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Richard Dreyfuss
My worst fear is that I’ll end up living in some run-down duplex on Wilshire wearing pants hiked up to my nipples and muttering under my breath.
— Richard Dreyfuss
IT’S little wonder that Richard Dreyfuss’s childhood dream was to be a movie star: his best friend as a youngster was Rob Reiner, and most of the people who lived in his posh Beverly Hills neighborhood were well-known in the entertainment business. He started acting in school plays and at the local Jewish Community Center, and through his childhood, he continued to plug away at various stage performances. While he was still a teenager, he moved into television, where he appeared on a short-lived situation comedy, Karen (1964-65), and in bit parts on Bewitched and Gidget. These roles helped him land a one-line appearance in The Graduate (”Shall I call the cops? I’ll call the cops!”) and a bit part in Valley of the Dolls. Unfortunately, these small parts did not open many doors, and he soon landed back on the stage (one of his more memorable gigs involved working with a comedy troupe at the New York Playboy Club, but he was fired after his first performance for insulting customers). In 1969, Dreyfuss declared himself a conscientious objector to the Vietnam war, and he began working at the U.S.C. Medical Center at night as an alternative to military service.
In 1973, he was back on the screen as Baby Face Nelson in Dillinger, and soon landed his big break with a role in the smash hit American Graffiti. He rode Steven Spielberg’s wave of success with leads in Jaws and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. These were two of the highest-grossing films of the seventies, and their success helped guide him to a Best Actor Oscar win for 1977’s The Goodbye Girl. But his good fortune went to his head (or, more specifically, his nose) and word around Hollywood began focusing more on his party-animal habits than his acting ability. Dreyfuss spent the early eighties in a drug-induced haze, and starred in commercial bombs such as The Competition and Whose Life Is It Anyway? Ironically, his career was saved when he was arrested for cocaine possession after a car accident in 1982. He entered rehab and re-evaluated his life, and he returned to the screen with renewed vigor in a series of hits, including Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1985), Stand by Me (1986) and Stakeout (1987). His Oscar nomination for Best Actor in Mr. Holland’s Opus (1995) and his fine turn as a mob boss suffering from paranoid schizophrenia in Mad Dog Time (1996) offered further proof that his rehabilitation took hold.
Perhaps inspired by his role in Opus—and by his other childhood dream (teaching history)—Dreyfuss wrote (with Harry Turtledove) a “historical fantasy” called The Two Georges; it describes what modern-day America would be like if the colonies had remained part of the British Empire.
Occupation: Actor
Date of Birth: October 29, 1947
Place of Birth: Brooklyn, N.Y., USA
Sign: Sun in Scorpio, Moon in Taurus
Relations: Fiancee: Janelle Lacy (accountant); ex-wife: Susan Davis; kids: Emily, Benjamin, Harry
Education: San Fernando Valley State College, California
Fan Mail: C/O Addis-Weschler & Associates
955 South Carrillo Drive Suite 300
Los Angeles, CA 90048
USA.
Richard Dreyfuss: Credits
MOVIES
Actor
Krippendorf’s Tribe — 1998
Night Falls on Manhattan — 1997
Trigger Happy — 1996
James and the Giant Peach — 1996
Mad Dog Time — 1996
Scenes From Everyday Life — 1995
The American President — 1995
Mr. Holland’s Opus — 1995
Silent Fall — 1994
Lost in Yonkers — 1993
Another Stakeout — 1993
What About Bob? — 1991
Once Around — 1991
Postcards From the Edge — 1990
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead — 1990
Let It Ride — 1989
Always — 1989
Moon Over Parador — 1988
Tin Men — 1987
Nuts — 1987
Stakeout — 1987
Stand by Me — 1986
Down and Out in Beverly Hills — 1986
The Buddy System — 1984
Whose Life Is It Anyway? — 1981
The Competition — 1980
The Big Fix — 1978
Close Encounters of the Third Kind — 1977
The Goodbye Girl — 1977
Jaws — 1975
Inserts — 1975
The Second Coming of Suzanne — 1974
The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz — 1974
American Graffiti — 1973
Dillinger — 1973
Hello Down There — 1969
The Young Runaways — 1968
The Graduate — 1967
Valley of the Dolls — 1967
Executive Producer
Quiz Show — 1994
Producer
The Big Fix — 1978
Other Movie Credits
James and the Giant Peach — 1996 (Voice only)
BOOKS
The Two Georges
TV
Lincoln — 1992 (Voice only)
Prisoner of Honor — 1991 (Executive Producer)
Funny, You Don’t Look 200! — 1987 (Co-Producer, Writer)
Victory at Entebbe — 1976 (Movie)
Two for the Money — 1971 (Movie)
Bewitched — 1966 (Appearance)
Ben Casey — 1965 (Appearance)
Gidget — 1965 (Series)
Karen — 1964 - 1965 (Series)
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Photo Gallery:
Topics: Actor, Celebrities
Tags: Dillinger, entertainment business, Inserts, Jewish Community Center, Lincoln, Mad Dog Time, Richard Dreyfuss, Silent Fall, Tin Men, Trigger Happy
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