"I Think I Have the Finest Body of Work of Any American Actor"

So I was browsing through a commemorative "Jaws" magazine and caught this opening paragraph to the chapter on Richard Dreyfuss:

"I think I have the finest body of work of any American actor," Richard Dreyfuss told the Guardian in 2016. "It reflects my principles."

Hey...its good to have self-confidence.

Now, is Dreyfuss right?

NOT if he is comparing himself to ALL American (movie) actors of all eras. I'd say that Bogart, Stewart, and Grant have him beat in the Golden Age, maybe Tracy(though he did quite a few with Hepburn.)

So does Dreyfuss mean "of his generation?"

He started in the 70's, so his contemporaries were Nicholson, Pacino, DeNiro...and Hoffman(left over from a 60s start). Perhaps Eastwood and Reynolds don't count from them because they made a lot of "pop" programmers.

Speaking of Dustin Hoffman, does Dreyfuss get to put "The Graduate" in his body of work?

Because Richard Dreyfuss is IN "The Graduate." He pops his head into a shot at Hoffman's Berkeley boarding house and asks the manager "You want me to call the cops?"

Other than that, things start in 1973..but not with American Graffiti. with "Dillinger."

So

Dillinger
American Graffiti
The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz
Jaws
Close Encounters
The Goodbye Girl(Best Actor Oscar)

and then things slowed down a bit but he came back(for the "new Disney") in the 80's with:

Down and Out in Beverly Hills
Tin Men
Stakeout(followed by "Another Stakeout")

and later on he made:

What About Bob?
and Mr. Holland's Opus

So..."the finest body of work of any American actor"...or not?