Richard Dreyfuss

ActorProducerProductionDirectorWriter Oct 29 (age 78) Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA 1953–2025 (72 year career)

6.3 avg rating

Biography

Richard Dreyfuss (born October 29, 1947) is an American actor. He has starred in film, television, and theater roles since the late 1960s, including the films American Graffiti, Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Goodbye Girl, Stakeout, Always, What About Bob? and Mr. Holland's Opus. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1977 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 …

Known For

Film

Jaws

Hooper

Film

Stand by Me

The Writer

Film

The Graduate

Boarding House Resident (uncredited)

Film

Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Roy Neary

Film

RED

Alexander Dunning

Film

American Graffiti

Curt Henderson

Film

Quiz Show

Executive Producer

Film

Polar

Porter

Filmography

Acting (187)

Movies (134)

Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story

as Self

Into the Deep

as Seamus

Waltzing with Brando

as Seymour Kraft

Legacy of Screams: The Evolution of Horror Movies

2025

as Self - (archive footage)

Sweetwater

2023

as Maurice Podoloff

6.9

Elizabeth Montgomery: A Bewitched Life

2023

as Self

Murder at Yellowstone City

2022

as Edgar

5.4

Nazis at Nuremberg: The Lost Testimony

2022

as Narrator (voice)

6.9

Save Christmas

2022

as Santa

Crime Story

2021

as Ben Myers

3.8

Every Last One of Them

as Murphy

Audrey

as Self - Actor

Polar

as Porter

Daughter of the Wolf

as Father

Astronaut

as Angus

The Last Laugh

as Buddy Green

Bayou Caviar

as Yuri

Book Club

as George

Asher

as Avi

Third Party President: Citizen Rocky

2018

as Self

Spielberg

as Self

Zipper

as George Hiller

Caserta Palace Dream

as Luigi Vanvitelli

Squatters

as David Silverman

Milius

as Self

Paranoia

as Frank Cassidy

Very Good Girls

as Danny

Cas & Dylan

as Dr. Cas Pepper

Casting By

as Self

The Two Million Year Old Boy

2011

as Narrator

RED

as Alexander Dunning

Piranha 3D

as Matthew Boyd

Jaws: The Inside Story

as Self

My Life in Ruins

as Irv Gideon

Leaves of Grass

as Pug Rothbaum

Waking Sleeping Beauty

2009

as David 'Dave' Whiteman (archive footage)

7.2

I Knew It Was You: Rediscovering John Cazale

2009

as Self

6.9

The Shark Is Still Working

as Self

The Lightkeepers

as Seth

American Renegade: Confessions of a Radical Humanist

as Self

as Dick Cheney

America Betrayed

as Narrator

Ocean of Fear

as Narrator

The Man Who Shot Chinatown: The Life and Work of John A. Alonzo

2007

as Self

6.0

AFI: 100 Years... 100 Movies... 10th Anniversary Edition

as Self

Poseidon

as Richard Nelson

Boffo! Tinseltown's Bombs and Blockbusters

2006

as Self

6.5

The Dish on Dolls

2006

as Assistant Stage Manager (archive footage)

The Adventures of Errol Flynn

as Self - Actor

Silver City

as Chuck Raven

A Legacy of Filmmakers: The Early Years of American Zoetrope

as Narrator

Coast to Coast

as Barnaby Pierce

Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex 'n' Drugs 'n' Rock 'n' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood

as Self

The Johnstown Flood

as narrator

The John Garfield Story

2003

as Self

8.0

Teddy Roosevelt: An American Lion

2003

as Theodore Roosevelt

5.0

Manassas: End of Innocence

2002

as Narrator

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer & the Island of Misfit Toys

2001

as Scoop the Snowman (voice)

5.8

R2-D2: Beneath the Dome

as Self

Who Is Cletis Tout?

as Micah Donnelly

The Day Reagan Was Shot

2001

as Alexander Haig

6.4

In Search of Peace

2001

as Yitzhak Rabin (voice)

6.5

The Old Man Who Read Love Stories

2001

as Antonio Bolivar

6.6

The Making of 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind'

as Self

Fail Safe

as President

The Crew

as Bobby Bartellemeo / Narrator

5.3

Walking the Tracks: The Summer of Stand by Me

as Self

Lansky

as Meyer Lansky

The Making of 'American Graffiti'

1998

as Self

7.8

Lost at Sea: The Search for Longitude

as Narrator

Krippendorf's Tribe

as Prof. Krippendorf

Frank Capra's American Dream

1997

as Self

6.3

Night Falls on Manhattan

as Sam Vigoda

Oliver Twist

as Fagin

The Call of the Wild: Dog of the Yukon

1997

as Narrator (voice)

7.4

Audrey Hepburn: The Fairest Lady

as Self

In the Teeth of Jaws

as Self

Henry Fonda: Hollywood's Quiet Hero

1997

as Self

The Universal Story

1996

as Self

7.7

James and the Giant Peach

as Centipede (voice)

Mad Dog Time

as Vic

The American President

as Senator Rumson

Mr. Holland's Opus

as Glenn Holland

The Last Word

as Larry

The Making of 'Jaws'

as Self

Silent Fall

as Dr. Jake Rainer

It's Alive: The True Story of Frankenstein

as Self

Another Stakeout

as Det. Chris Lecce

Lost in Yonkers

as Louie Kurnitz

Lincoln

as William Tecumsah Sherman (voice)

Prisoner of Honor

as Col. Picquart

What About Bob?

as Dr. Leo Marvin

Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead

as The Player

Once Around

as Sam Sharpe

Postcards from the Edge

as Dr. Frankenthal

Always

as Pete Sandich

Let It Ride

as Jay Trotter

Moon Over Parador

as Jack Noah

Tin Men

as Bill 'BB' Babowsky

Stakeout

as Det. Chris Lecce

Citizen Steve

as Jedediah

Nuts

as Aaron Levinsky

Funny, You Don't Look 200: A Constitutional Vaudeville

1987

as Self

James Stewart: A Wonderful Life

as Self

Stand by Me

as The Writer

Down and Out in Beverly Hills

1986

as Dave Whiteman

5.9

Night of 100 Stars II

as Self

The Buddy System

as Joe

Whose Life Is It Anyway?

as Ken Harrison

The Competition

as Paul Dietrich

The Big Fix

as Moses Wine

Close Encounters of the Third Kind

as Roy Neary

The Goodbye Girl

as Elliot Garfield

The Sentinel

as Man on Sidewalk Talking to Girl in Red Sweater (uncredited)

6.1

The Amazing Miss Cummings: An Actress at Work and Play

1977

The Making of 'The Goodbye Girl'

1977

as Self

Victory at Entebbe

1976

as Colonel Yonatan 'Yonni' Netanyahu

Jaws

as Hooper

Inserts

as Boy Wonder

The Second Coming of Suzanne

1974

as Clavius

2.1

New England Our Way

1974

as Self

The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz

as Duddy

American Graffiti

as Curt Henderson

as Greg

Dillinger

as Baby Face Nelson

Catch-22

as Yossarian

Two for the Money

as Morris Gap

The Shadow of a Gunman

1972

as Tommy Owen

Hello Down There

as Harold Webster

The Young Runaways

as Terry

The Graduate

as Boarding House Resident (uncredited)

7.6

Valley of the Dolls

1967

as Assistant Stage Manager (uncredited)

6.0

I Refuse to Kill: He Went to War with War

as Self

Killing Winston Jones

as Winston Jones

Television (53)

Stars in the House

2020

as Self

Firing Line with Margaret Hoover

2018

as Self

7.5

The Great Celebrity Bake Off for Stand Up To Cancer

as Self - Guest

Shots Fired

as Arlen Cox

Madoff

as Bernie Madoff

Your Family or Mine

as Louis

The Real History of Science Fiction

2014

as Self

7.0

Coma

2012

as Professor Hillside

Bubble Guppies

as Captain Acrab

Parenthood

as Gilliam T. Blount

Tin Man

as Mystic Man

Weeds

as Warren Schiff

The Reichen Show

as Self

The Education of Max Bickford

2001

as Max Bickford

1.0

Family Guy

1999

as Richard Dreyfuss / Narrator (voice)

7.4

Where Are They Now?

1999

as Self

7.5

The Entertainment Biz

1998

as Self

AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies

as Self

The View

as Self

The Wonderful World of Disney

HARDtalk

The Daily Show

as Self

The Rosie O'Donnell Show

1996

as Self - Guest

3.9

The Frank Skinner Show

1995

as Self

7.5

Inside the Actors Studio

1994

as Self

7.5

The Tonight Show with Jay Leno

1992

5.4

Shelley Duvall's Bedtime Stories

as Narrator (voice)

American Chronicles

as narrator

Saturday Night Live

as Self - Host

A Touch of Grace

Great Performances

as Self

Treffpunkte

as Self

Room 222

The New People

The Mod Squad

Judd for the Defense

The Second Hundred Years

as Ben Jr.

That Girl

Felony Squad

Occasional Wife

Hey Landlord!

The Big Valley

as Lud

Gidget

Bewitched

Karen

as David Rowe III

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson

1962

as Self

7.5

The Mike Douglas Show

as Self

Ben Casey

Tony Awards

as Self - Presenter

Gunsmoke

as Gearshon Gorofsky

The Oscars

as Self

Happiness Isn't Everything

as Jerry Hamburger

Ocean of Fear

as Narrator (voice)

6.0

Crew (11)

Movies (11)

Murder at Yellowstone City

Executive Producer

Crime Story

Executive Producer

Every Last One of Them

Executive Producer

Astronaut

Executive Producer

Oliver Twist

Co-Producer

Present Tense, Past Perfect

1995

Director

Quiz Show

Executive Producer

Once Around

Co-Producer

Funny, You Don't Look 200: A Constitutional Vaudeville

1987

Producer

Funny, You Don't Look 200: A Constitutional Vaudeville

1987

Writer

The Big Fix

1978

Producer

5.7