Dustin Hoffman tells Fresh Air’s Terry Gross about creating the character of Dorothy Michaels in Tootsie:

Before we started shooting, I said … “Well, the first thing that comes to mind is I’m not a very attractive man, nor have I ever been and, if I looked like this as a woman I would have [had] a lot of trouble and I really felt that the men I would be attracted to would not be attracted to me and then … I would not get married and compromise on some guy just to be married. I would probably give my life to my art and that was the beginning of this character named Dorothy Michaels.

Tomorrow: an interview with songwriters Alan and Marilyn Bergman. Their songs include the theme song from Maude, “Nice & Easy,” “In the Heat of the Night” (recorded by Ray Charles), “That Face,” “You Must Believe in Spring,” “The Way We Were” and “What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?”. They’ve written the lyrics for music featured in films as diverse as Tootsie, Yentl and the original Thomas Crown Affair — and received Oscars, Emmys, Golden Globes and Grammys in the process.