De Niro really doesn’t like giving interviews, and when he does, they become torture for journalists.
Photo: EASTERN NEWS
Robert De Niro has an Italian surname, he became famous, including the roles of Italians, such as the young Vito Corleone in The Godfather 2 or the boxer Jake LaMotta in Raging Bull. But in fact, he is only one quarter Italian: his father was half Irish and his mother was of Dutch, English, French and German descent. When Robert was born to them, they were both very young artists and very poor, living on $50 a month (in 1943 it was a more solid amount than now, but still…) They had to wash in their rented apartment in a tub for the White clothes. But almost all the New York bohemia came to visit. The parents separated when Robert was two years old. She stayed with his mother, but often met with his father, went to the movies with him, and fell in love with movies. In particular, he photos with Greta Garbo, whom his father loved very much (and later his son considered his acting work among the references of his entire life).
Shot from the movie “The Godfather-2”
At the age of ten, Robert performed on stage for the first time – he played the cowardly lion in The Wizard of Oz. And he really liked it. Many years later, he commented: “Acting is the easiest way to do what you don’t dare to do in life.” In the same tender ten years, he began attending Maria-Lei Piscator’s Dramatic Workshop, where Marlon Brando had studied before him. And in his spare time he was a punk, spending time with young hooligans in New York’s “Little Italy” (remember that his Italian roots made themselves felt here – he dressed in dandy suits and did everything possible to present himself to his newcomers). friends like a purebred “pasta”).
Take from the movie “Taxi Driver”
In his youth, he studied under the legendary acting teacher Stella Adler. And in the 60s he began to play in films, however, to begin with, in modest films, which sometimes could not be released for several years. The breakthrough came as far back as the ’70s: he played a goofy baseball player who dies of Hodgkin’s lymphoma in the movie Beat the Drum Slowly and, most importantly, he starred in Martin Scorsese’s Mean Streets, which critics declared a breakthrough in American cinema. And then he was approved without trial for the role of young Don Corleone in The Godfather 2, and at thirty he received his first Oscar. In three months, De Niro not only had to learn Italian (of which he previously only had a general idea), but also learn to speak the Sicilian dialect; for this, he traveled especially to Sicily.
Still from the movie “Raging Bull”
Well, then there was Scorsese’s unforgettable “Taxi Driver,” a story about a Vietnam vet who decides to fight dirt and save a young prostitute played by Jodie Foster. (Film critic Pauline Cale called this film Dostoyevsky’s “Notes from the Dead House” in a comic book version.) There was Michael Cimino’s The Deer Hunter and another role as a Vietnam vet. There was Raging Bull, for which De Niro received a second Oscar. By the 1980s, he was unanimously named one of the top two American actors of the 30-40 generation.
Still from the movie “Mean Streets”
The second was Al Pacino, but ironically, they rarely performed together. In The Godfather 2, they played father and son, but the action took place in different layers of time and they didn’t collide on screen. In 1995, director Michael Mann brought them together on screen in his marvelous “Fight,” but he filmed the scene so that his faces didn’t fall into the frame at the same time. Then there was a completely passable film “The Right to Kill”, unworthy of the talent of both. And just in 2019, Scorsese gave them two lead roles in The Irishman.
De Niro really doesn’t like giving interviews, and when he does, they become torture for journalists: the answers have to be wrung out of him. The British GQ correspondent noted that the only topic De Niro was willing to talk about in great detail and much was Donald Trump, whom the actor hates to a stupor. “He’s an idiot. He’s a fool. He’s a clown. He’s stupid. He’s messy.
Screenshot from the movie “Beat the Drum Slowly”
He asked him a question: why does the living legend of cinema act in stupid comedies like “Grandfather of Easy Virtue”, which are clearly not worthy of his talent? De Niro hesitated, paused, then proudly replied, “For every movie I’ve made, I take full responsibility.”
And all the same, now he is shooting in a huge number of passing films (the “Weekend with Dad” that just appeared on our screens is another confirmation of this). He probably does it for the money. And then where should I play? There are very few notable movies being made now, much less than in the ’70s. But that’s not Robert De Niro’s fault.
Diane Abbott and Robert De Niro
Photo: EASTERN NEWS
He became a father at 79
As for the private life of the actor, for a long time it has been pointed out that De Niro prefers African-American, mulatto and Asian women. In 1976, he married black actress Diane Abbott; the marriage lasted only 12 years. Then there was a long romance with the model Tuki Smith, also black. De Niro married former flight attendant and model Grace Hightower in 1997, but divorced her 21 years later.
De Niro married former flight attendant and model Grace Hightower in 1997.
Photo: EASTERN NEWS
2023 has been a happy and tragic year for him at the same time. At 79, he became a father for the sixth time: a new girlfriend, martial arts teacher Tiffany Chen, gave birth to a boy. And his grandson died. Non-native (he was the son of Drena De Niro, daughter of Diane Abbott, whom De Niro adopted). But still loved. The 19-year-old died after taking a wide variety of drugs. The actor came to the funeral with a new girlfriend and a three-month-old daughter …
Robert’s new girlfriend, Tiffany Chen
Photo: EASTERN NEWS
top 10 movies
“Mean Streets” (1973)
“The Godfather-2” (1974)
“Taxi Driver” (1976)
“The Deer Hunter” (1978)
Raging Bull (1980)
“Once Upon a Time in America” (1984)
“The Untouchables” (1987)
“Good Boys” (1990)
“Fight” (1995)
“The Irishman” (2019)
