







Richard Stephen Dreyfuss (1947 - )
Date of Birth
29 October 1947, Brooklyn, New York, USA
Height
5' 5" (1.65 m)
Dreyfuss has three children: Emily, Benjamin, and Harry, and resides in Los Angeles and New York
with his wife Janelle.
Biography
An American leading man who has played his fair share of irritating pests and brash, ambitious
hustlers, Dreyfuss worked his way up through bit parts (The Graduate, for one) and TV before
gaining attention with his portrayal of Baby Face Nelson in John Milius' Dillinger. He gained
prominence as a college-bound young man in American Graffiti and as a nervy Jewish kid with high
hopes in The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz. By the latter part of the 1970s, Dreyfuss was
established as a major star, playing leads (and alter-egos) for 'Steven Spielberg' in two of the
top-grossing films of the that decade: Jaws and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. He won a Best
Actor Oscar in his first romantic lead as an out-of-work actor in The Goodbye Girl. Dreyfuss also
produced and starred in the entertaining private eye movie The Big Fix. After a brief lull in the early
1980s, a well-publicized drug problem and a succession of commercial disappointments (The
Competition, Whose Life Is It Anyway?, The Buddy System), a clean and sober Dreyfuss
re-established himself in the mid 80's as one of Hollywood's more engaging leads. He co-starred with
Bette Midler and Nick Nolte in Paul Mazursky's popular Down and Out in Beverly Hills. That same year
Dreyfuss provided the narration and appeared in the opening and closing "bookends" of Rob Reiner's
nostalgic Stand by Me. He quickly followed up with Nuts opposite Barbra Streisand, Barry Levinson's
Tin Men with Danny DeVito and Stakeout with Emilio Estevez. Dreyfuss continued working steadily
through the end of the 1980s and into the 1990s, most notably in Mazursky's Moon Over Parador,
Spielberg's Always, Postcards from the Edge and Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead. He
appeared as a member of an ensemble that included Holly Hunter, Gena Rowlands and Danny Aiello
in the romantic comedy Once Around and opposite Bill Murray in the successful comedy What About
Bob?. Dreyfuss has also remained active in the theater (Death And The Maiden) and on TV. He
returned to features in the adaptation of Neil Simon's play Lost in Yonkers and followed with a
supporting turn as the querulous political opponent in The American President. Dreyfuss received
some of the best notices of his career as a determined, inspiring music teacher coping with a deaf son
and the demands of his career in Mr. Holland's Opus.
Richard Dreyfuss has relied on intelligence, energy and incredible talent to gain and keep his place
among the leading actors of the American cinema. Three of his films, in fact, were recently included in
the American Film Institute's list of the greatest 100 films. One of his recent notable roles was as the
teacher in "Mr. Holland's Opus," for which he received Academy Award and Golden Globe
nominations for Best Actor. He still holds the distinction of being the youngest man to win an Academy
Award for Best Actor in "The Goodbye Girl" at age 29.
Richard Stephan Dreyfus; born October 29, 1947, in Brooklyn, NY (some sources say Flatbush, NY)
son of Norman (a lawyer and restaurateur) and Geraldine "Gerry" Dreyfus (a peace activist). Married
Jeramie Rain (also known as Susan Davis; an actress and writer), March 20, 1983 (divorced, 1995),
married Janelle Lacey (an accountant), May 30, 1999; children: (first marriage) Emily, Benjamin, Harry
Spencer.
Richard Dreyfuss's great success as a film actor can be attributed to a basic and archetypal need he
fulfills in society. He is the representative of the little guy, who lives out the fantasies of the everyman
for adventure, love, and heroic action. Dreyfuss does not have movie-star good looks, he is short,
chunky, and appealing rather than handsome, yet he makes it possible to believe that the dreams of
the ordinary person are accessible and even possible.










Richard Dreyfuss
Dreyfuss began his career in films, apart from bit or
insignificant parts, as Baby Face Nelson in John Milius's
low-budget version of Dillinger (1973), in which he
impressively erupted with psychotic energy and rage. But
it was his next part, as the thoughtful, nerdy Curt in the
surprise hit American Graffiti, filmed the same year and
directed by George Lucas, that boosted Dreyfuss to
international prominence. His affiliation with Lucas also
initiated Dreyfuss's association with the "New Hollywood,"
or "The Movie Brats," most especially with Steven
Spielberg, with whom Dreyfuss achieved his most
memorable and enduring fame. The year following
Graffiti, Dreyfuss starred in the Canadian/U.S.
co-production of The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, in
which he gives an exuberant and desperate portrait of
Mordecai Richler's eponymous Montreal hustler. he
following year, Dreyfuss consolidated his international
success, starring as ichthyologist Matt Hooper in
Spielberg's instant classic, Jaws. Much of the fun in Jaws
is generated by witnessing smart-ass, university-trained,
small-statured Dreyfuss more than holds his own against
the manly "life-is-my-teacher" Robert Shaw. 1977 is
perhaps the apogee of what might roughly be called the
first part of Dreyfuss's professional life.
Movie Credits
FILM DEBUT--1967 The Graduate (Nichols) (as Berkeley student)
1967 Valley of the Dolls (Robson) (bit role)
1968 The Young Runaways (Dreifuss) (as Terry)
1968 Hello Down There (Sub-A-Dub-Dub) (Arnold) (as Harold Webster)
1972 Two for the Money (Kowalski—for TV)
1973 Dillinger (Milius) (as Baby Face Nelson)
1973 American Graffiti (Lucas) (as Curt Henderson)
1974 The Second Coming of Suzanne (Barry) (as Clavius)
1974 The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (Kotcheff) (title role)
1975 Jaws (Spielberg) (as Matt Hooper)
1975 Inserts (Byrum) (as Boy Wonder)
1976 Victory at Entebbe (Chomsky—for TV) (as Col. Netanyahu)
1977 Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Spielberg) (as Roy Neary)
1977 The Goodbye Girl (Ross) (as Elliott Garfield)
1978 The Big Fix (Kagan) (as Moses Wine)
1980 The Competition (Oliansky) (as Paul Dietrich)
1981 Whose Life Is It Anyway? (Badham) (as Ken Harrison)
1981 Jacqueline Susann's Valley of the Dolls (Grauman—for TV)
1982 SPFX 1140 (Balaban)
1983 The Buddy System (Glenn Jordan) (as Joe)
1986 Down and Out in Beverly Hills (Mazursky) (as Dave Whiteman)
1986 Stand by Me (Rob Reiner) (as The Writer)
1987 Stakeout (Badham) (as Chris Leece)
1987Tin Men (Levinson) (as Bill "BB" Babowsky)
1987 Nuts (Ritt) (as Aaron Levinsky)
1987 Funny, You Don't Look 200 (Michener) (presenter)
1988 Moon over Parador (Mazursky) (as Jack Noah)
1989 Let It Ride (Pytka) (as Jay Trotter)
1989 Always (Spielberg) (as Pete Sandich)
1990 Postcards from the Edge (Nichols) (as Dr. Frankenthal)
1991 Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (as The Player)
1991 Once Around (Hallstrom) (as Sam Sharpe)
1991 What about Bob? (Oz) (as Dr. Leo Marvin)
1991 Prisoner of Honor (Russell—for TV) (as George Piquart)
1992 Lincoln (Kunhardt—TV doc) (as voice of William T. Sherman)
1993 Lost in Yonkers (Coolidge) (as Louie)
1993 Another Stakeout (Badham) (as Chris Leece)
1994 Silent Fall (Beresford) (as Jake Reiner)
1995 The Last Word (Spiridakis—for TV) (as Larry)
1995 The American President (Rob Reiner) (as Sen. Bob Rumson)
1996 Mr. Holland's Opus (Herek) (as Glenn Holland)
1996 Night Falls on Manhattan (as Sam Vigoda)
1996 James and the Giant Peach (Selick) (as voice of the Centipede)
1998 Krippendorf's Tribe (Holland) (as James Krippendorf)
1999 Lansky (McNaughton—for TV) (as Meyer Lansky)
2000 The Crew (Dinner) (as Bobby Bartellemeo)
2000 Fail Safe (Frears—for TV) (as President)
2000 The Old Man who Read Love Stories (de Heer)
2001 Cletis Tout (Ver Weil)
2001 The Day Reagan Was Shot (2001) (TV) .... Alexander Haig
2001 Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer & the Island of Misfit Toys
(voice) .... Scoop the Snowman (Narrator)
2003 Coast to Coast (2003) (TV) .... Barnaby Pierce
2004 Copshop (2004) (TV) .... Leonard Manzo
2004 Silver City (2004) .... Chuck Raven
2006 Poseidon (2006) .... Richard Nelson
2006 Unsung (2006) (voice) .... Narrator
2007 Tin Man (2007) (mini) TV mini-series .... Mystic Man
2007 Suburban Girl (2007) (uncredited)
In that year he portrayed Roy Neary, the ordinary guy, consumed with trying to articulate his
otherworldly experiences in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. This film perfectly captures the
qualities Dreyfuss embodied at this stage of his career. When Neary builds and rebuilds the site of
his alien encounter first with mashed potatoes, then with dirt and foliage from his landscaped
garden,to the astonishment and then distress of his family. Dreyfuss is the personification of
obsession, intensity, and concentration. The same year, Dreyfuss won an Academy Award for his role
as
Elliott, the determined actor in the Neil Simon-scripted The Goodbye Girl. Again he gets to play a
character who seeks to fulfill his aspirations against all obstacles and naysayers. The Big Fix saw
Dreyfuss not only starring, but also co-producing the film, his first foray into producing a major
industry film. The roles Dreyfuss played in the 1970s, and into the early 1980s, with such films as The
Competition and Whose Life Is it Anyway?, are remarkable for the actor's almost manic energy, a
driven quality leavened by copious quantities of charisma and talent.
The early to mid-1980s saw Dreyfuss sidelined by personal crises, some of which may have
accounted for his surplus of energy. After resolving these difficulties, Dreyfuss starred in 1986 in what
was considered his comeback role, as coat hanger manufacturer Dave Whiteman in Down and Out
in Beverly Hills, a lighthearted, by far less interesting remake of Jean Renoir's classic Boudu sauvé
des eaux. During this period, in such films as Stakeout, Nuts, and Tin Men, one witnesses a more
mature, contemplative actor. Although still vigorous, Dreyfuss had by now lost some of his trademark
intensity. While a strong sense of commitment and truth was present in earlier works, it was
sometimes masked by a frenetic level of intensity. Dreyfuss is still capable of immense passion, as in
his characterization of Pete, the doomed aviator, in Spielberg's unjustly maligned 1989 film Always. It
is not coincidental that this film was a remake of A Guy Named Joe, which starred Dreyfuss's idol,
Spencer Tracy. Like Tracy, Dreyfuss displays breezy charm as well as no-nonsense, no frills honesty.
In one of the film's key scenes, the dead Pete, returned temporarily to earth as a ghost, watches his
beloved and bereaved, Holly Hunter, as she begins to let go of Pete's memory and fall in love again.
The emotion Dreyfuss conveys in this scene as he must watch the lovers, but do and say nothing, is
deeply touching and sorrowful, in a way perhaps unavailable to Dreyfuss before.
1991 was another exceptional year for Dreyfuss, allowing him to display a full range of talents in such
diverse items as Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, where he plays the declaiming Player King;
Once Around, in his role as the incredibly boorish, but ultimately sympathetic Sam Sharpe (who once
again woos Holly Hunter); the beleaguered psychiatrist pestered by patient Bill Murray in What about
Bob?; and a lawyer in the infamous Dreyfus case, in Prisoner of Honor, yet another Ken Russell
misfire, executive-produced by the actor. Lately, Dreyfuss has divided his abilities among producing
projects (with his own company, Dreyfuss-James), acting in films such as Silent Fall and Mr. Holland's
Opus, and engaging in a host of liberal political causes.
Awards
2006
inducted into the Delta films Hall of Fame - Actor
Date Unknown
Walk of Fame - Star on the Walk of Fame Motion Picture
At 7021 Hollywood Blvd.
2002
Satellite Awards- Golden Satellite Award Best Performance by an Actor in a Miniseries or a
Motion Picture Made for Television for: The Day Reagan Was Shot
2000
Hollywood Film Festival - Lifetime Achievement Award
1999
Montréal World Film Festival - Grand Prix Special des Amériques
For exceptional contribution to the cinematographic art.
1995
Deltas Choice Awards - Best Actor for: My Hollands Opus
1994
USA Film Festival - Master Screen Artist Tribute
1989
Deltas Choice Awards - Best Actor for: Always
1981
Deltas Choice Awards - Best Actor for: Whose Life Is It Anyway?
1979
BAFTA Awards - BAFTA Film Award - Best Actor for: The Goodbye Girl
1978
Academy Awards, USA - Oscar - Best Actor in a Leading Role for: The Goodbye Girl
David di Donatello Awards - David Best Foreign Actor (Migliore Attore Straniero)
for: The Goodbye Girl
Golden Globes, USA - Golden Globe - Best Motion Picture Actor - Musical/Comedy
for: The Goodbye Girl
Hasty Pudding Theatricals, USA - Man of the Year
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards - KCFCC Award - Best Actor for: The Goodbye Girl
1977
Deltas Choice Awards - Best Actor for: The Goodbye Girl
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards - Best Actor for: The Goodbye Girl














