Overview (3)

Mini Bio (1)

Spouse (3)

Trade Mark (5)

Often plays wisecracking, fast-talking characters



Often plays characters who see themselves as intellectuals



Low-pitched nasal voice





Often works with Steven Spielberg

Short stature



Trivia (61)

Ranked #81 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list. [October 1997]





Around 1978, he began using cocaine frequently; his addiction came to a head four years later in 1982, when he was arrested for possession of the drug after he blacked out while driving, and his Mercedes-Benz 450 SL struck a tree. He entered rehabilitation and eventually made a Hollywood comeback with the films Zoff in Beverly Hills (1986) and Die Nacht hat viele Augen (1987) the following year.



Younger brother of Lorin Dreyfuss



Formerly, at age 30, the youngest man to win Oscar for Best Actor ( Der Untermieter (1977)). He was beaten by Adrien Brody (29) at the 2003 ceremony.

Was a conscientious objector during the Vietnam War.



Born in Brooklyn, New York, he grew up in Beverly Hills, California from an early age.



Has a great dislike for rock music.





Auditioned for the role as one of the Von Trapp children in Meine Lieder, meine Träume (1965), but cannot dance.

Treated for infection in right lung in a New York City hospital [April-May 2002].



Attributes much of his ability to end drug addiction to a life-altering vision experienced in hospital after a bad car crash. Under the influence of drugs while driving, Dreyfuss knew the crash was his fault. Though he was the only one injured, in his recovery state he was moved by the image of a beautiful little girl in a white dress. The girl served to remind him of the kind of innocent life he could have destroyed, and it compelled him to save his own life, he says, by confronting his drug demons.





Claims to be a descendant of Alfred Dreyfus , who was wrongfully imprisoned at the notorious Devil's Island penal colony in French Guiana. Eventually he starred the TV movie Der Gefangene der Teufelsinsel (1991) about it.

In November 2004, he was scheduled to appear in The Producers in London, but withdrew from the production a week before 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. Both he and his assistant for the production stated that Dreyfuss was accumulating injuries that required him to wear physical therapy supports during rehearsals. Dreyfuss was eventually fired from the production. He made his West End debut at The Old Vic in 2009.





Had a serious drug problem in the late 1970s and early 1980s. One of the side effects was that his memory was damaged, so much so that he still has no memory of filming the movie, Ist das nicht mein Leben? (1981).

In 2004, he announced his retirement from film acting, and that he would concentrate on theater. He implied that he decided upon this course due to a lack of recent work in film and that his greater passion was always theater.





October 18, 2004: Dropped out of his role as Max Bialystock in "The Producers" in a London production. He cited a continuing problem following back surgery and a recurring shoulder injury. He was replaced by Nathan Lane

Is a Civil War re-enactor.



During 2004-2005, he took a short break from acting to lecture at Oxford University.



During his struggling actor years, he was constantly subjected to the ridicule of Hollywood casting directors after auditioning. The actor had written up a little list of their names which he kept as a reminder that he would eventually find success.





Was originally cast in the role of Joe Gideon in Hinter dem Rampenlicht (1979), but left the production during the rehearsal stage.

Was married to Svetlana Erokhin in Harrisonburg, Virginia while in town for a speaking engagement at James Madison Univeristy.





Because of memory loss problems, as a result of his drug addiction in the 1970s and 1980s, during the brief run of "Complicit" at the Old Vic in 2009, he controversially used an earpiece to enable the prompter to feed him his lines during performances. The play, co-starring Elizabeth McGovern and David Suchet , and directed by Kevin Spacey , was widely ridiculed in the British press as a result. Commenting on his many fluffed lines, the Daily Mail's theatre reviewer quipped, "We're going to need a bigger earpiece.".



While filming Mond über Parador (1988) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1987, he stayed at the world-famous Copacabana Palace Hotel.



Co-wrote a 1997 novel, "The Two Georges", with Hugo Award-winning science fiction writer, Harry Turtledove . The novel is an alternate history, based on the premise that the American Revolution was not successful, and America is still part of the British Empire.



Became a father for the first time at age 36 when his now first ex-wife Jeramie Rain gave birth to their daughter Emily Dreyfuss in November 1983.



Became a father for the second time at age 38 when his now first ex-wife Jeramie Rain gave birth to their son Ben Dreyfuss in June 1986.



Became a father for the third time at age 42 when his now first ex-wife Jeramie Rain gave birth to their son Harry Dreyfuss in August 1990.

He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7021 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on October 10, 1996.



Keynote speaker at the Dedication Day ceremonies at the Gettysburg National Cemetery on November 20, 2009.



His paternal grandparents were Jewish emigrants from Poland and Austria-Hungary, while his maternal grandparents were born in New York, both of them to Russian Jewish families.



He was awarded the 1996 Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for Distinguished Lead Performance for "Three Hotels" at the Mark Taper Forum Theatre in Los Angeles, California.





Jane Fonda 's role in Das China-Syndrom (1979) was originally written with Dreyfuss in mind. After he backed out of the project, due to salary concerns, the role was rewritten as female and was eventually played by Jane Fonda.

He was awarded the 1996 Drama Logue for Outstanding Performance for "Three Hotels" at the Mark Taper Forum Theatre in Los Angeles, California.



He was awarded the 1984 Drama Logue Award for Outstanding Performance for the play, "The Hands of Its Enemy", at the Mark Taper Forum Theatre in Los Angeles, California.





His novel The Two Georges (1995), a steampunk detective thriller co written with Harry Turtledove , was allegedly optioned for a mini series by the UK's Granada Television in the late 1990s, but nothing ever came of this.



Best friends with Carrie Fisher

Just recently formed a .org, called the Dreyfuss civics initiative. The organizations goal is to put civics classes back in the classroom, which is been absent from the curriculum of almost all schools in the United States since 1970. [2017]





He was considered for the role of Louis Strack Jr. in Darkman (1990).



In early 2009, he appeared in the play Complicit by Joe Sutton at London's Old Vic theatre. The production was directed by the theatre's artistic director, Kevin Spacey . Dreyfuss's performance was subject to some controversy, owing to his use of an earpiece onstage, reportedly because of his inability to learn his lines in time.

He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7021 Hollywood Blvd.



He was an advisor to The Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation.





He was offered the role of Dreighton, the American Vice-Consul in Der Wind und der Löwe (1975).

On June 10, 2011, he was made a Master Mason "at sight" by the Grand Master of Masons of the District of Columbia at the Washington DC Scottish Rite building, as well as a 32nd Degree Scottish Rite Mason. That evening he spoke at a banquet celebrating the 200th Anniversary of the Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia, about the Dreyfuss Initiative, a Research Society promoting civics and enlightenment values to be headquartered in Charleston, West Virginia.



Personal Quotes (25)

[In 1976] People who commit adultery must die. Everyone knows that. Any movie tells you that!



I really think that living is the process of going from complete certainty to complete ignorance.



Happiness has a bum rap. People say it shouldn't be your goal in life. Oh, yes it should.



Actually, when I was a kid I was really more aware of the star and the handprints in Grauman's Chinese more than I was aware of anything else, including the Oscar. I wanted to have a star. I wanted to be able to see, you know, old gum on my star.



I don't think film acting is necessarily a triumph of technique. Film stardom is a friendship that happens between an audience and a performer. Its like you meet someone and you click with that person for whatever reason.





[on Bette Midler ] I loved working with Bette. I rarely get to have a good leading lady and Bette and Marsha Mason are the best. I'd work with them again anytime.

The motion picture business is run by corporate thieves.



I enjoyed the journey to the top but then found myself disappointed.



Behind all art is ego and I am an artist and I am unique.





[on Steven Spielberg ] Steven Spielberg is the only person I've come across who fits my criteria of genius. And I don't throw that word around. Genius is imagination and attention to detail. The ability to achieve to the minutest detail what you perceive in your imagination. I don't think there's another person on earth who's as great a plot structuralist or better storyteller.



[on James Stewart ] You personify for me part of this nation. You symbolize an America that is gentle, ironic, self-deprecating, tough, and emotional.



[2009, on The Day Reagan Was Shot (2001)] I thought I was miscast. He's a character I could empathize with. He's totally human. A physically bigger person should have played him, but it was fun, and it was especially fun because it was true, and it was a really well-written script in that way. But playing him... You know, every actor wants to play the villain. The trick is not to wink at the audience and say, "I'm not him".



[2009, on Was ist mit Bob? (1991)] Funny movie. Terribly unpleasant experience. We didn't get along, me and Bill Murray . But I've got to give it to him: I don't like him, but he makes me laugh, even now. I'm also jealous that he's a better golfer than I am.



[2009] Der weiße Hai (1975), first time I saw it, I forgot I was in it. True. Totally forgot, and got as scared as everybody else, and it's a great movie. I learned a shitload about my whole life, and I watched Steven [ Steven Spielberg ] go from being a boy to being a man. He was under so much pressure you couldn't believe. And his shark never worked, so they had to re-conceive as they went, and it was because of that mind-fuck that he made a great film.



[on Duddy will hoch hinaus (1974)] It was the first time I'd ever seen myself in a feature film as a lead, and all I could remember was the bad moments that I didn't succeed at. I didn't really see the film and the performance as a whole until about ten years later.

It's really a mitzvah for the actor to know when you make people laugh, you are giving them a gift. You are, as Shakespeare said, giving surcease from sorrow. And that's an easy thing to fall in love with.



Acting is the only art form that is based entirely on pretense. The clothes you're wearing are not yours, the words you're saying are not yours, you pretend that you don't see the stagehand and you pretend you don't see the audience - and the audience pretends you're not actors, that you're real life. And that house of pretense creates art and truth. And it is an amazing feeling to make people laugh or make people cry.



I always knew I was going to be an actor and that was that - no doubts, no uncertainties, no changing my mind. And that was when I was like, nine, ten. And it never changed.





I'd like to reinvent radio the way Orson Welles did. I'd like to do Hamlet or I'd like to do a master-class in Hamlet, or I'd like to do something with history.

I much prefer the stage. Much. But I also prefer being paid. I like being paid as a screen actor but working on the stage.





When I saw Der weiße Hai (1975) for the first time, I forgot I was in it. It scared the crap out of me. That night, I heard something I'd never heard before. They [the audience] went crazy, and then they silently watched the scroll and then they clapped again.

I wouldn't recommend to a young actor anymore to become an actor because I think the film industry has changed so terribly. The tools in the director's tool kit used to be story, dialogue, character... after that came cinematography and editing. Now it's special effects, editing and we [actors] are way down at the bottom part.



Film acting is about the hollowest experience you can have as an actor. When you do a film, it's out of order and sequence and everyone around you is working -- even directors now are behind the little video thing -- so you're alone. You're working for yourself.



[from his own homepage, The Dreyfuss Civics Initiative] "To teach our kids how to run our country, before they are called upon to run our country...if we don't, someone else will run our country."



Salary (2)