Richard Dreyfuss: Laughing All The Way

It's hard to imagine the last time an audience at Guild Hall in East Hampton laughed as much as it did Friday afternoon, when the veteran actor Richard Dreyfuss took center stage. It wasn't his acting ability but his own comical character that had audience members - from fellow actors like Lee Grant and Daphne Zuniga to regular folks who queued up on a chilly afternoon simply because they love movies - chuckling, nodding with wide grins, and applauding.

After appearing, and usually starring, in some 35 films in a 30-year career, Mr. Dreyfuss (this year's surprise guest for the festival favorite "A Conversation With . . .") clearly does not take himself too seriously. Laugh-inducing, self-deprecating comments came rolling out of the Golden Globe and Oscar winner in response to questions from both Jeanine Basinger, moderator of the onstage interview, and the audience.

When asked about his early years, he replied: "I was in the last 45 seconds of the worst movie ever made!"( He was referring to "Valley of the Dolls," the camp classic in which he had a brief role.)

Would you hum the theme from "Valley of the Dolls"? "When hell freezes."

Have you ever had an encounter with a U.F.O.? "Only this afternoon."

Is it true you made an obscure X-rated movie about a man who makes pornography, called "Inserts"? "Yes, and I worked very hard to keep it obscure."

Mr. Dreyfuss - whose credits include an Oscar-winning performance in "The Goodbye Girl" and starring roles in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," "Whose Life Is It Anyway?" "Down and Out in Beverly Hills," "Tin Men," "Postcards From the Edge," "American Graffiti," and "Jaws" - touched on serious subjects as well.

One of his most recent films is "Mr. Holland's Opus," the story of a music teacher who couldn't share his great passion with his deaf son. "I was intensely proud of that film," Mr. Dreyfuss said. "It was a never-ending experience for us . . . much more than just a movie."

"It had an extraordinary impact on the teaching world, the music world, and the deaf world," he said. "We didn't set out to do that, but I'm thrilled we did."

The star of screen and stage told the audience he had never had any formal acting training and had never scrutinized his technique: "Acting in film is not the pinnacle experience, it is not an ecstatic state. Working on stage is, actually, but working in front of the camera is very private. . . . You are working in a disconnected manner."

"It is a moment of a tiny little moment. There is no grandeur."

Mr. Dreyfuss had encouraging words for the budding filmmakers in the audience, saying he had worked with first-time directors in the past and would again, if the director knew what he or she was doing and had a great script.

Summing up his career, he said: "I wanted to be me, as singular an actor as I could be, and still lead a pack. I wanted to allow my own eccentricities to be there."

Rod Steiger, in town for the restoration of "In the Heat of the Night," made a surprise on-stage visit at the end of the interview. "I have great respect for this man, because he has what you don't see very often: He'll take a chance, a chance in film," Mr. Steiger said.

This first appeared in Sunday's edition of Take One!, a daily publication presented by The Star during the Film Festival. Richard Dreyfuss's name was spelled incorrectly in the first publication, and for that The Star apologizes.