Richard Stephen Dreyfuss is a famous American actor who received an Oscar for his role in Goodbye Darling when he was under 30 years old. He became the youngest actor to receive the prestigious Academy Award. Dreyfuss is also a Golden Globe and BAFA winner and a Screen Actors Guild nominee.
Having played central roles with director S. Spielberg in the films "Jaws" and "Close Encounters of the Third Degree", Richard Dreyfuss was recognized as a Hollywood star who played in the most impressive and terrifying films of the mid-1970s.
Childhood and adolescence
Richard was born in America, in Brooklyn, in 1947, on October 29. When the boy grew up a little, the family left for Europe. Although his father was engaged in business, a lawyer and had a good income, he did not like America and hoped that he could start a more dignified life outside of it with his family. Richard's mother was engaged in social activities and was representatives of the pacifist movement.
After living for several years in Europe and not finding a decent job, they were forced to return to the United States and settled in Los Angeles, where the boy went to one of the prestigious schools in Beverly Hills.
Richard was loved by all teachers for his exemplary behavior and participation in all the activities of the school.
His creative biography began at a young age. The boy became interested in art and theater, and at the age of 15 he began to play small roles in theatrical performances and appeared on television for the first time.
After graduating from school, Richard decides to continue his education at the University of California, and after a while he enters an alternative military service. During the American war in Vietnam, the young man works in a Los Angeles hospital as an ordinary employee. In the same period, Richard begins his acting career and participates in the filming of films, where he is invited to play cameo roles.
The beginning of a creative career
The first creative experience does not bring fame and fame to Richard. He starred in television series, comedies and westerns, where the young man gets minor roles. In one of the films, he managed to meet with Dustin Hoffman, although Dreyfuss himself uttered only one phrase on the set and this was the end of his role. During the same period, Richard played on the stage in local theater productions.
For several years, work in theater and cinema did not bring success, only in the 1970s, luck turned to face Richard.
Director J. Lucas filmed the film "American Graffiti", where he invited the actor to the main role. The comedy film about the life of provincial American youth was a success with the audience. The film stars famous actors: Harrison Ford and Ron Howard, with whom Richard became friends on the set. And the next work of Dreyfuss with director T. Kotcheff received positive reviews from film critics. But even after the success in several films, new roles for Richard were practically not offered.
Success and fame
Perhaps Richard never became a famous and famous actor, if not for his meeting with the famous Steven Spielberg in 1973. The director offered Dreyfuss one of the main roles in his new film Jaws, about a killer shark terrorizing a small coastal town. According to the scenario, a local sheriff, played by Roy Scheider, and a young scientist, expert on shark behavior and oceanographer, whose image was embodied on the screen by Richard Dreyfuss, is sent to capture the shark.
The film was based on the famous work of Peter Benchley and brought the actors worldwide fame. The shooting itself became a whole test for the whole group, led by Spielberg. At the time of the creation of the picture, there were not those special effects that are stuffed with all Hollywood films today. For filming, a mechanical copy of a great shark was made, which constantly broke. Desperate, the director decided to use complex cinematography and directorial techniques, which ultimately made the film the leader in distribution. In 2018, Dreyfuss said in one of his interviews that "Jaws" could still become one of the most sought-after films if Spielberg took up the reshoot of the picture, adding computer graphics and special effects. But today the director has no such plans.
The next joint work of Richard Dreyfuss and S. Spielberg was the fantastic film "Close Encounters of the Third Degree". The film was released in 1977 and was also a great success with audiences.
In the same year, the actor received his first "Oscar" for his role in the film directed by Herbert Ross "Goodbye, dear." The film has also won numerous awards at prestigious international film festivals and has received four Golden Globe Awards, a BAFA, two David di Donatello awards, and nominations for both the US Writers Guild and the Japan Film Academy.
After a dizzying success, Richard's acting career began to decline. He began to rarely appear on screens, and the public gradually began to forget about him. The reason was banal - the actor became addicted to drugs and, as a result, had to go to the clinic for rehabilitation. He managed to defeat his addiction and after a few years Dreyfuss returned to filming and theatrical performances. However, he was no longer offered leading roles until 1995, when the picture "Mr. Holland's Opus" was released. The script is based on the story of a composer who had a deaf child. All attempts to cure his son end in failure, and then the main character begins to create a piece of music that the deaf can hear. The image of the composer, created by Richard Dreyfuss, was recognized by viewers and critics as one of the best works of the actor in his entire film career.
Today Richard continues to work in film and television and is not going to end his acting career.
Personal life
The actor has been married twice. The first wife is Janelle, a young actress whom Richard met in his youth. Their marriage did not last long due to the unwillingness of the spouse to take responsibility for family life.
The second wife is actress Jaremy Rain. He lived with her for 12 years, but this marriage broke up for unknown reasons. From this union, the actor has three children. He continues to be actively involved in their lives and remains in excellent relations with the children.
To date, the actor bypasses any talk about his personal life. It is only known that his heart is free.
