"The Least Likely to Succeed", and their eventual win

Mr. Dustin Hoffman and Mr. Gene Hackman were voted as the “least likely to succeed” in their acting class. Their friend was Mr. Robert Duval, who was also a struggling actor at the time.

But as time passed by, these three went on to win a total 19 Oscar nominations with 5 wins. They ended up defining the term “legendary” in their own legendary way, while also encapsulating the “rags to riches” story like nobody else. Quite recently, Mr. Duval and Mr. Hackman passed away at 95, while Mr. Hoffman is still a working actor. He’s 88.

What’s amazing is not that they turned out to be greats with a body of work that proved to be “culture defining”. It’s that for a long time, almost no one believed that they could ever amount to anything in life. Mr. Hoffman was recognised as short and ugly with a big nose. Mr. Hackman was dismissed from the acting school for his unconventional craft (which was only thought of as bad acting till then). And Mr. Duval was reviewed as someone “whose spine tends toward a figure S, whose diction is flannel-coated, and whose simpering expressions are moronic”.

These guys waited tables, washed dishes, moved boxes, delivered messages, and did anything under the sun, just to survive in the city. Once, while employed as a doorman at a building in Times Square, one of his former Marines walked by and muttered, “Hackman, you’re a sorry son of a bitch”. It wasn’t very nice.

But still, they stayed on with their craft. They took every day as it came, with extraordinary passion for their work, life and laughter. And this “struggle” lasted for a very long time; not for a few months or a year (like in most BS stories of struggle), but genuinely for a really long time.

Like Mr. Hoffman only broke out with The Graduate when he was 32. Mr. Hackman found his big break with Bonnie and Clyde at 37. And Mr. Duval found his ticket to the moon with The Godfather, when he was 41.

Imagine waiting till 32, 37, and 41 till you find your place in the sun. Especially as a broke and out-of-work actor. It’s unfathomably hard. But you know what’s the best part? It’s that no matter how late and hard it came, their extraordinary success was only a beginning to their unbelievably great and “long” careers thereafter.

Mr. Duval’s last movie came out when he was 92, Mr. Hackman acted, wrote and painted till he was 86. And as mentioned above, Mr. Hoffman is still coming out with masterpieces at 88. His last film seems terrific, and he has three in production right now.

So not only was everyone wrong about these three legendary actors (and great friends), they all also underestimated how far they’d keep pushing even after making it. Winning Oscars in their youth wasn’t the finish line for these three. They kept going even in their 80s.

There’s infinite power and a certain magic in someone who truly “loves” their work. Never bet against that someone. You’ll always lose.

Mr. Robert Duval, Mr. Gene Hackman, and Mr. Dustin Hoffman.

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