Best Known As: The star of Jaws and Close Encounters
In the late 1970s Richard Dreyfuss was a top box office star, thanks to starring roles in the Steven Spielberg blockbusters Jaws (1975) and Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977). Dreyfuss grew up in New York and California and was a conscientious objector during the Vietnam War. He began his acting career in repertory theater and improvisational comedy, followed by Broadway and off-Broadway plays and guest appearances on television. In 1973 he was the center of the George Lucas coming-of-age hit American Graffiti, and he earned critical praise the next year for The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz. By the end of the '70s he was a box office draw, known more for his onscreen energy than for his good looks. He won a best actor Oscar for his performance in the romantic comedy The Goodbye Girl (1977), but then his career took a downturn. Mediocre movies and a drug addiction kept Dreyfuss out of the limelight during the first half of the 1980s, but he bounced back with Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986) and Tin Men (1987). A sturdy character actor and sometime leading man, his films include What About Bob? (1991, with Bill Murray), Mr. Holland's Opus (1995, with Alicia Witt), the TV movie Tin Man (starring Zooey Deschanel) and the 2008 Oliver Stone film about former president George W. Bush, W. (Dreyfuss played Vice President Dick Cheney).
Dreyfuss was nominated for a best actor Oscar for Mr. Holland's Opus.
Born: Oct 29, 1947 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York
Occupation: Actor
Active: '70s-2000s
Major Genres: Drama, Comedy
Career Highlights: Jaws, American Graffiti, Once Around
First Major Screen Credit: Bewitched: Man's Best Friend (1966)
Biography
Stocky, frequently bespectacled, eventually balding, and prematurely gray, Richard Dreyfuss is an unlikely candidate for a movie star. Even so, he has been one of Hollywood's most versatile, charismatic, and energetic leading men since the mid-'70s. Born in Brooklyn, NY, on October 29, 1947, Dreyfuss moved to Los Angeles with his family when he was nine. There he became friends with Rob Reiner and began acting in school productions and at the Beverly Hills Jewish Community Center. He attended San Fernando Valley State College, but was expelled after getting into a heated argument with a professor over Marlon Brando's performance in Julius Caesar (1953). Not wanting to be drafted for Vietnam, he registered as a conscientious objector and spent two years as a clerk at a Los Angeles hospital instead of enlisting.
During this time, Dreyfuss started getting a few acting jobs on network television series such as Bewitched and Big Valley; he had his first film role in 1967's The Graduate, speaking the lines "Shall I call the cops? I'll call the cops" to Dustin Hoffman. He continued playing bit parts in a couple more films, but did not get his first big break until he played Baby Face Nelson in the bloody biopic Dillinger (1973). A memorable leading role as an intelligent, contemplative teen in George Lucas' American Graffiti (1973) earned Dreyfuss critical acclaim, as did his portrayal of an entrepreneurial Jewish youth in The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1974).
In 1975, the actor's career exploded when he starred as an arrogant shark expert in Steven Spielberg's Jaws. He worked for Spielberg again two years later, playing an average Midwestern working stiff who learns that we are not alone in the universe in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Further success followed that same year when Dreyfuss portrayed a failed actor in Neil Simon's romantic comedy The Goodbye Girl. His performance won him an Oscar, making him, at the age of 29, the youngest performer ever to receive the Best Actor honor. After that, Dreyfuss was in demand and, until 1981, he continued to find steady work in a number of films. However, none of these proved particularly popular, and the actor's career began to nosedive. Matters were worsened by his reported drug use and Hollywood party antics; in 1982, he was involved in a car accident and arrested for possession of cocaine.
Fortunately, Dreyfuss managed to turn his life around, and after appearing in the rarely seen Buddy System (1984), made a big comeback in Paul Mazursky's hit comedy Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986), starring opposite Bette Midler and Nick Nolte. With his reputation restored, Dreyfuss went on to appear in lead and supporting roles in numerous films of varying quality. Highlights included Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (1990), Postcards From the Edge (1990), What About Bob? (1991), and Quiz Show (1994). In 1996, Dreyfuss played one of his finest roles as a high school music teacher who sacrifices his dream of becoming a famous composer to help his students in Mr. Holland's Opus (1996). The role earned Dreyfuss an Oscar nomination. That same year, he won acclaim of a different sort, lending his voice to a sarcastic centipede in Tim Burton's animated adaptation of Roald Dahl's James and the Giant Peach. He went on to appear in Sidney Lumet's Night Falls on Manhattan (1997) and to star in Krippendorf's Tribe in 1998. The following year, he could be seen as titular Jewish gangster Lansky, a made-for-TV biopic scripted by David Mamet.
In 2001, with his film career struggling a bit, Dreyfuss took his first stab at series television since 1964's short-lived sitcom Karen. The hour-long CBS drama The Education of Max Bickford starred the actor as a college history professor opposite Marcia Gay Harden and received largely positive reviews from critics. However, despite the accolades, the show failed to garner a substantial audience and was cancelled after one season.
The next few years saw little more from Dreyfuss than voice-work and a pair of forgettable made-for-TV movies. However, in 2004, he received high-marks for his performance in director John Sayles political satire Silver City, which cast the actor as a Karl Rove-esque advisor to a dimwitted politico. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Dreyfuss was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Norman, an attorney and restaurateur, and Geraldine, a peace activist.[2] Dreyfuss is Jewish[3][4] and his surname is of Yiddish origin, believed to originate in the German city of Trier, which had a large Jewish population in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. The Latin name for the city was "Treveris", of which Dreyfuss is a variant. He commented that he "grew up thinking that Alfred Dreyfus and [he] are of the same family."[5]
Career
Dreyfuss's acting career began during his youth at the Beverly Hills Jewish Center. He debuted in the TV production In Mama's House when he was fifteen. He attended the San Fernando Valley State College (later re-named California State University, Northridge) for a year. He was a conscientious objector during the Vietnam War and worked in alternate service for two years as a clerk in a Los Angeles hospital. During this time, he acted in a few small TV roles on shows like Peyton Place, Gidget, Bewitched and The Big Valley. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, he also performed on stage on Broadway, off-Broadway, repertory, and improvisational theater.
Dreyfuss's first film part was a small, uncredited role in The Graduate and had one line, "Shall I call the cops? I'll call the cops." He was also briefly seen as a stage hand in Valley of the Dolls, in which he had a few lines. He appeared in the subsequent Dillinger, and landed a role in the 1973 hit American Graffiti, acting with other future stars such as Harrison Ford and Ron Howard. Dreyfuss played his first lead role in the Canadian film The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz.
Around 1978, Dreyfuss began using cocaine frequently; his addiction came to a head four years later in 1982, when he was arrested for possession of the drug at the scene of a collision between his car and a tree.[6] He entered rehab and eventually made a Hollywood comeback with the film Down And Out In Beverly Hills in 1986 and Stakeout the following year.
He had a starring role opposite Bill Murray in the 1991 hit comedy What About Bob? as a psychiatrist who goes crazy while trying to cope with a particularly obsessive new patient. While growing up in Beverly Hills, he lived within six blocks of Michael Burns, who became a preeminent expert on the Dreyfus affair and the author of Dreyfus: A Family Affair, 1789-1945. Dreyfuss later worked with Burns as producer and took on the role of Georges Picquart in Prisoner of Honor, a HBO movie about the historical incident released in 1991.
Dreyfuss was nominated for an Oscar and a Golden Globe for his performance as Glenn Holland in Mr. Holland's Opus (1995). Since then he has continued working in the movies, television and on stage. In April 2004, he appeared in the revival of Sly Fox on Broadway (opposite Eric Stoltz, René Auberjonois, Bronson Pinchot and Elizabeth Berkley).
In November 2004, he was scheduled to appear in The Producers in London, but withdrew from the production a week before the opening night. The media noted that Dreyfuss was still suffering from problems relating to an operation for a herniated disc in January, and that the part of Max Bialystock in the play is a physically demanding one. Both he and his assistant for the production stated that Dreyfuss was accumulating injuries that required him to wear physical therapy supports during rehearsals.[7]Nathan Lane was brought in to replace Dreyfuss in the London production. It later emerged that he'd been fired.[8]
Dreyfuss recorded the voiceover to the famous Apple, Inc., then Apple Computer, Inc., Think Different ad campaign in 1999. The text of the ad begins, "Here's to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels..."
In early 2009, he appeared in the play Complicit (directed by Kevin Spacey) in London's Old Vic theatre. His participation in the play was subject to much controversy, owing to his use of an earpiece on stage, reportedly because of his inability to learn his lines in time.[10][11]
Dreyfuss has been outspoken on the issue of media informing policy, legislation, and public opinion in recent years, both speaking and writing to express his sentiments in favor of privacy, freedom of speech, democracy, and individual accountability.[13]
Dreyfuss has organized and promoted campaigns to inform and instruct audiences in what he considers potential erosion of individual rights, a personal initiative he began in 2006, responding to what he believes were violations of individual rights under the presidential administration of George W. Bush.[14] On February 16, 2006, Dreyfuss spoke at The National Press Club in Washington, D.C. in hopes of prompting a national discussion on impeachment charges against U.S. President George W. Bush.[15] On November 17, 2006, Dreyfuss appeared on HBO'sReal Time with Bill Maher as a panel member to discuss teaching civics in schools.[16] Dreyfuss currently serves on the Board of Trustees of the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.[17] In 2007, Dreyfuss appeared in the youth voting documentary film 18 in '08.[18]
Academic life
Richard Dreyfuss has semi-retired from acting, and is involved in a nation-wide enterprise to encourage the teaching of American history in American primary schools. Currently, he is a Senior Associate Member of St. Antony's College, University of Oxford.[19]
Books
In 1995 Dreyfuss co-authored with science fiction writer Harry Turtledove the novel The Two Georges, an alternate history/mystery piece set in the year 1996 of an alternate timeline where the American Revolution was peacefully avoided. The painting that symbolizes the union between North America and Britain is stolen by terrorists, and officers of the Royal North American Mounted Police must find it before it is destroyed.
Personal life
Dreyfuss married writer-producer Jeramie Rain in the early 1980's. With her he had three children: Emily (1983), Benjamin (1986), and Harry (1990). His eldest son, Benjamin, was born with a malignant form of cancer in his left eye. Dreyfuss and Rain have continued to raise money for ophthalmology centers throughout the United States ever since.[20]
Dreyfuss suffers from bipolar disorder. In 2006, he appeared in Stephen Fry's documentary, Stephen Fry: The Secret Life of the Manic Depressive, in which Fry (who also has the disorder) interviewed him about his life.[22]
On August 9, 2008, it was reported that Dreyfuss is suing his father and uncle over a 24-year-old loan he claims was never repaid. He says he gave his relatives USD$870,000 in 1984 when they owned an interest in a Los Angeles office building. In court papers filed on August 8, 2008, he claims the loan is still outstanding and that his uncle, Gilbert, has refused to turn over financial records. He is reported to be seeking repayment of the loan, plus interest and punitive damages.[23]
Dreyfuss and Russian-born Svetlana Erokhin married in 2006 and have lived in San Diego County since then, although they travel frequently to Los Angeles and London, where Dreyfuss once lived. They initially lived in Carlsbad, California. In February 2008, they bought a $1.5 million house in the rural community of Olivenhain in eastern Encinitas, California, and plan to renovate the 1970s structure with state-of-the-art green technologies.[24]
