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Richard Dreyfuss
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Richard Dreyfuss (born October 29, 1947) is an American actor, known for starring in a number of films, television and theater roles since the late 1960s. He is probably best known for his roles in Jaws, The Goodbye Girl, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Mr. Holland's Opus, and most recently, the 2008 bio-pic W. as former Vice President of the United States Dick Cheney.
Dreyfuss won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1977, for The Goodbye Girl, and was nominated in 1995, for Mr. Holland's Opus. He has also won multiple Golden Globe Awards, BAFTA Awards, and Screen Actors Guild Awards for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor.
fuss was born Richard Stephen Dreyfus in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Norman, an attorney and restaurateur, and Geraldine, a peace activist.
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Encyclopedia
Richard Dreyfuss (born October 29, 1947) is an American actor, known for starring in a number of films, television and theater roles since the late 1960s. He is probably best known for his roles in Jaws, The Goodbye Girl, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Mr. Holland's Opus, and most recently, the 2008 bio-pic W. as former Vice President of the United States Dick Cheney.
Dreyfuss won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1977, for The Goodbye Girl, and was nominated in 1995, for Mr. Holland's Opus. He has also won multiple Golden Globe Awards, BAFTA Awards, and Screen Actors Guild Awards for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor.
Early life
Dreyfuss was born Richard Stephen Dreyfus in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Norman, an attorney and restaurateur, and Geraldine, a peace activist. Dreyfuss is Jewish 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 I are of the same family."
Career
Dreyfuss's acting career began while a 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 made a strong impression 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.
He went on to star in the box office blockbusters Jaws and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, both directed by Steven Spielberg. Dreyfuss was originally supposed to reprise his role as Hooper in Jaws 2. It fell through when Peter Benchley was asked to include this in his screenplay.
At age 30, Dreyfuss became the youngest actor to win an Best Actor Award, for his portrayal of a struggling actor in The Goodbye Girl. This record has since been surpassed by Adrien Brody.
Around 1978, Dreyfuss began using cocaine frequently; his addiction came to a head four years later, when he was arrested for possession of the drug at the scene of a collision between his car and a tree. 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.
In 1994, Dreyfuss participated in the historic "Papal Concert to Commemorate the Shoah (Holocaust)" at the Vatican in the presence of Pope John Paul II, Rav Elio Toaf, chief rabbi of Rome, and Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, President of Italy. He recited Kaddish as part of a performance of Leonard Bernstein's Third Symphony with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Gilbert Levine. The event was broadcast worldwide.
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 2001/2002, he played Max Bickford in the television drama The Education of Max Bickford.
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. His assistant and himself for the production stated that Dreyfuss was accumulating injuries that required him to wear physical therapy supports during rehearsals. Nathan Lane was brought in to replace Dreyfuss in the London production. It later emerged that he'd been fired.
Dreyfuss teamed with Harry Turtledove in 1995 to write The Two Georges, a conspiracy thriller set in an alternate reality in which the American colonies remained under British rule (published by Hodder and Stoughton, ISBN 0-340-62826-X). 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 2006, he appeared as one of the survivors in the 2006 film Poseidon. Dreyfuss portrayed U.S Vice President Dick Cheney in Oliver Stones 2008 George W. Bush bio-pic W.
In early 2009, he appeared in the play Complicit (directed by Kevin Spacey) in London's Old Vic theatre.
Dreyfuss has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7021 Hollywood Blvd.
Personal life
Dreyfuss's mother died on October 19, 2000 due to complications from a stroke.
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.
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.
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.
Political activity
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.
Dreyfuss has organized and promoted campaigns to inform and instruct audiences in potential erosion of individual rights, a personal initiative he began in 2006 in light of political events in the U.S. 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. On November 17, 2006, Dreyfuss appeared on HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher as a panel member to discuss teaching civics in schools. Dreyfuss currently serves on the Board of Trustees of the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. In 2007, Dreyfuss appeared in the youth voting documentary film 18 in '08.
Academic life
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.
Filmography
External links
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