American leading man who has played his fair share of irritating pests and brash, ambitious hustlers, Dreyfuss worked his way up through bit parts ("The Graduate (1967)", for one) and TV before gaining attention with his portrayal of Baby Face Nelson in John Milius' "The Dillinger (1973)". He gained prominence as a college-bound young man in "American Graffiti (1973)" and as a nervy Jewish kid wit ...
show all American leading man who has played his fair share of irritating pests and brash, ambitious hustlers, Dreyfuss worked his way up through bit parts ("The Graduate (1967)", for one) and TV before gaining attention with his portrayal of Baby Face Nelson in John Milius' "The Dillinger (1973)". He gained prominence as a college-bound young man in "American Graffiti (1973)" and as a nervy Jewish kid with high hopes in "Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (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: "The Jaws (1975)" and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)". He won a Best Actor Oscar in his first romantic lead as an out-of-work actor in "Goodbye Girl (1977)". Dreyfuss also produced and starred in the entertaining private eye movie "The Big Fix (1978)". After a brief lull in the early 1980s, a well-publicized drug problem and a succession of commercial disappointments ("The Competition (1980)", "The Whose Life Is It Anyway? (1981)", "Buddy System (1984)"), a clean and sober Dreyfuss re-established himself in the mid-'as one of Hollywood's more engaging leads. He co-starred with Bette Midler and Nick Nolte in Paul Mazursky's popular "The Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986)". That same year Dreyfuss provided the narration and appeared in the opening and closing "bookends" of Rob Reiner's nostalgic "Stand by Me (1986)". He quickly followed up with "Nuts (1987)" opposite Barbra Streisand, Barry Levinson 's "Tin Men (1987)" with Danny DeVito and "Stakeout (1987)" with Emilio Estevez. Dreyfuss continued working steadily through the end of the 1980s and into the 1990s, most notably in Mazursky's "Moon Over Parador (1988)", Spielberg's "Always (1989)", "Postcards from the Edge (1990)" and "Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (1990)". He appeared as a member of an ensemble that included Holly Hunter, Gena Rowlands and Danny Aiello in the romantic comedy _Once Around_ (1991)- (qv) and opposite Bill Murray in the successful comedy "What About Bob? (1991)". Dreyfuss has also remained active in the theater (Death And The Maiden 1992) and on TV. He returned to features in the adaptation of Neil Simon's play "Lost in Yonkers (1993)" and followed with a supporting turn as the querulous political opponent in "American President (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 "Mr. Holland's Opus (1995)".
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