John-Michael Howson interviews Dustin Hoffman about preparing for his role as Dorothy Michaels in the 1980s smash hit Tootsie (Sydney Pollack, USA, 1982). He talks about everything that the role taught him. He says: 'Had I been a woman, had I looked like this, I would have been in rather desperate shape. I wouldn't have been able to have a social life anywhere near that I have had as a "homely man" and it made me a little more appreciative of what women go through.' Later he says, 'Someone steps on our foot and we don't want to take it. There are a lot of men who, when a woman reacts that way, they think of her as a bitch. Not simply as someone who's reacting the same as they do ... Being a man you're protected.'

Episode 3016 of The Mike Walsh Show was broadcast on 28 February 1983. The interview was recorded in late 1982 but first screened in Australia ahead of Tootsie's cinema release on 3 March 1983. Tootsie received 10 Academy Award nominations; among the many prizes Hoffman won for playing the title role were a Golden Globe Award and a BAFTA.