EXCLUSIVE: Dustin Hoffman Reveals He Was 'Tortured' on Set of 'The Graduate'

Hoffman, who played Benjamin Braddock, said the production was deeply uncomfortable and he struggled with insecurity while working under Nichols, one of Hollywood's most celebrated directors.

He uses his book to recall the emotional toll of landing the starring role, saying: "I felt immediately uncomfortable, unworthy. Here I was, playing a starring role in a movie by Mike Nichols, who was the director of the moment, but I felt like I had no right to be there.

"It was a terrible experience making the movie that changed my life."

Hoffman said he suspected Nichols was unhappy with his performance and feared the director had decided he was wrong for the part.

The actor also questioned whether he was suitable to play Benjamin, an affluent young college graduate from a privileged White Anglo-Saxon Protestant background.

Hoffman, who was born into an Ashkenazi Jewish family of Russian and Romanian immigrants, said he had initially been reluctant even to audition.

He wrote: "When my agent said that Mike was interested in me, I didn't even want to try out for the part. I had read the Charles Webb novel that Mike was adapting, and it was obvious that I was all wrong for Benjamin.

"A track star and straight-A student, the head of the debate team – this was an affluent, all-American kid, whose surname was 'Braddock.' Why would you cast a person who looks as ethnic as I do to play the ultimate Wasp? It made absolutely no sense."

Hoffman described Nichols, who died in 2014, as "irritable with everyone" and accused him of displaying a "certain sadism" in his treatment of the actor.

One scene apparently proved particularly difficult.

Hoffman said Nichols repeatedly instructed Katharine Ross to hit him harder during a confrontation between Benjamin and Elaine, played by Ross.

"There was a scene in which Katharine Ross had to slap me, and he made us do 27 takes," Hoffman claimed. "The scene has Benjamin run into Elaine's room, soaking wet from the rain, to tell her that he's had an affair with an older woman; within seconds, Elaine realizes the woman is her mother.

"Mike just kept telling Katharine to hit me, to hit me harder. Katharine worried she would hurt me, and I told her, 'I'm O.K. Just don't hit my ear.' Unfortunately, she missed a few times. I was dizzy by the end of that day, and Mike didn't even use the slap in the film."

Hoffman said the physical consequences continued during an underwater sequence filmed shortly afterwards.

Wearing a scuba suit, he surfaced from the pool to discover blood coming from his ear.

"When I came up for air after a few takes, there was blood trickling out of my ear," he wrote. "Between all the slapping during the previous day and all the water pressure at the bottom of the pool, I'd punctured an eardrum."

Despite the experience, The Graduate became a defining film in Hoffman's career.

He later starred in Midnight Cowboy, All the President's Men, Kramer vs. Kramer and Rain Man.