Willy Loman first one he ever read and predated his interest in becoming an actor. He noted that the play resonated with him because his father was a travelling salesman and he had an older brother. Hoffman eventually played the role in a high-school production. In 1965, Hoffman served as the assistant director in an off-Broadway revival of "A View from the Bridge" at the Sheridan Square Playhouse with a cast that included Robert Duvall and Jon Voight. The show's director Ulu Grosbard suggested to Miller that Hoffman had the potential to make a great Willy Loman. Miller was unimpressed and later
Willy Loman sudden realization that he is over the hill and does so with a fantasy world in which he remains important. "The Huffington Post"'s theater critic, Wilborn Hampton, describes the role as "one of the most complicated characters in dramatic literature", making it a draw for the great actors. The play is a statement on the idea that a man is valued by his position in life. Loman never matures enough to realize that being popular without any substance or skill is meaningless in the end and Miller uses Loman to make his point against the anti-intellectualists. In the end, Loman