After Dreyfuss had his car crash and cocaine DUI in 1982 (followed by a stint in rehab), he leased the main house on the property where I was renting the guest house (a marvelous view property up on Mulholland in the Hollywood Hills). My landlord would rent the place out every once in awhile when he needed extra money, with him moving out to go live with his brother.
Dreyfuss lived there about a year. He was pretty quiet and kept to himself. He was always cordial when he'd see me, but didn't seek out conversation and seemed a little neurotic. It was during this time when he met his first wife, actress, Jeramie Rain. She soon moved into the house as well. She was quite lovely - very open and friendly. She owned a Bassett Hound named "Jenny," whom I would dog sit on occasion. Loved that pooch. My boyfriend wanted to kidnap her.. lol.
I've told this story on DL before, but my one memorable encounter with Dreyfuss was when we were having one of our "atmospheric river" type California rainstorms. The water and rocks were cascading down the slanted driveway, and the garage where his Mercedes was parked was starting to flood. My car was parked outside in another area that wasn't in danger. Anyway, when I was trying to walk to my car to leave for work that morning, he came rushing out of the house in a total panic -- running around yelling and flailing his arms about the impending flood, fearing that his car would be stuck in the garage.
Let me just say .. that scene of him in "Down and Out in Beverly Hills" where he's running around yelling "Call 9-1-1" .. that's all him! .. I witnessed that scene in real life that morning, three years before he made that movie. .. I had no time to stop to help him, though. I was wearing a dress suit and couldn't be late for work. (Yes, we wore suits to work back then!) .. We'd previously encountered this situation at the property before, and all it meant was that the grate to the drain at the end of the driveway was plugged with debris.
As my umbrella was about to blow inside out, I yelled over the noise of the storm that he was going to have go in the garage, get the shovel hanging on the wall, and wade through the (eight-inches) around the drain and remove any rocks and debris that were there, then reach down through the muck with his hand, and pull the drain out until the water started to flow, then quickly put it back in.
He looked at me rather clueless, and as I drove away, I looked back and he was still standing there dumbfounded in the driveway with water around his ankles. I guess he survived the flood, though, because when I got home that evening the driveway was clear except for some muddy patches with large pebbles.
Several months later, he and Jeramie moved to another house nearby and soon married. I thought they looked good together, because she's only 5'5 as well. But I remember thinking how OLD he looked even back then, and he was only mid-30s. .. Twelve years later, with three kids, they divorced in 1995.
