Richard Dreyfuss

Richard Dreyfuss is an American leading man, who has played his fair share of irritating pests and brash, ambitious hustlers.He was born Richard Stephen Dreyfus in Brooklyn, New York, to Geraldine (Robbins), an activist, and Norman Dreyfus, a restaurateur and attorney. His paternal grandparents were Austro-Hungarian Jewish immigrants, and his mother's family was Russian Jewish.Richard worked his way up through bit parts (Absolwent (1967), for one) and TV before gaining attention with his portrayal of Baby Face Nelson in John Milius' Dillinger (1973). He gained prominence as a college-bound young man in Amerykańskie graffiti (1973) and as a nervy Jewish kid with high hopes in Kariera Duddy Kravitza (1974). 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: Szczęki (1975) and Bliskie spotkania trzeciego stopnia (1977). He won a Best Actor Oscar in his first romantic lead as an out-of-work actor in Dziewczyna na pożegnanie (1977). Dreyfuss also produced and starred in the entertaining private eye movie Niezły pasztet (1978). After a brief lull in the early 1980s, a well-publicized drug problem and a string of box-office disappointments (Konkurs (1980), W końcu czyje to życie? (1981), Kumpelski układ (1984)), a clean and sober Dreyfuss re-established himself in the mid-'80s as one of Hollywood's more engaging leads. He co-starred with Bette Midler and Nick Nolte in Paul Mazursky's popular Włóczęga z Beverly Hills (1986). That same year he provided the narration and appeared in the opening and closing "bookends" of Rob Reiner's nostalgic Stań przy mnie (1986). He quickly followed that with Wariatka (1987) opposite Barbra Streisand, Barry Levinson's Wet za wet (1987) in a memorable teaming with Danny DeVito, and Zasadzka (1987) with Emilio Estevez. Dreyfuss continued... working steadily through the end of the 1980s and into the 1990s, most notably in Mazursky's farce Dyktator z Paradoru (1988), Spielberg's Na zawsze (1989), Pocztówki znad krawędzi (1990) and Rosencrantz i Guildenstern nie żyją (1990). He appeared as a member of an ensemble that included Holly Hunter, Gena Rowlands and Danny Aiello in the romantic comedy Jedna runda (1991) and as a pop psychiatrist, the author of several successful self-help books, who is driven to the edge by nutcase Bill Murray in the popular comedy Co jest z Bobem? (1991). Dreyfuss has also remained active in the theater ("Death and Maiden", 1992) and on TV. In his next project he starred the thriller Zrozumieć ciszę (1994) with John Lithgow and Linda Hamilton, being the film debut of Liv Tyler, Steven Tyler's daughter (Aerosmith's lead vocals). Just later Dreyfuss made Nowa zasadzka (1993), sequel of Zasadzka (1987) where was team again with Emilio Estevez accompanied of Rosie O'Donnell, the adaptation of Neil Simon's play Zagubieni w Yonkers (1993) and followed with a supporting turn as the querulous political opponent in Prezydent - miłość w Białym Domu (1995). 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 Symfonia życia (1995). Closing the 20th century he was in Sidney Lumet's Noc na Manhattanie (1996) with Andy Garcia, the crime comedy Czas wściekłych psów (1996) as the mob boss Vic, the screwball comedy Odkrycie profesora Krippendorfa (1998) about an anthropologist who creates a false lost New Guinea tribe for not losing his job in the university, TV movie Lansky (1999) about the infamous mob boss to end, the too TV movie Ocalić Nowy Jork (2000) playing The President, and Ferajna (2000), about four older mobsters retired in Miami, partnering with Hollywood legends Burt Reynolds, Dan Hedaya and Seymour Cassel.His start in the 21st century was with the adaption of Luis Sepúlveda's novel The Old Man Who Read Love Stories (2001), playing an old man to must to hunt a female jaguar turned crazy. It was followed by the supporting apparition in the comedy Who Is Cletis Tout? (2001) and another TV movie about 1981 Ronald Reagan's shooting Zamach na Reagana (2001). After the short-lived TV series Profesor Max Bickford (2001) about a teacher in a women's college where his daughter is student, Dreyfuss returned to cinema in Silver City (2004) and the box-office bomb Posejdon (2006) with Kurt Russell, Emmy Rossum and Josh Lucas. Playing former vice-president Dick Cheney in the Oliver Stone's biopic W. (2008) and Irv, the cunning tourist in Greece turned in assistant of a troubled tour guide in Moja wielka grecka wycieczka (2009), Dreyfuss participated in low-budget productions as Co w trawce piszczy (2009) and Latarnicy (2009), for making a cameo in the wild and crazy Pirania (2010) about prehistoric men-eater piranhas that make a bloodbath in a spring break. Returning to first line playing evil Alexander Dunning in the actioner RED (2010), his further productions included Paranoja (2013) as Liam Hemsworth's father partnering Harrison Ford and Gary Oldman, road movie Cas & Dylan (2013) opposites Tatiana Maslany and the biopic TV mini-series Madoff (2016) about the infamous multi-billion-dollar and hustler Bernie Madoff. Tireless and always implied in new projects, Dreyfuss played George, the funny online date of Candice Bergen in Pozycja obowiązkowa (2018), the comedy and road movie Kto się śmieje ostatni? (2019) with Chevy Chase, and the set in wilderness thriller Córka wilka (2019) with Gina Carano and Brendan Fehr. Making his 73rd birthday in 2020, Dreyfuss is an example of talent, diversity and love for his work, touching not only all the genres in cinema but leaving an unforgettable footprint at any of them.show more