Where Is the Cast of ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’ Now?
When Close Encounters of the Third Kind arrived in 1977, Steven Spielberg turned UFO fascination into one of the decade’s most memorable science fiction movies. The film followed Richard Dreyfuss‘ Roy Neary, an Indiana lineman whose life is upended after a UFO encounter, while Melinda Dillon‘s Jillian Guiler searches for her young son, Cary Guffey’s Barry Guiler. Teri Garr‘s Ronnie Neary, François Truffaut‘s Claude Lacombe, and Bob Balaban‘s David Laughlin rounded out the film’s main cast.
To celebrate Spielberg’s latest alien film Disclosure Day, let’s find out where the cast of Close Encounters of the Third Kind is now.
Richard Dreyfuss (78) as Roy Neary
Columbia Pictures/Courtesy: Everett Collection; Michael Tullberg/Getty Images
Richard Dreyfuss played Roy Neary, the ordinary family man who becomes obsessed with the strange shape he keeps seeing after his close encounter. Dreyfuss was already known for American Graffiti and Jaws, and the same year Close Encounters of the Third Kind opened, he starred in The Goodbye Girl, which won him the Academy Award for acting. He continued working in film, television, and theater, with later roles in Stand by Me, What About Bob? and Mr. Holland’s Opus.
He has been married to his third wife, Russian-born Svetlana Erokhin, since 2006 and was to attend a recent Hollywood Show for the 50th anniversary of Jaws, but had to drop out due to ongoing health issues.
Bob Balaban (80) as David Laughlin
Everett Collection; Greenwich Entertainment/Everett Collection
Bob Balaban played David Laughlin, the interpreter and assistant working with François Truffaut’s Claude Lacombe. Balaban stayed busy as an actor, director, producer and writer, later appearing in Gosford Park, Best in Show, A Mighty Wind, Capote, Moonrise Kingdom, The Grand Budapest Hotel, The French Dispatch and Asteroid City. He also wrote Spielberg, Truffaut & Me: An Actor’s Diary, a behind-the-scenes book about making Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
Cary Guffey (54) as Barry Guiler
Everett Collection
Cary Guffey played Barry Guiler, Jillian Guiler’s little boy, whose wide-eyed scenes became some of the movie’s most memorable moments. Guffey was only a child when he made the film, and he later appeared in a few other projects, including Cross Creek, Mutant, and the miniseries North and South.
He moved into financial work as an adult and away from acting.
In Memoriam
Everett Collection
François Truffaut, who played Claude Lacombe, died on October 21, 1984, at age 52 after being diagnosed with a brain tumor.
Teri Garr, who played Ronnie Neary, died on October 29, 2024, at age 79 from complications of multiple sclerosis.
Melinda Dillon, who played Jillian Guiler, died on January 9, 2023, at age 83. No cause of death was disclosed.
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