# Dustin Hoffman says Katharine Ross slapped him in 27 takes on The Graduate, in new memoir Look at Me

Source: Searchable (https://searchable.pk/news/entertainment/dustin-hoffman-says-katharine-ross-slapped-him-in-27-takes-on-the-graduate-in)
Type: News article
Author: Searchable Editorial
Published: 3 Nov 2026
Updated: 3 Nov 2026
Retrieved: 4 Nov 2026

> Mike Nichols kept asking for harder slaps, then cut the scene. Hoffman blames a punctured eardrum on the shoot. The memoir is out on 10 November.

**Dustin Hoffman says Katharine Ross slapped him across 27 takes while filming The Graduate, on director Mike Nichols's orders, and the scene never even made the film.** The story is in an essay for *The New Yorker* taken from Hoffman's memoir *Look at Me*, which comes out on **10 November 2026**, as [Parade reported via AOL](https://www.aol.com/articles/dustin-hoffman-reveals-27-slaps-133229000.html).

## The 27 slaps

- Nichols kept telling Ross to hit Hoffman harder, take after take, Hoffman writes.
- By the end of the day he was dizzy. The next day, while shooting in a **scuba suit**, blood came from his ear when he surfaced. He blames a **punctured eardrum** on the slaps combined with the water pressure.
- Nichols then cut the slap from the 1967 film altogether.

## "A terrible experience"

Hoffman describes the shoot as hard going. He did not believe he could play Benjamin Braddock, a character he saw as an affluent, athletic Anglo-American unlike himself, and he feared Nichols thought he had made a casting mistake. Nichols was supportive in rehearsals but often sour once cameras rolled, and Hoffman says he felt close to being fired and struggled to work out what the director wanted. He also nearly collapsed while running again and again in the California heat for the sequence in which Benjamin races to stop Elaine's wedding.

## Why it matters

*The Graduate* made Hoffman a star and became one of the defining American films of the 1960s; he went on to win two best actor Oscars, for *Kramer vs Kramer* and *Rain Man*. Accounts like this, of directors pushing actors physically to get a performance, have become a running conversation in Hollywood, and his memoir is likely to add to it.

## When and where to read it

*Look at Me* is due on 10 November. The New Yorker essay is online now. If you are buying the book from abroad, our [currency converter](/tools/finance/currency-converter) shows what the dollar price comes to in rupees. More from the film world on our [entertainment desk](/news/entertainment).

## Frequently asked questions

**When is Dustin Hoffman's memoir out?**

Look at Me is due for publication on 10 November 2026.

## Sources

- Dustin Hoffman Reveals 27 Slaps from Katharine Ross During 'The Graduate' (2 Nov 2026) (Parade via AOL): https://www.aol.com/articles/dustin-hoffman-reveals-27-slaps-133229000.html
- Dustin Hoffman on Surviving The Graduate (The New Yorker): https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-weekend-essay/dustin-hoffman-on-surviving-the-graduate

How to cite: "Dustin Hoffman says Katharine Ross slapped him in 27 takes on The Graduate, in new memoir Look at Me", Searchable, 3 Nov 2026, https://searchable.pk/news/entertainment/dustin-hoffman-says-katharine-ross-slapped-him-in-27-takes-on-the-graduate-in