Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Hollywood Richard Dreyfuss

PROFILE

Name : Richard Dreyfuss

Birth Name : Richard Stephen Dreyfus

Date of Birth : 29 October 1947

Place of Birth : Brooklyn, New York, USA

Height : 5' 5" (1.65 m)

Nationality : American

Gender : Male

Occupation : Actor, producer, writer, director

Years active : 1967–present

Spouse : Jeramie Rain (1983–1995; divorced; 3 children)Janelle Lacey (1999–2005; divorced)Svetlana Erokhin (2006–present

Family

Daughter : Emily Dreyfuss. Born in November 1983; mother, Jeramie Rain

Father : Norman Dreyfus. Later became a restaurateur

Mother : Gerry Dreyfus. Appeared in two films with son, Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986) portraying his mother, and Let It Ride (1989); died Oct. 19, 2000 from complications of a stroke

Son : Benjamin Dreyfuss. Born in June 1986; mother, Jeramie Rain; was born with a condition called Peter s anomaly, an abnormality in which his cornea was fused with his iris leaving him permanently blind in one eye

Son : Harry Spencer Dreyfuss. Born Aug. 9, 1990; mother, Jeramie Rain



BIOGRAPHY

American film actor known for his portrayals of ordinary men driven to emotional extremes.
After spending his early childhood in Brooklyn and Queens, New York, Dreyfuss moved with his family to California, where he began acting in plays at the West Side Jewish Community Center in Beverly Hills, California. He studied drama for a year at San Fernando Valley State College, Northridge, California, and shortly thereafter he won a recurring role on the short-lived television series Karen (1964). During the late 1960s and early '70s Dreyfuss acted mostly onstage in everything from repertory theatre to Broadway shows, and he landed occasional small roles on television. Bit parts in Valley of the Dolls (1967) and The Graduate (1967) led to his first major screen appearance, as gangster Baby Face Nelson in Dillinger (1973), for which he received critical praise.
Dreyfuss's breakthrough role was that of intelligent, angst-ridden high-school graduate Curt Henderson in George Lucas's American Graffiti (1973). The character was the first in a long line of average fellows in stressful situations that Dreyfuss would portray in the coming decade. With a slightly stocky frame and plain, Everyman features, Dreyfuss was well-suited to a variety of “ordinary Joe” roles, but his nuanced performances revealed the quiet turmoil and insecurities that often lie beneath such ordinariness.
His subsequent films helped establish Dreyfuss as one of the top stars of the 1970s. His portrayal of an overly ambitious, self-destructive young entrepreneur in The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1974) remains one of his most-praised performances. For director Steven Spielberg, Dreyfuss starred in two of the most popular films of the decade: first as scruffy young marine biologist Matt Hooper in Jaws (1975), and then as a family man whose behaviour becomes increasingly unstable after encountering a UFO in Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977). Dreyfuss capped this successful period with an Academy Award-winning performance in the Neil Simon comedy The Goodbye Girl (1977); at age 29, Dreyfuss became the youngest-ever recipient of a best actor Oscar.
In the late 1970s and early '80s Dreyfuss appeared in a handful of moderately successful films, including The Big Fix (1978), The Competition (1980), Whose Life Is It Anyway? (1981), and The Buddy System (1983), but his career had declined, and he suffered from a well-publicized problem with drug addiction. He made a strong comeback costarring with Bette Midler and Nick Nolte in the Paul Mazursky comedy Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986); his career back on track, Dreyfuss appeared in such notable films as the comedy adventure Stakeout (1987) and the psychological drama Nuts (1987), in which he costarred with Barbra Streisand. One of Dreyfuss's best films from this period is director Barry Levinson's Tin Men (1987), a comedy both darkly satiric and nostalgically bittersweet, in which Dreyfuss and Danny DeVito portray rival aluminum-siding salesmen in early 1960s Baltimore.
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 get the cops? I'll get 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.
He went on to star in the box office blockbusters Jaws and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, both directed by Steven Spielberg.
Dreyfuss won the 1978 Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of a struggling actor in The Goodbye Girl, becoming the youngest actor to do so. 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 in 1982, when he was arrested for possession of the drug after his car struck a tree. He entered rehabilitation 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. 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 Dreyfus Affair, released in 1991.

Dreyfuss and Allan Carr at the Governor's Ball party after the 1989 Academy Awards
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 the Italian Republic. 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 the stage. In 2001/2002, he played Max Bickford in the television drama The Education of Max Bickford. 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 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. Nathan Lane was brought in to replace Dreyfuss in the London production. It later emerged that he'd been fired.
Dreyfuss recorded the voiceover to the Apple, Inc., then Apple Computer, Inc., Think Different ad campaign in 1997. 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 Stone's 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. 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. He guest-voiced as himself in the "Three Kings" episode of Family Guy in 2009, and later appeared again in the episode "Peter-assment". Dreyfuss will guest star in at least four episodes of the sixth season of Weeds, which premieres in the US in August 2010.
MILESTONES
1964 First television appearance, the NBC sitcom Karen
1964 At fifteen made professional stage debut with In Mama s House at the Gallery Theatre in Los Angeles
1966 Directed by Rob Reiner in the stage production of The Session with Larry Bishop (son of Joey), Reiner and David Arkin
1967 First film part was a small, uncredited role in The Graduate
1968 Had a memorable role as a cocky car thief in The Young Runaways
1969 Made Broadway debut in But, Seriously...
1971 Appeared in Israel Horowitz s Off-Broadway play Line
1972 TV movie debut, Two for the Money (ABC)
1973 Garnered notice for his turn as the college-bound Curt in George Lucas American Graffiti
1973 Played Baby Face Nelson in John Milius Dillinger
1974 First lead role in the Canadian film The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz
1975 Breakthrough role as marine biologist Matt Hooper in Steven Spielberg s Jaws
1977 Second collaboration with Spielberg, Close Encounters of the Third Kind
1977 Won Best Actor Academy Award for his role as a struggling actor, opposite Marsha Mason, in Neil Simon s The Goodbye Girl
1978 Played Cassius in Julius Caesar at the Brooklyn Academy of Music
1978 Produced and starred in feature film, The Big Fix
1979 Starred as Iago in Othello with the New York Shakespeare Festival in Central Park
1981 Turned in remarkable performance as paralyzed sculptor who argues for his right to die in John Badham s Whose Life Is It Anyway?
1986 Narrated director Rob Reiner s Stand By Me
1986 Started as part of the fine ensemble of Paul Mazursky s Down and Out in Beverly Hills
1987 Offered excellent turns in both Barry Levinson s Tin Men and Badham s Stakeout
1987 Produced, wrote and hosted TV special, Funny You Don t Look 200! (ABC)
1988 Re-teamed with Mazursky as the very broad actor-cum-dictator of Moon Over Parador
1989 Third film with director Spielberg, starring opposite Holly Hunter in Always
1991 Executive produced Ken Russell s Prisoner of Honor (HBO); also co-starred as George Picquart
1991 Portrayed Bill Murray s shrink in What About Bob?
1991 Re-teamed with Hunter for Lasse Hallstrom s Once Around
1992 Returned to Broadway in Death and the Maiden with Glenn Close and Gene Hackman
1993 Appeared in feature film version of Neil Simon s play Lost in Yonkers
1994 Stage directorial debut, Hamlet for the Birmingham Theatre Company at the Old Rep in England
1995 Acted opposite Christine Lahti in the Los Angeles stage production of Three Hotels
1995 Earned second Best Actor Academy Award nomination for Mr. Holland s Opus
1996 Directed the short film Present Tense, Past Perfect (aired on Showtime)
1996 Made a cameo appearance as Senator Bob Rumson in Reiner s The American President
1996 Received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (October)
1997 Co-produced and starred as Fagin in the TV adaptation of Oliver Twist (ABC)
1997 Played a civil rights attorney based on William Kunstler for Sidney Lumet s Night Falls on Manhattan
1998 Re-teamed with Mason for the stage play House (co-authored by Jon Robin Baitz and Terrence McNally)
1998 Starred opposite Jenna Elfman in Krippendorf s Tribe
1999 Co-starred with Mason in the London stage production of Simon s The Prisoner of Second Avenue
1999 Portrayed infamous Jewish gangster Meyer Lansky in HBO s Lansky ; scripted by David Mamet and directed by John McNaughton
2000 Cast as an aging gangster in the comedy The Crew
2001 Starred in the CBS TV drama The Education of Max Bickford
2001 Co-starred in The Old Man Who Loved to Read Stories
2001 Played US Secretary of State Alexander Haig in the Showtime drama The Day Reagan Was Shot
2004 Co-starred with Chris Cooper in John Sayles political satire Silver City
2004 Returned to Broadway in Sly Fox opposite Elizabeth Berkley
2006 Starred in director Wolfgang Petersen s remake of The Poseidon Adventure
2008 Portrayed U.S Vice President Dick Cheney in Oliver Stone s biopic W.
2009 Cast in Joe Sutton s Complicit at London s Old Vic theater; directed by Kevin Spacey
2009 Earned a Grammy nomination for Best Spoken Word for the album, The Lincoln-Douglas Debates
2010 Acted opposite Elisabeth Shue in the action thriller Piranha 3-D
2010 Played a local drug lord in Tim Blake Nelson s Leaves of Grass
2010 Portrayed Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel in the Colin Greer play, Imagining Heschel at New York s Cherry Lane Theater
Began acting at age 9 at the West Side Jewish Community Center in Los Angeles
Worked at New York Playboy Club with comedy troupe; was fired after his first performance for insulting customers



MOVIES LIST

The Big Valley (2011)
Lone Star Trixie (2010)
RED (2010)
Piranha 3D (2010)
The Lightkeepers (2009)
Leaves of Grass (2009)
My Life in Ruins (2009)
W. (2008)
Poseidon (2006)
Silver City (2004)
Who is Cletis Tout? (2001)
The Crew (2000)
Krippendorf's Tribe (1998)
A Fine and Private Place (1998)
Night Falls On Manhattan (1997)
James and the Giant Peach (1996) (voice)
Mad Dog Time (1996)
The American President (1995)
Mr. Holland's Opus (1995)
Scenes from Everyday Life (1995)
Silent Fall (1994)
The Last Word (1994)
Another Stakeout (1993)
Lost in Yonkers (1993)
What About Bob? (1991)
Once Around (1991)
Postcards from the Edge (1990)
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (1990)
Always (1989)
Let It Ride (1989)
Moon Over Parador (1988)
Stakeout (1987)
Nuts (1987)
Tin Men (1987)
Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986)
Stand By Me (1986)
The Buddy System, (1984)
Whose Life Is It Anyway? (1981)
The Competition (1980) Othello (1979)
The Big Fix (1978)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
The Goodbye Girl (1977)
Jaws (1975)
Inserts (1975)
The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1974)
The Second Coming of Suzanne (1974)
American Graffiti (1973)
Dillinger (1973)
Hello Down There (1969)
The Young Runaways (1968)
The Graduate (1967) (uncredited)
Valley of the Dolls (1967)



AWARDS

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 a Golden Globe Award, a BAFTA Award, and was nominated in 2002 for Screen Actors Guild Awards in the Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series and Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries categories.

No comments:

Post a Comment