Now ... at the Guthrie ... Dustin Hoffman: Well, he did walk through it the other day

Dustin Hoffman attracted a few looks outside a Guthrie matinee of "A View from the Bridge" on Sunday.

"I am positive I saw him," read an e-mail from "Marilynn Will," who wanted to know "Have there been other sightings? My friends think I'm hallucinating."

If so, Will's sharing celebrity illusions with e-mailer Karen Peterson of Bloomington, who was absolutely positive of the sighting.

Peterson said she stayed for the audience discussion that followed what she reviewed as a "great play, BTW. I left that a little early, so when I went out into the hallway it was completely empty, except for three people walking towards me -- two women and Dustin Hoffman! Being the good Minnesotan I am, I, of course, didn't say anything, but walked quietly pass and thought two things: First off, he is MY size -- I am 5'-4 1/2" and he looked to be exactly my height (I was wearing 1" heels). Secondly, 'OH, MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD THAT WAS DUSTIN HOFFMAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!'"

Peterson, who was still "freaking out 'cause I was walking past Dustin Hoffman," during our Monday telephone interview, wanted to know whether I knew why Hoffman was in town.

Well, obviously the Guthrie is a world-class theater, and therefore a world-class actor such as Hoffman would be drawn there, maybe to see a play or the stellar new facilities. And then there is the matter of Hoffman reportedly having a grandchild in the metro.

There was no mention of any grandchild (bios indicated Hoffman now has two) when Guthrie PR woman Melodie Bahan was guiding around Dustin and his wife, Lisa. "He didn't see a show; he just had a tour," Bahan told me Monday.

Doing some computer-assisted reporting, an editor determined Hoffman's Minnesota son-in-law is/was a Seamus Culligan. Culligan is a strapping, gorgeous fellow, based on a photo of him and Hoffman that can be viewed at lasplash.com. Hoffman was attending a fundraiser for the Los Angeles Mission, an organization that serves the homeless. According to lasplash.com, DJ Jake Hoffman was spinning discs at what looks like a June 2007 benie in Hollywood. IMDB.com identifies Jake as the son of Dustin and Lisa (his second wife) and the half-brother of Jenna Byrne (a child from Dustin's first marriage, according to other bios, although we can't find her in public records). I'm guessing Jenna is/was Seamus' wife.

Memories of Newman Cool Hand Luke's knees were knocking nervously, former Sen. Mark Dayton noticed at 1982 news conference.

Dayton first met Paul Newman in Brainerd a few months before that news conference. "Paul was driving his race car," Dayton said Monday. "I was able to approach him only because my then-wife, Alida, knew one of his daughters. After his practice laps, we met with him inside his trailer. He opened the door and I looked into the most amazing China blue eyes I have ever seen!"

During that trailer visit, Newman agreed to make a campaign appearance on behalf of Dayton (who went on to lose that U.S. Senate race to Dave Durenberger) because the actor was only stumping for candidates who supported a nuclear freeze.

"In September, we held a press conference at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport. The room was packed! Reporters, who shall go nameless, who weren't even covering my campaign were there," said Dayton, who also noticed something else. "At first, he was so nervous that his knees were knocking under the table! Then he got going about his passionate support for the nuclear freeze. He blew the room away."

In good company Works by the "Modern Masters" were not exactly flying off the walls of Griffin Gallery at a Thursday opening, but area artist Gary Welton was doing OK.

Welton's works were relegated to the back of gallery, co-owner Deb Mack noted, because Gary wasn't one of her "Modern Masters," including Matisse, Picasso, Chagall, Warhol, Miro, Dali, Renoir, Neiman, Max.

At least three of Welton's oil-on-canvas pieces -- abstract, gestural dancers in motion painted at live modeling sessions -- sold. One had a $3,995 price tag and another $5,800.

An e-mail from Mack on Friday indicated that I had left the show too soon.

"A Viking player came by after you left," read Mack's e-mail. "Heath? and his wife, Julie." Double checking her records, she said it was injured linebacker Heath Farwell.