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nce Richard Dreyfuss was
cast in the Disney telefilm
"Oliver Twist" as Fagin, the
shop-worn pickpocket with
a heart of tarnished 24-karat brass, he
went into high gear to find a distinc-
tive nose for the larcenous character.
The selection process took all of
about 12 seconds. "It is my father's
nose, and it's the only conscious deci-
sion I made about the character,"
Dreyfuss explains.
"When you play Fagin, you play
the nose. It's a tradition handed down
4 by Alec Guiness in the 1948 produc-
tion of Oliver Twist and Ron Moody.
in Oliver.' (1968) — the musical ver-
sion."
In a flash; the actor had pictures
taken of Norman Dreyfuss' face and
discussed the size and shape of the
prominent honker with Matthew
Mungle, the universally respected spe-
cial-effects makeup man who earned
• an Academy Award for his innovative
work on Bram Stoker's Dracula.
A plastic cast was made of the elder
Dreyfuss' beak to serve as a mold for a
roomy prosthetic snout made of
gelatin.
"My father, a lawyer who is very
proud of his nose, enjoyed the whole
idea," Dreyfuss insists. "And I didn't
pay him a damned thing ... I cheated
• him."
Completely transformed to "a slug-
like, lowlife creature," Dreyfuss had a
wonderful time in the opulently gritty
production on location in Ireland,
shooting exteriors in Dublin and the
interiors at the nearby Ardmore
Studios under the direction of Tony
Bill.
Set in London during the 1820s,
• ones of Charles Dickens' most famous
books is brought to life with the assis-
tance of 10-year-old British newcomer
Alex Trench in the title role, Elijah
Wood as the Artful Dodger, David
O'Hara as Bill Sikes and Antoine
Byrne as Nancy.
Seven-year-old Harry Dreyfuss was
flown in from California at company
expense "to play Urchin Number 722,
and is now looking for an agent,"
according to his father — a man who
at the age of 29 became the youngest
thespian in history to win a Best Actor
Oscar in The Goodbye Girl (1978).
'All three of my children want to

Eirik Knutzen writes for Copley News
Service.

In 1982, after a string of dogs
including The Competition, Whose Life
Is It Anyway? and The Big Fix, he had
a rude awakening late one night when
he slammed his Mercedes 450 SL
against a sturdy palm tree on a wind-
ing canyon road.
The cops theorized that alcohol,
plus portions of the cocaine and
Percodan stash found in his car, had
something to do with the auto
mishap. A . 12-step program and a
recurring nightmare of accidentally
running down a little girl eventually
pounded reason into Dreyfuss' brain,
and the district attorney dropped drug
charges against him one year later.
By that time he was married to TV
writer/producer Jeramie Raines and
awaiting their firstborn, Emily. Two
weeks after delivering the child,
Jeramie experienced a recurrence of
lupus, an often deadly disease causing
the body's immune system to destroy
its own tissue. Despite the dangers,
the couple had a son, Benjamin, who
was born with an extremely rare ail-
ment called Peter's anomaly that left
him blind in one eye.
In 1992, shortly after baby Harry
saw the light of day, the couple's nine-
year marriage ended in divorce. By
then, Dreyfuss' career was back on
track with such motion pictures as
Stand by Me (1986), Down and Out in
Beverly Hills (1986), Stake Out (1987),
Nuts (1987) and Let it Ride(1987).
In 1995, he earned another Oscar
nomination for Mr. Holland's Opus.
His next Disney comedy feature,
Krippendof's Tribe, is expected next
spring.
Still a born-again single, Dreyfuss
makes his comfortable home in a
pleasant, and exclusive, canyon corn-
munity and tries to divide his spare
time between child-rearing, reading
history books and playing golf. He
isn't particularly adept on the links,
but reasons that he recently took up
the sport because "I thought I needed
something. that would drive me nuts.
And so far it's working."
Taking a breather, his immediate
future includes more bad golf and
plowing through good history books.
He still harbors a secret desire: "I'd
like to be a history teacher some day."
It could, of course, involve a dra-
matic pay cut. O

Photo courtesy of ABC

EIRIK KNUTZEN
Special to The Jewish News

act, but Harry was the only one able
the age of 9 ("I don't even know
to leave school last February," he sighs. why") and made his professional act-
"I have told them that they are free to
ing debut in a television project five
pursue acting careers, but not profes-
years later.
sionally until after high school.
After a brief stint at San Fernando
"This was a little different, as Harry Valley State College (now California
was one of about 50 children milling
State University, Northridge), he made
around on the set. In school, I
cross-country treks in the
encourage them to do a lot of
Richard Dreyfuss late 1960s and early '70s for
theater. Emily, who is 13, has
as Fagin:
repertory, off-Broadway and
already been to theater camps.
"When you play Broadway stage productions.
Fagin, you play
Benjamin, now 11, will cer-
A bit part in Valley of the
tainly become an actor or go to the nose."
Dolls, followed by one line in
jail. He could even become a
The Graduate, launched his
producer."
prodigious film career in 1967. Such
But the fact remains that acting has
giant '70s films as American Graffiti,
been very good to Dreyfuss from an
Jaws and Close Encounters of the Third
early age. The grizzled performer —
Kind earned Dreyfuss the well-deserved
born in Queens and. raised in Los
reputation as one of Hollywood's best
Angeles — got his start in acting at
— and most arrogant — actors.

Disney's version of Charles
Dickens' Oliver Twist airs 7-9
Sunday, Nov. 16, on ABC,
WXYZ

11/14
1997

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