Richard Dreyfuss

Richard Dreyfuss (New York, October 29, 1947) is an American actor who has won an Oscar, a Golden Globe and a BAFTA.

Biography

He was born in New York City, the son of a lawyer. The first years of his life were spent in New York, until, at the age of nine, he moved with his family to Los Angeles.

Dreyfuss' acting career began as soon as he arrived in Los Angeles. He was in plays at the Beverly Hills Jewish Center. At 15 years of age he was selected to act on television. He enrolled in college, but the following year he was called up to go to Vietnam. He declared himself a conscientious objector and performed alternative service as an assistant in a hospital. At the same time he took part in small roles in television series. Over the next few years he performed in various New York theaters, both on Broadway and other theaters.

Dreyfuss's first film appearances were brief appearances in the 1967 films Valley of the Dolls (considered his film debut) and The Graduate. Shortly after, he took part in Dillinger and, above all, in American Graffiti (1973), a film that had considerable success, and in which Harrison Ford also participated.

His first leading role was given to Dreyfuss in a Canadian film, and later he was hired by Steven Spielberg for Jaws, a film with which Dreyfuss became known to large audiences. Two years later Spielberg had him again for Close Encounters of the Third Kind (In Spanish, Encuentros En La Tercera Fase" or "Close Encounters of the Third Kind"), which had a success comparable to the previous one. From then on Dreyfuss's career followed an upward trajectory. In 1977 he played The Goodbye Girl, a film for which he won an Oscar for best leading actor. He was the youngest actor to receive this award in Oscar history.

Over the next few years, Dreyfuss appeared in several films, none of which were significant box office successes. This possibly contributed to his taking drugs in increasing doses, until he suffered a car accident. As a result, he entered a detoxification center and managed to get rid of drugs. He then returned to the cinema and acted in several films, in which he showed that he was still the same great actor. Since then he has been appearing regularly not only in the cinema, but also on television and in the theater, and is considered one of the most solid and appreciated actors of the present moment.

In 1995 he was Nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor and a Golden Globe: Best Actor for his performance in Mr. Holland's Opus (Triumph of Life). The film was written by Patrick Sheane Duncan (for which he received a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Screenplay) and directed by Stephen Herek.

Dreyfuss was first married between 1983 and 1995, from which marriage he has three children. In 1999 he married for the second time.

In February 2014, she appeared on the television program The Late Late Show, hosted by Ryan Tubridy, where she burst into tears after meeting the granddaughter of actor Robert Shaw, her classmate in the film Jaws, who died in 1978 at the age of 51 due to a heart attack.

Since February 2016, he has been playing con man Bernard Madoff in the TV movie Madoff, which is based on the book The Madoff Chronicles.

Private life

Richard Dreyfuss has had problems with some of the actors he has worked with, such as Robert Shaw in the movie Jaws and Bill Murray in the movie What About Bob?. He also did not get along with director Oliver Stone during the filming of W., who referred to him as a fascist.

Dreyfuss is a manic depressive, he confessed to Stephen Fry, and also suffers from memory problems and is unable to learn long texts. In 2006 he appeared in the Stephen Fry documentary Stephen Fry: The Secret Life of the Manic Depressive where Fry, who also suffers from the disorder, interviews him about his life with the disease.

Filmography

Awards and nominations

Oscar Awards

Golden Globe Awards

BAFTA Awards

Awards of the Union of Actors

Venice International Film Festival