Richard Dreyfuss - biography

“I don’t know what its like for most actors, but really clearly for myself acting has always been the fulfilment of personal fantasies.  It isn’t just art, its about being a person I’ve always wanted to be, or being in a situation, or being a hero.”

“I played all kinds, father rapers, murderers, kidnappers, various psychopaths.  I also played dinks.  Dinks wear owl glasses and ask Sally Field to go the prom.  And she turns them down.”

“Happiness has a bad rap.  People say it shouldn’t be your goal in life.  Oh, yes it should.”

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

“It must be remembered that the Bush White House has a separate talent for character assassination that must not be confused with a talent for governance.”

“Kerry is an adult - he thinks things through.  He learns from the present as well as the past.  To George Bush, thinking things through is for sissies.”

“[Politics is] a rich man’s sport or a prostitute’s sport.”

“I decided at age 9, but I was reinforced at age 13 when a teacher told me I had talent.  I can’t say she really motivated me because I already knew.  I knew I had talent.  I went to the Jewish community theater and got in plays there.  Then I went for the movies.’”

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

“People who commit adultery must die.  Everyone knows that.  Any movie tells you that!”

Richard Dreyfuss has appeared in the following films:
Valley of the Dolls (1967)
The Young Runaways (1968)
Hello Down There (1969)
American Graffiti (1973)
Dillinger (1973)
Inserts (1974)
The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1974)
The Second Coming of Suzanne (1974)
Jaws (1975)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
The Goodbye Girl (1977)
The Big Fix (1978)
The Competition (1980)
Whose Life Is It Anyway? (1981)
The Buddy System (1984)
Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986)
Stand by Me (1986)
Tin Men (1987)
Stakeout (1987)
Nuts (1987)
Moon Over Parador (1988)
Always (1989)
Let It Ride (1989)
Postcards from the Edge (1990)
Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (1990)
Once Around (1991)
What About Bob? (1991)
Another Stakeout (1993)
Silent Fall (1994)
The American President (1995)
Mr. Holland’s Opus (1995)
The Last Word (1995)
Mad Dog Time (1996)
Night Falls on Manhattan (1996)
James and the Giant Peach (1996)
Krippendorf’s Tribe (1998)
The Crew (2000)
Who Is Cletis Tout? (2001)
The Old Man Who Read Love Stories (2001)
Silver City (2004)
Poseidon (2006)
W. (2008)
Driving Aphrodite (2009)
The Lightkeepers (2009)
Piranha (2010)