Trivia
After
marrying African-American Diahnne Abbott he adopted her daughter
'Drena De Niro', Abbott's daughter from her previous marriage.
Drena refuses to identify her biological father. He also
has son Raphael De Niro with Abbott.
Had
a long term relationship with African-American fashion model
Toukie Smith. Smith is the sister
of late fashion designer Willi Smith. They have twins sons
together, twins Aaron Kendrick De Niro and Julian Henry
De Niro (b. October 20, 1995). Their twins were conceived
by in vitro fertilization.
He married
his second wife Grace Hightower in 1997 and she
gave birth to their son, Elliot De Niro on March 18, 1998.
In 1999 he renewed his marriage vows to Grace at their Ulster
County farm near New York's Catskill Mountains, but later
in the year he filed for divorce. Their fallout continued
into 2001 as a potential custody battle over their son Elliott
heated up. However, the divorce was never finalized and
they managed to smooth over their troubles.
When
he was a child, he was an avid reader of playwrights.
Growing
up in the Little Italy section of New York City, his nickname
was "Bobby Milk" because he was so thin and as pale as milk.
Turned
down the role of Jesus in The Last Temptation of Christ
(1988). Was considered for the role of Josh Bakin in Big
(1988). Was offered but turned down the role of Sal the
pizza shop owner in Do the Right Thing (1989).
Son
of painter Virginia Admiral and abstract expressionist Robert
De Niro Sr. Despite being raised Presbyterian, Virginia
was an atheist for most of Robert's childhood. Robert Sr
was raised Catholic but was not religious in any way. After
De Niro was born, his father Robert Sr came out as a homosexual
male and eventually divorced Robert's mother.
He formed
his production company, TriBeCa Productions, in 1989.
In his
1980 Oscar acceptance speech he thanked Joey LaMotta (brother
of Jake LaMotta), who was at the time
suing United Artists for the portrayal of him in Raging Bull (1980).
After
being caught up in a Paris prostitution ring investigation,
he, denying any involvement, vowed never to return to France
again (1998).
Although
he is commonly referred to as an Italian-American actor,
De Niro is actually one-quarter Italian in ancestry. His
father was half-Irish and half- Italian. His mother was
of French, Dutch and German ancestry. He was, however, quite
close to his Italian paternal grandfather, whom Robert visited
frequently in Syracuse, NY when he was young. De Niro has
stated that he identifies "more with [his] Italian side".
Inducted into the Italian-American Hall of Fame in 2002.
He is
the second actor to win an Oscar for portraying Vito Corleone.
He and Marlon
Brando are the only two actors to win an Oscar for playing
the same character.
He first
discovered his love for acting at age 10 when he portrayed
The Cowardly Lion in a local production of "The Wizard of
Oz." He dropped out of high school to join a gang.
Formerly
held the World Record for Most Weight Gained for a Movie,
in gaining over 60 pounds for his role in Raging Bull (1980). But seven
years later, Vincent
D'Onofrio eclipsed him in gaining 70 pounds for his
role in Full Metal Jacket (1987).
Three
movies (at least) that De Niro has appeared in have the
song "Gimme Shelter" by The
Rolling Stones noticeably featured in the soundtrack
- - The Fan (1996), Casino (1995) and Goodfellas (1990).
Ranked
#78 in Premiere's 2002 annual Power 100 List.
In 1993
he was tapped to star as Enzo Ferrari in the film "Ferrari",
which was budgeted at $65 million (U.S.) and had Michael Mann attached as director.
The project fell through.
He organised
the first Tribeca Film Festival in May 2002. He intended
to revitalise the Lower Manhattan area after September 11th
attacks.
Has
said that Meryl
Streep is his favorite actress to work with.
He was
voted as the best actor of all time at FilmFour.com (2002).
British
pop group Bananarama had a hit song dedicated
to him called "Robert De Niro's Waiting." De Niro heard
about it and arranged to meet the three girls, but they
got so nervous, while waiting for him, that they got drunk
before he even arrived.
Diagnosed
with prostate cancer, and expected to make a full recovery
(October 2003).
Spent
four months learning to speak the Sicilian dialect in order
to play Vito Corleone in The
Godfather: Part II (1974). Nearly all the dialogue that
his character spoke in the movie was in Sicilian.
When
he was a child, he was an avid reader of playwrights.
According
to a profile in Vanity Fair's annual Hollywood issue, is
the first actor to do a method interpretation of a cartoon
character as Fearless Leader in The
Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle (2000).
He started
the whole "awards show ribbon" tradition by wearing a green
ribbon on his lapel at the 1981 Academy Awards. The ribbon
was in rememberance of several African-American children
who were victims of a serial killer in Atlanta, Georgia
in 1980-1981. The ribbon was given to him by a fan in the
bleachers as he arrived; the victims' families had been
wearing them for months.
Was
in Ossining, New York (home of the infamous Sing Sing penitentiary)
to shoot three different movies: Analyze This (1999), Analyze That (2002) and Hide and Seek (2005).
In the
Egyptian film El
Medina (1999), the main actor Ali has a duck that he
named De Niro after his favorite actor.
Was
voted the Number 2 greatest movie star of all time in a
Channel 4 (UK) poll, narrowly being beaten by Al
Pacino.
It was
tricky to make him look huge as Frankenstein's monster in
Frankenstein (1994) , considering
that Kenneth
Branagh, who played Dr. Frankenstein, is of similar
height. Many of the tricks used to make humans, wizards
and elves dwarf the hobbits later on for "Lord of the Rings"
trilogy were also employed to make De Niro appear much bigger
than his co-stars, including using very large men as body
doubles for shots where only the hands and feet are seen.
He was
voted the 34th Greatest Movie Star of all time by Entertainment
Weekly.
Singer
P.J. Harvey
refers to De Niro in a song, "Reeling," from her album '4-Track
Demos".
Finley
Quaye mentions him in the song "Sunday Shining", in the
line "I'm a hero like Robert De Niro".
Was
unable to accept his first Oscar in 1975 due to filming
commitments to Bernardo Bertolucci's Novecento (1976).
Was
good friends with comedian John Belushi, who died of a drug
overdose on March 5, 1982. In fact, De Niro and Robin Williams were the last stars
to see Belushi alive, albeit on separate visits to Bungalow
#3 of L.A.'s Chateau Marmont hotel that fateful day. De
Niro visited Belushi at 3:00 am on the morning of his death,
but, according to eyewitnesses, left minutes later after
seeing that Belushi was ill. Less than an hour earlier,
Belushi had been visited by Robin Williams, who also left
straight away.
Ranked
#1 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Greatest Living Actor
(Gods Among Us)" list (October 2004).
At the
age of 17, after leaving the movies with a friend, he unexpectedly
stated that he was going to be a film actor. No one believed
him until he dropped out of his senior year of high school
and joined Stella Adler's acting school.
His
boyhood idols among actors included Montgomery Clift, Robert Mitchum and Marlon Brando. He preferred the
darker, more character-driven work of these men to the older
stars of Hollywood, for whom their public persona as a star
was more important than their immersion into the character.
Rarely
does interviews and is known as one of the most ultra-private
celebrities. He was the subject of a late 90s interview
(and cover photo) for Esquire magazine. Most of the article
focused on how guarded he is with his personal life, what
few details are known about him, what rumors are speculated
while only a minority of the article dealt with the actual
interview itself. The writer noted that while the interview
was ultimately agreed upon, he was given a substantial list
of off-limit subjects NOT to ask De Niro about. They included:
politics, religion, his family, his reported interest in
fine wines, and so on.
When
they met shortly before making Mean Streets (1973) De Niro and
Harvey Keitel
became fast friends. De Niro was from Greenwich Village
in Manhattan and was taught by Stella Adler and Keitel was from
the Brighton Beach area of Brooklyn and was mainly mentored
by Lee Strasberg. But the two guarded
actors bonded and remain close to this day.
He and
Martin Scorsese
were brought up blocks apart in the Greenwich Village area
of Manhattan, but never formally met when they were young.
When introduced at a party in 1972, the two came to realize
that they had seen each other many times but had never spoken.
Limo
drivers in Los Angeles joke about his less than generous
tips by referring to him as "No Dinero".
Very
good friends with fellow actor and frequent co-star Joe Pesci. In fact, De Niro was
considered for the role of Harry in Home Alone (1990) that went Pesci.
In October
1997 he ranked #5 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100
Movie Stars of All Time" list. In 2005 Premiere Magazine
ranked him as #38 on a list of the Greatest Movie Stars
of All Time in their Stars in Our Constellation feature.
Both
of his Oscar-winning performances involved Marlon Brando. His first Oscar,
for Best Supporting Actor, had him playing the younger version
of Brando's character Vito Corleone. His second, for Best
Actor in Raging Bull (1980), he recited
Brando's famous lines from On
the Waterfront (1954).
Underwent
surgery for prostate cancer at New York's Sloan-Kettering
Hospital in December 2003. The cancer has now gone into
remission.
Is left
handed. However, he wrote with his right hand in Taxi Driver (1976).
Co-owns
the Rubicon restaurant in San Francisco with Bay area residents
Francis Ford Coppola and Robin Williams. Much of his father's
art work adorns the walls of the business. He also owns
a restaurant in West Hollywood, Ago, and co-owns several
restaurants in New York, including Nobu and Layla.
Shares
a birthday with friend and sometime-co-star Sean Penn.
First
performer to win an Oscar (for The Godfather: Part II (1974))
for a performance in a sequel.
He is
a staunch supporter of the US Democratic Party. He lobbied
Congress against impeaching President Bill
Clinton in 1998. He supported Al Gore in the 2000 Presidential
election and supported John
Kerry in the 2004 Presidential election. Supported Democratic
senator Barack Obama for the 2008 presidential
election.
His
performance as Jake
LaMotta in Raging
Bull (1980) is ranked #10 on Premiere Magazine's 100
Greatest Performances of All Time (2006).
His
performance as Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver (1976) is ranked #42
on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All
Time (2006).
His
performance as Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver (1976) is ranked #22
on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Movie Characters of
All Time.
Early
on, before Tim
Burton was commissioned as director, was considered
for the role of Willy Wonka in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
(2005).
Was
offered the part of Dick Tracy in Dick Tracy (1990).
Turned
down the role of Tony D'Amato in Any Given Sunday (1999).
Passed
up the opportunity to play Frank Costello in The Departed (2006) to work on
his second directorial feature The Good Shepherd (2006).
He won
an Oscar for playing Jake LaMotta in Raging Bull (1980), making him
one of 11 actors to win the Award for playing a real person
who was still 'alive at the evening of the Award ceremony
(as of 2007). The other ten actors and their respective
performances are: Spencer Tracy for playing Father
Edward Flanagan' in Boys
Town (1938), Gary
Cooper for playing Alvin
C. York in Sergeant York (1941), Patty Duke for playing Helen Keller in The Miracle Worker (1962), Jason Robards for playing Benjamin C. Bradlee in All the President's Men (1976),
Sissy Spacek
for playing Loretta Lynn in Coal Miner's Daughter (1980),
Susan Sarandon for playing Sister
Helen Prejean
in Dead Man Walking (1995), Geoffrey Rush for playing 'David
Helfgott' in Shine
(1996), Julia Roberts for playing Erin Brockovich-Ellis in Erin Brockovich (2000), Jim Broadbent for playing John Bayley in Iris (2001/I) and most recently
Helen Mirren
for playing Queen Elizabeth II in The Queen (2006).
After
Once Upon
a Time in America (1984), director Sergio Leone planning to cast De
Niro in a film he was working on about the siege of Leningrad
in World War II, but that project never came about due to
Leone's death in 1989.
For
the role of Max Cady in Cape Fear (1991), he paid a dentist
$5,000 to make his teeth look suitably bad. After filming,
he paid $20,000 to have them fixed. For this film, he was
tattooed with vegetable dyes, which faded after a few months.
Accidentally
broke a rib of Joe
Pesci in a sparring scene in Raging Bull (1980). This shot
appears in the film: De Niro hits Pesci in the side, Pesci
groans, and there is a quick cut to another angle.
Mentioned
in "Wierd Al" Yankovic's song 'Frank's 2000" TV'.
Owns
residences on the east and west sides of Manhattan as well
as near Marbletown, New York.
Is one
of five performers to win an Oscar playing a character that
spoke mostly in a foreign language. The other are Sophia Loren, Marion Cotillard, Roberto Benigni and Benicio Del Toro.
Played
a real life CIA director in "The Good Shepherd" (2006) and
another real life CIA agent in "Ronin" (1998), as well as
fictional CIA agent in "Meet the Parents" (2000).
Mentioned
in the ZZ Top song, "Gun Love", in the line, "Runnin' with
the Wild Bunch, makin' like Robert De Niro".
Attended
the star-studded opening of Dubai's lavish Atlantis Palms
resort. Guests were welcomed in style with a display of
one million fireworks, said to be visible from space. [November
11, 2008]
Is mentioned
in Stephen Lynch's song Vanilla Ice Cream.
Made
his directorial debut in A Bronx Tale (1993).
As of
the 5th edition of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
(edited by Steven Jay Schneider), De Niro is the most represented
actor, by 14 films. Included are the De Niro films Mean Streets (1973), The Godfather: Part II (1974),
Taxi Driver
(1976), Novecento (1976), The Deer Hunter (1978), Raging Bull (1980), The King of Comedy (1982), Once Upon a Time in America (1984),
Brazil
(1985), The Untouchables (1987), Goodfellas (1990), Casino (1995), Heat (1995) and Meet the Parents (2000).
He based
the movement of his character Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver (1976) on that of
a crab. He thought the character was indirect and tended
to shift from side to side.
He visited
Michael Jackson
on the set of filming the 'Smooth Criminal' segment for
Moonwalker (1988). Also visiting
the set was 'Gregory Peck' and Bruce Willis.
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