Let's make this birthday one to remember.

78 years old (Born on October 29, 1947)

Happy Birthday, Richard Dreyfuss! Whether you're charming us in *The Goodbye Girl*, communicating with aliens (and potatoes) in *Close Encounters of the Third Kind*, or reminding us we definitely need a bigger boat in *Jaws,* you've always had impeccable comedic timing and that uniquely relatable panic face.

Thanks for forever changing our beach weekends—still nervously watching out for fins decades later—and proving mashed potato sculptures can indeed be Oscar-worthy. May your special day be as tremendously entertaining as your legendary screen roles, without any close encounters involving sharks or extraterrestrial visitors...unless they're bringing cake!