraying flamboyant movie producer Stanley Motss in "Wag the Dog" (his fourth film with director Barry "Rain Man" Levinson), the 60-year-old Hoffman ranks with Jack Nicholson, Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino and Meryl Streep as the greatest actors of their generation.

If Hoffman wins next Monday, he will be the first male to win three Best Actor Academy Awards. However, Hoffman hasn't always chosen great roles or scripts.

He's been good in flawed films ("Billy Bathgate"), miscast in big-budget action films ("Outbreak"), and shares blame with Warren Beatty for "Ishtar," the biggest comedy bomb ever made.

But when a part matches his talent, Los Angeles native Hoffman has brought to life a wide variety of complex characters.

For 30 years, Hoffman has been totally convincing in parts as diverse as controversial 1950s comedian "Lenny" Bruce (his third Oscar-nominated role), tenacious Washington Post reporter Carl Bernstein ("All the President's Men"), autistic savant Raymond "Rain Main" Babbitt (his second Oscar), and Jack "Little Big Man" Crabb, the 121-year old survivor of Custer's Last Stand.

Despite his unconventional looks and short stature (one critic described him as "resembling both Sonny and Cher"), Hoffman at age 30 gained instant stardom and an Oscar nomination for his first starring role in Mike Nichols' "The Graduate."

As Benjamin Braddock, the naïve 21-year-old who is seduced by "Mrs. Robinson" (Anne Bancroft) and then falls in love with her daughter, Hoffman defined an entire generation that rejected its parents' middle class values while facing an uncertain future.

The landmark 1967 film remains a witty, insightful commentary on suburban America and the alienation and confusion of the Cold War/Vietnam generation reflected in Nichols' innovative use of Simon and Garfunkel songs throughout.

Hoffman followed his first critical and commercial success with a complete change of pace, earning his second nomination as Ratso Rizzo, the crippled, tubercular New York street hustler who befriends Jon Voight's naïve Texas stud in "Midnight Cowboy."

The wistful, offbeat and seamy urban drama won three Oscars, but it was anti-hero Hoffman (who lost the Best Actor award to American icon John Wayne) as a lonely, seedy loser that captivated audiences.

The role showcased Hoffman's ability to physically transform himself, giving his characters distinct voices and mannerisms--Ratso's limp and whine, Raymond's averted gaze and repetitive monotone, and Benjamin's nervous whimper and blank stare.

A decade later, Hoffman played a less sympathetic low-life in "Straight Time," one of his least known but best films.

In this low-key film based on a novel by ex-con Edward Bunker, Hoffman plays Max Dembo, an ex-con and petty thief with a violent, self-destructive nature who tries to go straight but soon returns to the only life he's ever known.

Hoffman owned the film rights and planned to direct, but hired Ulu Grosbard instead, freeing the actor to create one of his most compelling performances as an incorrigible loner journeying inevitably towards jail or death.

His next film, "Kramer vs. Kramer," brought Hoffman his first Oscar and most sympathetic and likeable role as a self-absorbed, work-obsessed New York advertising executive thrust into single parenthood and an intense custody battle for his young son.

Hoffman, a married father of six in real life, gives his most subtle performance as a man who learns what it means to be a parent only after his wife (Streep) leaves him to find herself.

Unlike his more typically showy roles, Hoffman is quietly introspective as Kramer, often using just his eyes and body to express his burgeoning feelings towards his child.

Ted Kramer is a better person in the end and so is Michael Dorsay, the brilliant but egomaniacal out-of-work actor Hoffman plays in "Tootsie." When no one will hire him, he dresses up as a woman, lands a part on a soap opera and becomes Dorothy Michaels, feminist role model.

Hoffman earned his fifth nomination for a role he reportedly modeled on his Romanian-born mother and auditioned by walking around New York City, deceiving even Jon Voight.

He even pokes fun at his own reputation for being difficult.

Director Sydney Pollack, who also appears as Michael's agent, said directing Hoffman in "Tootsie" was the worst experience of his life. The two fought over Hoffman's "motivation" and even refer to that in one of their on-screen scenes together.

Hoffman may be difficult, but his body of work speaks for itself: Seven of his 30 theatrical films have been nominated for Best Picture and three have taken home the Oscar.

He's been nominated for 11 Golden Globes and won six, including one for lifetime achievement, and earned an Emmy for recreating his acclaimed 1984 Broadway revival of "Death of a Salesman."

But for Hoffman, the next role is "what keeps me going. I feel like I haven't done my favorite picture yet."

Mary Shaffer works at Cal Poly. Jerry Bunin is a news reporter for the Telegram-Tribune.

Match each phrase to its Oscar-nominated Dustin Hoffman film

• 1. "Uh oh!"
• 2. "You see, I'm not the person you think I am."
• 3. "You're trying to seduce me. Aren't you?"
• 4. "This is nothing!"
• 5. "I'm walkin' here!"

• A. "The Graduate" (1967)
• B. "Midnight Cowboy" (1969)
• C. "Tootsie" (1982)
• D. "Rain Main" (1988)
• E. "Wag the Dog" (1997)

1-D, 2-C, 3-A, 4-E, 5-B