Richard Stephen Dreyfuss (born October 29, 1947) is an
American actor best known for starring in a number of film, television,
and theater roles since the late 1960s, including the films American Graffiti, Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Goodbye Girl, Whose Life Is It Anyway?, Always, What About Bob?, Poseidon, Mr. Holland's Opus, and James and the Giant Peach.
Dreyfuss 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 Screen Actors Guild Awards
in the Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series and
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or
Miniseries categories.
Dreyfuss was born Richard Stephen Dreyfus in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Norman, an attorney and restaurateur, and Geraldine, a peace activist, and was raised in Bayside, Queens. Dreyfuss is Jewish.He has commented that he "grew up thinking that Alfred Dreyfus and [he] are of the same family." His father disliked New York City, and moved the family first to Europe, and later to Los Angeles, when Dreyfuss was nine. Dreyfuss attended Beverly Hills High School.
Dreyfuss began acting during his youth, at the Beverly Hills Jewish Center. He debuted in the TV production In Mama's House, when he was fifteen. He attended Valley State for a year, and was a conscientious objector during the Vietnam War,
working in alternate service for two years, as a clerk in a Los Angeles
hospital. During this time, he acted in a few small TV roles on shows, Peyton Place, Gidget, That Girl, Bewitched, and The Big Valley. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, he also performed on stage on Broadway, Off-Broadway, repertory, and improvisational theater.
Dreyfuss appeared alongside Henry Fonda, Gloria Grahame, Ron Thompson, Strother Martin, Jane Alexander, Lewis J. Stadlen, Richard X. Slattery and Pepper Martin in the play The Time of Your Life, which was revived on March 17, 1972 at the Huntington Hartford Theater in Los Angeles, and directed by Edwin Sherin.
Dreyfuss's first film part was a small, uncredited role in The Graduate. He had one line, "Shall I get the cops? I'll get the cops". He was also briefly seen as a stage hand in Valley of the Dolls (1967), in which he had a few lines. He appeared in the subsequent Dillinger, and landed a role in the 1973 hit American Graffiti, acting with other future stars such as Harrison Ford and Ron Howard.Dreyfuss played his first lead role in the Canadian film The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1974), receiving positive reviews, including praise from Pauline Kael
Dreyfuss went on to star in the box office blockbusters Jaws (1975) and Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), both directed by Steven Spielberg.He won the 1978 Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of a struggling actor in The Goodbye Girl (1977), becoming the youngest actor to do so (at the age of 29) This record was surpassed by Adrien Brody, in 2003.
Around 1978, Dreyfuss began using cocaine frequently; his addiction
came to a head four years later in 1982, when he was arrested for
possession of the drug after he blacked out while driving, and his car
struck a tree.[8][12] He entered rehabilitation and eventually made a Hollywood comeback with the film Down And Out In Beverly Hills in 1986and Stakeout the following year.
In 1989, Dreyfuss reunited with Spielberg on Always, a remake of A Guy Named Joe in which he co-starred with Holly Hunter. He had a starring role opposite Bill Murray in the 1991 hit comedy What About Bob?, as a psychiatrist who goes crazy while trying to cope with a particularly obsessive new patient. That same year, Dreyfuss produced and starred as Georges Picquart in Prisoner of Honor, an HBO movie about the historical Dreyfus Affair.
In 1994, he participated in the historic Papal Concert to Commemorate the Holocaust at the Vatican in the presence of Pope John Paul II, Rav Elio Toaf, chief rabbi of Rome, and Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, President of the Italian Republic. He recited Kaddish as part of a performance of Leonard Bernstein's Third Symphony with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Gilbert Levine. The event was broadcast worldwide.
Dreyfuss was nominated for an Oscar and a Golden Globe for his performance as Glenn Holland in Mr. Holland's Opus (1995).
Since then, he has continued working in the movies, television and the
stage. In 2001/2002, he played Max Bickford in the television drama The Education of Max Bickford. In April 2004, he appeared in the revival of Sly Fox on Broadway (opposite Eric Stoltz, René Auberjonois, Bronson Pinchot and Elizabeth Berkley).
Dreyfuss recorded the voiceover to the Apple, Inc., then Apple Computer, Inc., Think Different
ad campaign in 1997. The short version of the ad: "Here’s to the crazy
ones. The rebels. The troublemakers. The ones who see things
differently. While some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius.
Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the
world, are the ones who do."
In November 2004, he was scheduled to appear in The Producers
in London, but withdrew from the production a week before opening
night. The media noted that Dreyfuss was still suffering from problems
relating to an operation for a herniated disc
in January, and that the part of Max Bialystock in the play is a
physically demanding one. Both he and his assistant for the production
stated that Dreyfuss was accumulating injuries that required him to wear
physical therapy supports during rehearsals. Nathan Lane was brought in to replace Dreyfuss in the London production. It later emerged that he'd been fired.In 2006, he appeared as one of the survivors in the 2006 film Poseidon. Dreyfuss portrayed U.S Vice President Dick Cheney in Oliver Stone's 2008 George W. Bush bio-pic W.
In early 2009, he appeared in the play Complicit (directed by Kevin Spacey)
in London's Old Vic theatre. His participation in the play was subject
to much controversy, owing to his use of an earpiece on stage,
reportedly because of his inability to learn his lines in time. He guest-voiced as himself in the "Three Kings" episode of Family Guy in 2009, and later appeared again in the episode "Peter-assment". Dreyfuss has guest starred in the sixth season of Weeds as Warren Schiff, Nancy's high school teacher to whom she had lost her virginity.
Also in 2009, he portrayed the Biblical figure Moses in the Thomas Nelson audiobook production Word of Promise: Complete Audio Bible.
Dreyfuss has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7021 Hollywood Blvd.
Dreyfuss was among 99 other stars at the 2012 Academy Awards - Night of 100 Stars. He did an interview for the Bill Zucker Show with actor/singer Bill Zucker In 1995, Dreyfuss co-authored with science-fiction writer Harry Turtledove the novel The Two Georges, an alternate history/mystery piece set in the year 1996 of an alternate timeline where the American Revolution was peacefully avoided. The Gainsborough painting of George Washington and King George III,
which symbolizes English-speaking North Americans' loyalty to the
British Empire, is stolen by anti-Imperial terrorists, and officers of
the Royal North American Mounted Police must find it before it is
destroyed.
“The postman wants an autograph. The cab driver wants a picture. The waitress wants a handshake. Everyone wants a piece of you.” John Lennon
Friday, October 19, 2012
Monday, October 15, 2012
Success 2012: Nobu Matsuhisa, a celebrity chef and restaurateur known for his fusion cuisine blending traditional Japanese dishes with South American (Peruvian) ingredients. His signature dish is black cod in miso
Nobuyuki "Nobu" Matsuhisa (松久 信幸 Matsuhisa Nobuyuki; born March 10, 1949) is a celebrity chef and restaurateur known for his fusion cuisine blending traditional Japanese dishes with South American (Peruvian) ingredients. His signature dish is black cod in miso.
Nobu was born in Saitama, Japan. When he was just seven years old, his father died in a traffic accident and he and his two older brothers were raised by his mother. After graduating from high school, he worked at the restaurant Matsue Sushi in Shinjuku, Tokyo for seven years, and was invited by a regular customer who was a Peruvian entrepreneur of Japanese descent to open a Japanese restaurant in Peru. In 1973 at age 24, he moved to Peru (Lima) and opened a restaurant with the same name of Matsuei in partnership with his sponsor. Nobu was unable to find many of the ingredients he took for granted in Japan and had to improvise, and it was here that he developed his unique style of cuisine that incorporated Southern American ingredients into Japanese dishes.
He later moved to Alaska, USA and opened his own restaurant, which failed almost immediately due to a fire that destroyed the restaurant.
In 1977, he moved to Los Angeles and worked at Japanese restaurants "Mitsuwa" and "Oshou", and in 1987, he opened his own restaurant "Matsuhisa" on La Cienega Blvd. in Beverly Hills. The restaurant quickly became a hot spot and was frequented by Hollywood celebrities, including Robert De Niro, who invited Nobu to set up a restaurant in Tribeca, New York. In August 1993, the two opened up in partnership NOBU to critical[clarification needed] acclaim. Nobu restaurants were later opened in Milan, London, Greece, Dallas, Tokyo, Honolulu, Moscow, Dubai and Budapest.
Nobu's friendship with De Niro landed him a role in the 1995 Martin Scorsese film Casino, as a wealthy businessman who was a guest at De Niro's casino. He also had small roles in Austin Powers: Goldmember, as well as Memoirs of a Geisha, where he played a kimono artist.
In June 2009, Matsuhisa was presented with an award from the Japan Society for his achievements in food culture.
Michelin One Star each for Nobu Las Vegas, Nobu London, and Nobu Berkeley Street London.
Nobu restaurants sell bluefin tuna, a species now internationally recognised as endangered. As a result from press and campaigning pressure, they offered to add a warning on their menu, however this was considered inadequate by conservationists to help the spiral of demand and market price that leads to overfishing
Nobu was born in Saitama, Japan. When he was just seven years old, his father died in a traffic accident and he and his two older brothers were raised by his mother. After graduating from high school, he worked at the restaurant Matsue Sushi in Shinjuku, Tokyo for seven years, and was invited by a regular customer who was a Peruvian entrepreneur of Japanese descent to open a Japanese restaurant in Peru. In 1973 at age 24, he moved to Peru (Lima) and opened a restaurant with the same name of Matsuei in partnership with his sponsor. Nobu was unable to find many of the ingredients he took for granted in Japan and had to improvise, and it was here that he developed his unique style of cuisine that incorporated Southern American ingredients into Japanese dishes.
He later moved to Alaska, USA and opened his own restaurant, which failed almost immediately due to a fire that destroyed the restaurant.
In 1977, he moved to Los Angeles and worked at Japanese restaurants "Mitsuwa" and "Oshou", and in 1987, he opened his own restaurant "Matsuhisa" on La Cienega Blvd. in Beverly Hills. The restaurant quickly became a hot spot and was frequented by Hollywood celebrities, including Robert De Niro, who invited Nobu to set up a restaurant in Tribeca, New York. In August 1993, the two opened up in partnership NOBU to critical[clarification needed] acclaim. Nobu restaurants were later opened in Milan, London, Greece, Dallas, Tokyo, Honolulu, Moscow, Dubai and Budapest.
Nobu's friendship with De Niro landed him a role in the 1995 Martin Scorsese film Casino, as a wealthy businessman who was a guest at De Niro's casino. He also had small roles in Austin Powers: Goldmember, as well as Memoirs of a Geisha, where he played a kimono artist.
In June 2009, Matsuhisa was presented with an award from the Japan Society for his achievements in food culture.
Michelin One Star each for Nobu Las Vegas, Nobu London, and Nobu Berkeley Street London.
Nobu restaurants sell bluefin tuna, a species now internationally recognised as endangered. As a result from press and campaigning pressure, they offered to add a warning on their menu, however this was considered inadequate by conservationists to help the spiral of demand and market price that leads to overfishing