Dustin Hoffman: Finally, I can say I'm Jewish

Dustin Hoffman used to deny he was Jewish. But success and the influence of his second wife have enabled him to come to terms with his roots

Dustin Hoffman vividly recalls one afternoon, sitting in his apartment on 11th Street in New York City, talking on the phone to Mike Nichols. The director was trying to convince Hoffman to audition for the part of Benjamin Braddock in “The Graduate”.

“Mike was asking: ‘What do you mean you don’t think you’re right for the part? Because you’re Jewish?’

“I said, ‘Yeah.’

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Tony Kushner: "Me? I am the wicked son"

Tony Kushner was slammed for his screenplay of Spielberg’s ‘Munich’ and for his strident criticisms of Israel. He is also rated as America’s greatest living playwright.

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June Kenton tells the naked truth

The queen of bespoke underwear, June Kenton, has had an unexpected late-career TV hit on Channel 4’s ‘How To Look Good Naked’. Here she talks about some of the tricks of her trade

If TV cook Delia were responsible for sending sales of omelette pans through the roof, then June Kenton, the Grande Dame of British Underwear, may be doing the same for control pants.

If you are not familiar with them, then you are not among the 2.8 million regular viewers of Channel 4’s baroque makeover show “How to Look Good Naked.”

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Jonathan Miller: "Yes, I'm a Jew, and a chimpanzee"

As international cultural icon Jonathan Miller prepares to return to the British theatre, he talks about philosophy, humour and Jewish identity

One article pointed to the “red curly hair and blue eyes [which] call to mind Danny Kaye.” Another picked up on his “look of a shorn Marcel Marceau” and his “loping gait like a disciplined convulsion.” All of them referred to his extraordinary “success in medicine and triumph as a clown.”

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Neil Sedaka, the kosher Carol singer

One of popular music’s greatest singer-songwriters, Neil Sedaka's many enduring hits include a serenade to a famous girlfriend and fellow musician, and who is about to tour the UK

Neil Sedaka’s new album improbably offers the opportunity to make some of his best-known songs into a ringtone for your mobile phone. On purchase of “The Show Goes On,” fans will be able to download “Breaking Up Is Hard To Do,” or “Happy Birthday, Sweet Sixteen.”

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David Rubinger in the picture

A yellowing, framed cartoon hangs on the wall of David Rubinger ’s Jerusalem office. It shows a man with huge wings standing on the edge of a cliff ready for take-off. He is surrounded by cameramen elbowing for the best angle. Below, at the base of the cliff, stands a lone photographer, his camera pointing at the ground.

Rubinger’s picture editor at Time magazine sent it from New York. “David,” he said, “that’s where I want you to be. If he flies, I can get pictures from AP, the whole world. If he doesn’t, I want you to be there.”

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Elliott Gould: Reel to real

Elliot Gould is a screen star whose career was in the doldrums for years and who says he has ‘had problems with reality’ but who has lately enjoyed success on TV and film as a character actor

"Let’s meet at the Chabad Centre,” actor Elliott Gould unexpectedly suggests when I phone him for an interview.

It seems an unlikely venue for a member of a Reconstructionist temple, the least traditional stream of Judaism but, as I later learn during our two-and-a-half-hour interview, Gould is a man of many contradictions and diverse emotions.

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