London, Nov 19 (IANS) Oscar winning actor Dustin Hoffman says he would have been a jazz pianist if he had not got a acting break in "The Graduate".

Hoffman still thinks his friend Mike Nichols played a joke on the world when he cast him in the lead role. He also believes he would have been a theatre actor if he was not drawn to jazz.

Contactmusic.com quoted him as saying: "I really wanted to be a jazz pianist... Acting was just a way to fail with a little more ease and not have my lack of talent show so much as it did on piano. I just had this freak accident happen, called Mike Nichols.

"I actually wrote a composition we used for my new movie, 'Last Chance Harvey', when I was in my 20s and my first girlfriend left me for my acting teacher. It's called 'Shoot The Breeze'. Bette Midler wrote the lyrics and sang it once and Sting has sung it."