Basil Hoffman

Basil Harry Hoffman (January 18, 1938 – September 17, 2021) was an American actor with a film and television career spanning five decades, mostly in supporting roles. He starred in films with many award-winning directors, including Alan Pakula and Robert Redford. He also authored two books about acting, including Acting and How to Be Good at It.

Early years Hoffman was born in Houston, Texas in January 1938. He graduated from Tulane University; and he spent two years at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City.

A long-time private acting teacher and coach, he was also a frequent guest lecturer and teacher at prestigious professional and academic institutions, including the American Film Institute, the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, Emerson College, the University of Southern California, Confederation College in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada, and the Academie Libanaise des Beaux Arts in Beirut, Lebanon.

In 2008, he returned to Beirut as a U.S. State Department Cultural Envoy to Lebanon to teach acting and directing at the University of Balamand's Academie Libanaise des Beaux Arts, Lebanese University, the University of Notre Dame and St. Joseph University's Institut D'Etude Sceniques Audiovisuelles et Cinematographiques.

Hoffman served as a member of the Board of Directors of Screen Actors Guild and the Fine Arts Advisory Council of Loyola Marymount University. He was an Advisory Director of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, and a member of both the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

He was also the author of acting textbooks including, Cold Reading And How to Be Good At It, and Acting and How To Be Good At It.