Dustin Hoffman his seventh Academy Award nomination for his performance in "Wag The Dog" (1997), in a role that allowed Hoffman the chance to work with both Robert De Niro and Denis Leary. The movie is a black comedy film produced and directed by Barry Levinson, who also directed Hoffman in "Rain Man" in 1988. The story takes place a few days before a presidential election, where a Washington, D.C. spin doctor (De Niro) distracts the electorate from a sex scandal by hiring a Hollywood film producer (Hoffman) to construct a fake war with Albania. Hoffman, as a caricature of real life
Dustin Farnum and he were the parents of radio actress Estelle "Dustine" Runyon (1925–1983). After great success in a number of stage roles, Farnum landed his first film role in 1914 in the movie "Soldiers of Fortune", and later in Cecil B. DeMille's "The Squaw Man". He died of kidney failure on July 3, 1929, at Post Graduate Hospital in Manhattan, New York City, aged 55. According to an interview in the April 1975 edition of "Playboy", Dustin Hoffman was named after Farnum. Additionally, according to an interview on Fresh Air with Terry Gross on NPR, on January 16, 2013, Dustin says