Ruth C. Sullivan family member with developmental disabilities. She retired from the Autism Services Center on November 1, 2007 at the age of 83. Sullivan assisted in the production of the 1988 movie "Rain Man" by serving as a consultant on autistic behavior, and Dustin Hoffman worked with Sullivan and her son Joseph, who has autism, when practicing for his role. Hoffman thanked her and Joseph in his Oscar speech. Sullivan has the last credit in the movie, and the extended DVD version features an interview with Joe. (Joe Sullivan was not the only inspiration for Hoffman's role; the role was originally written
Dustin Hoffman disciplined and Dustin is very improvisational, all over the place with his lines. I didn't know where it would end up, but Sean met Dustin improvisation for improvisation, and a great deal of richness and humor came out of it." In 1991, Hoffman voiced substitute teacher Mr. Bergstrom in "The Simpsons" episode "Lisa's Substitute", under the pseudonym Sam Etic. As a reference to this episode, during the Itchy & Scratchy movie, Lisa claims that Dustin Hoffman had a cameo in that movie but didn't use his real name. Throughout the 1990s, Hoffman appeared in many large, studio films, such as