American actor who rose to prominence in the early ’70s in a wide range of roles. Dreyfus had an image that was cocksure, even arrogant, a stocky, curly-haired youth with early roles that often portrayed the young man searching for identity. His films include “The Graduate,” 1967, “Jaws” 1976 and “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” 1978. He won the Oscar in 1977 for “Goodbye Girl”, becoming the youngest person ever to receive the Best Actor award.
Born to an attorney father and housewife mother in Bayside, Queens, New York, Richard was familiar with drugs and alcohol from the time he was 15. During his 30s, he went through a period of heavy coke and alcohol abuse. In 1982, he managed to wrap a Mercedes 450SL around a palm tree. He survived, but was arrested for illegal possession of cocaine and Percodan. He went into court-ordered rehabilitation in lieu of a trial and the felonies were later dropped.
Dreyfus met his wife, Jeramie Rain, a writer and producer at a party in 1983, and proposed ten days later. They married in March 1983. Jeramie has systemic lupus erythematosis (commonly called lupus). They have a daughter, Emily, born 11/19/1983, and a son, Benjamin, born in June 1986. Son Harry was born 8/11/1990 in the “evening” in Los Angeles. Benjamin has a rare eye abnormality called “Peter’s anomaly”, and eventually lost the sight in his left eye. Their marriage ended in 1992. He rebounded into the arms of Laura Cayouette, but that romance fizzled after two years. After courting a sexy accountant 17 years his junior, Janelle Lacey. and after a year long engagement, they married at his L.A. home in an outdoor ceremony 5/30/1999.
With a deepened appreciation of the good fortunes in his life and a career back on track, Dreyfus has worked through the bad times and his slump of the ’80s, to make a terrific comeback in “Postcards From the Edge,” 1990, “What About Bob?” 1991 and the touching drama, “Mr. Holland’s Opus,” 1996.
He recently discovered golf as a hobby and is auditing college history courses in Sun Valley, ID, the home of his ex-wife, Jeramie, and their three kids.
The actor married Svetlana Brokhin on March 16, 2006 in Harrisonburg, VA.
Link to Wikipedia biography