Dreyfuss's acting career began while as a 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 in that film he had one line, "Shall I call the cops? I'll call the cops." He was also briefly seen as a stage hand in
Valley of the Dolls (he had a few lines). He made a strong impression in the subsequent
Dillinger and landed a role in the 1973 hit
American Graffiti, acting with other future stars like
Harrison Ford. Dreyfuss played his first lead role in the Canadian film
The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz. He went on to star in box office hits
Jaws and
Close Encounters of the Third Kind, both directed by
Steven Spielberg. Dreyfuss was originally supposed to reprise his role as Hooper in
Jaws 2 as the character who found Orca. The proposal was denied when
Peter Benchley was asked to include this in the screenplay. For his portrayal of a struggling actor in
The Goodbye Girl, he won an
Oscar (at age 30), becoming the youngest actor to win a
Best Actor Award (this record has since been surpassed by
Adrien Brody).
Around 1978, Dreyfuss began to use
cocaine frequently; his addiction came to a head four years later, when he was arrested for possession of the drug at the scene of a collision between his car and a tree. He entered
rehab and made a
Hollywood comeback with the film
Down And Out In Beverly Hills.
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 Italy. He recited
Kaddish as part of a performance of
Leonard Bernstein's Third Symphony with the
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of
Sir Gilbert Levine. The event was broadcast worldwide. In 1995, Dreyfuss was nominated for an Oscar and a Golden Globe for his performance as Glenn Holland in
Mr. Holland's Opus. Since then he has continued his career in the movies, television and on stage. 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 the 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. His assistant for the production stated that Dreyfuss was accumulating physical injuries that required him to wear physical therapy supports during rehearsals.
Nathan Lane was brought in to replace Dreyfuss in the London production.
Dreyfuss has also dabbled with writing, notably teaming up with
Harry Turtledove in 1995 to write
The Two Georges, a
conspiracy thriller set in an alternate reality in which the American colonies remained under British rule (published by Hodder and Stoughton, ISBN 0-340-62826-X). Dreyfuss recorded the voiceover to the famous
Apple, Inc., then
Apple Computer, Inc., Think Different ad campaign in 1999. 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 is currently a Senior Associate Member of
St. Antony's College, University of Oxford.
Dreyfuss has a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7021 Hollywood Blvd.
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