Richard Stephen Dreyfuss (/ˈdraɪfəs/; né Dreyfus; born October 29,
1947) is an American actor best known for starring in popular films
during the 1970s and 1980s, including American Graffiti, Jaws, Stand
by Me, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Down and Out in Beverly
Hills, The Goodbye Girl, Tin Men, Stakeout, Always, What About Bob?,
and Mr. Holland's Opus.Dreyfuss won the Academy Award for Best Actor
in 1978 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 Miniseries or Television
Movie categories.Dreyfuss was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of
Norman Dreyfus (1920â€"2013), an attorney, restaurateur and the owner
of a plastics company originally from a "violent gang culture in
Brooklyn," and Geraldine (née Robbins; 1921â€"2000), a peace
activist. Norman Dreyfus suffered from the debilitating physical
effects of being caught in a mortar explosion at the Battle of the
Bulge in World War II, requiring the use of crutches, canes, and
special footwear provided by the Army for the rest of his life. He
left the family when his son was 21 years old, and remarried more than
once; he and his son were not on speaking terms at the time of his
death.Dreyfuss was raised in the Bayside area of Queens, New York. His
family is Jewish. He has commented that he "grew up thinking that
Alfred Dreyfus and [he] are from the same family." His father disliked
New York, and moved the family first to Europe,[clarification needed]
and later to Los Angeles, California, when Dreyfuss was nine. Dreyfuss
attended Beverly Hills High School.
1947) is an American actor best known for starring in popular films
during the 1970s and 1980s, including American Graffiti, Jaws, Stand
by Me, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Down and Out in Beverly
Hills, The Goodbye Girl, Tin Men, Stakeout, Always, What About Bob?,
and Mr. Holland's Opus.Dreyfuss won the Academy Award for Best Actor
in 1978 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 Miniseries or Television
Movie categories.Dreyfuss was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of
Norman Dreyfus (1920â€"2013), an attorney, restaurateur and the owner
of a plastics company originally from a "violent gang culture in
Brooklyn," and Geraldine (née Robbins; 1921â€"2000), a peace
activist. Norman Dreyfus suffered from the debilitating physical
effects of being caught in a mortar explosion at the Battle of the
Bulge in World War II, requiring the use of crutches, canes, and
special footwear provided by the Army for the rest of his life. He
left the family when his son was 21 years old, and remarried more than
once; he and his son were not on speaking terms at the time of his
death.Dreyfuss was raised in the Bayside area of Queens, New York. His
family is Jewish. He has commented that he "grew up thinking that
Alfred Dreyfus and [he] are from the same family." His father disliked
New York, and moved the family first to Europe,[clarification needed]
and later to Los Angeles, California, when Dreyfuss was nine. Dreyfuss
attended Beverly Hills High School.
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