Richard Dreyfuss Net Worth – Oscar-winning actor goes broke and stars earning again

Richard Stephen Dreyfuss is an American actor starring in popular movies between the 1970s and the 1990s. Some of his iconic roles include Jaws, Stand by Me, American Graffiti, The Goodbye Girl, Tin Men, and more. He won an Oscar in 1978 for his role in The Goodbye Girl. But unlike actors like De Niro, he didn’t adjust to modern times.

Dreyfuss rose to fame in the 1970s. He has credits for more than 100 movies and television shows. But unlike some actors like Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, and some other actors, Dreyfuss didn’t make the adjustments into the 2000s. He didn’t get good scripts. At one point, he announced bankruptcy. He wasn’t broke as having any money. But he couldn’t afford the lifestyle he had.

As of August 2020, Richard Dreyfuss’s fortune is more than $5 million. The famous actor managed to jump back to the big screen. Let’s take a look at his career path and journey.

Career Ups and Downs

Born in Brooklyn, New York, Richard grew up in Queens. His family is Jewish. His father didn’t like New York and moved the family to Europe. After that, they got back to Los Angeles, California. Richard was just nine years old at the time. In LA, Dreyfuss attended Beverly Hills High School. He started his acting career as a young boy at Temple Emanuel of Beverly Hills Arts Center.

Dreyfuss debuted on the big screen at a young age in the TV production In Mama’s House. At the time, he was 15 years old. Then, he attended California State University for one year. During the Vietnam War, he worked in alternate service and as a clerk in a Los Angeles hospital. He was a conscientious objector during the War.

In 1972, he appeared in the play The Time of Your Life. Then, he got a small film role in The Graduate. He had only one line and his role went uncredited. In the early 1970s, he had a couple of small roles in Catch-22, Dillinger, and more. Richard got his breakout role in the 1973 hit movie American Graffiti. There, he appeared alongside Ron Howard and Harrison Ford.

He got his first lead role in the Canadian movie The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz in 1974. After that, he starred in the box office blockbuster Jaws, still one of his highest-grossing movies. He followed it up Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Steven Spielberg directed both movies.

In 1978, Richard won his first Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in The Goodbye Girl. He won Oscar at the age of 30 years and 125 days. That made him the youngest actor to win an Academy Award at the time. He bested Marlon Brando with 200 days difference. The record stood until Adrien Brody broke it in 2003.

In the late 1970s, Richard started using cocaine. His addiction came to bite him four years later when he got arrested for possession while driving his car. He struck a tree with his Mercedes-Benz 450 SL. After a rehabilitation period, Richard made his comeback with the movie Down and Out in Beverly Hills in 1986.

Dreyfuss had an important cameo role in the movie Stand by Me, a 1986 coming-of-age drama. He played the elder Gordie Lachance.

In 1989, Dreyfuss reunited with Spielberg for his movie Always. In the movie, he co-starred with Holly Hunter. And then he had a starring role opposite Bill Murray in the 1991 comedy movie What About Bob.

In 1995, he got nominated for another Oscar and Golden Globe for his performance in Mr. Holland’s Opus. But he didn’t win the award. In 1997, he recorded the voiceover for the Apple Computer Think Different ad campaign. During the early 2000s, Dreyfuss appeared in a couple of movies. But those were all small roles.

On October 10, 1996, he got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He was one of the 100 stars at the 2012 Academy Awards – Night of 100 stars.

Some of his latest appearances include Daughter of the Wolf, Astronaut, Polar, The Last Laugh, Asher, Book Club, and more.

In February 2015, Richard announced he would portray Bernie Madoff in the upcoming miniseries.

Richard got married a couple of times during his life. He married writer and producer Jeramie Rain in the early 1980s. He has three children with her. They got a divorce in 2005, but continue to work together for charity events for ophthalmology.

Following that marriage, he got married to Russian-born Svetlana Erokhin in 2006. As of August 2020, they live together in San Diego, California. They often go to New York and London.

Awards and Achievements

Richard Dreyfus is an award-winning actor. He won his first Oscar in 1978 for his appearance in The Goodbye Girl. He got nominated for another Oscar in 1996 for Mr. Holland’s Opus.

Dreyfuss got four Golden Globes nominations and won one of them. He won a Golden Globe in 1978 for The Goodbye Girl. His other nominations are for American Graffiti, Nuts, and Mr. Holland’s Opus.

The Goodbye Girl earned him a BAFTA award as well.

Net Worth

As of August 2020, Richard Dreyfuss’s assets are estimated at over $5 million. But in 2015, he went broke. He said “It’s a hard thing to admit. I have created more than 50 movies I am proud of. I can proudly say I never worked for money. But now, I cannot say that”.

He said that Hollywood doesn’t like people who walk away and then try to come back. Dreyfuss is the same generation as actors like Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, and others. But he didn’t adjust to the comedy movies of the early 2000s as De Niro and Pacino did.

In total, Richard Dreyfuss has 123 credits as an actor. His highest-grossing movie is Jaws. It earned more than $470 million at the box office.

As of August 2020, his movies earned more than $1.1 billion with him as a leading actor. And when he plays a supporting role, the movies earned more than $400 million at the box office.

Dreyfuss also earns money from books and articles. In 1995, he co-authored the novel The Two Georges with Harry Turtledove. In 2015, he published an article on The Dreyfuss Civics Curriculum: A National Model for Civics Education in Elementary and Secondary Schools. The article helped hundreds of teachers to bring civics education into their classroom.