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 to charge again." Philip Seymour Hoffman's performance came at a time when the Occupy Wall Street ongoings echoed the play while its actors could not afford the $120 ticket price. The March version of Loman presented him as a bit more of a lunatic than other versions. Miller noted that although he wrote the play in 1947 and 1948, the play grew out of his life experiences, that included his father losing everything in the 1929 stock market crash. Miller claims that the role was actually modeled on one of his uncles. Dustin Hoffman says that the play was the