Dustin Hoffman's first major role was in what 1967 film?

Dustin Lee Hoffman (born August 8, 1937) is an American actor and a director, with a career in film, television, and theater since 1960. Hoffman has been known for his versatile portrayals of antiheroes and vulnerable characters. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1980 for 'Kramer vs. Kramer', and in 1989 for 'Rain Man'.

In 1966, director Mike Nichols auditioned Hoffman for a lead role in the Broadway musical 'The Apple Tree', but rejected him because he could not sing well enough and gave Alan Alda the part. But Nichols was so impressed with Hoffman's overall audition he cast him as the male lead in the movie 'The Graduate' (1967). Hoffman played the character of Benjamin Braddock, who returns to his wealthy parents' home in California after graduating from college. Confused about what to do with his life, he is seduced into having an affair with Mrs. Robinson, an alcoholic and a neurotic, and the wife of his father's law partner. This was Hoffman's first major role, and he received an Academy Award nomination for it but lost to Rod Steiger in 'In the Heat of the Night'.