Fashion Picture Hurt His Integrity, Actor Testifies

Actor Dustin Hoffman testified in federal court Tuesday that Los Angeles magazine trampled on his artistic integrity when it printed without consent a computer-generated picture of him dressed in a woman’s gown and high heels.

Hoffman, who appeared in drag in the hit movie “Tootsie,” contends that the magazine turned him into an unpaid fashion model by using his likeness in a layout that promoted gowns by Richard Tyler and shoes by Ralph Lauren.

“If I were to be asked to be a model selling clothes, it would be worth millions of dollars,” he said. “But if I were to do a commercial, I hardly think it would be selling clothes, male or female.”

The actor, 61, testified on the first day of trial in his damage suit against the magazine and its parent, Capital Cities ABC, now part of Walt Disney Co.

U.S. District Judge Dickran Tevrizian, who is hearing the case without a jury, ruled last year that the 1st Amendment does not shield the magazine from being sued because the article was commercial rather than editorial in nature.

A caption next to Hoffman’s picture read: “Dustin Hoffman isn’t a drag in a butter-colored silk gown by Richard Tyler and Ralph Lauren heels.” The layout also gave the prices of the gown and shoes and the addresses of stores selling them.

Steven Perry, attorney for Los Angeles magazine, said in court Tuesday that the layout was intended to show what Hollywood stars might have worn if their hit movies were being filmed in the spring of 1997.

During cross-examination, Perry asked Hoffman if he knew whether the magazine received money from Richard Tyler or Ralph Lauren for featuring their apparel.

“I don’t know,” the actor said.

In court papers, the magazine’s lawyers said advertisers had no role in planning the March 1997 fashion layout, which included the likenesses of other Hollywood stars dressed in the latest spring designs. The others included Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, Vivian Leigh and Susan Sarandon.

The magazine said it did not intend to convey the impression that Hoffman or the other entertainers actually modeled or endorsed the clothing in which they appeared.

Perry tried to get Hoffman to admit that he had exploited other celebrities’ personas in his movie roles.

The lawyer cited Hoffman’s part in “Wag the Dog.” The actor played a cunning Hollywood producer enlisted by a White House spin-meister to create a fake war, diverting public attention from a sex scandal involving the president. Many movie reviewers said Hoffman modeled his performance after the flamboyant real-life movie producer Robert Evans.

In a lengthy exchange, Hoffman ultimately denied using Evans as a model. But the magazine’s lawyer persisted and tried to have the film admitted into evidence. But the judge, who said he hadn’t seen the movie, refused, saying that it was irrelevant.

Hoffman also denied receiving any compensation for wearing a particular brand of clothing in his movies, though he could not say if the studio might have been compensated.

“I think it cheapens the scene,” he said.

After Hoffman stepped down from the witness stand, both sides played for the judge an hourlong videotaped deposition of former Los Angeles magazine editor Michael Caruso.

Caruso said that in planning the layout, he thought that the entertainers depicted “would get a kick out of it.”