NEW YORK (ITALPRESS). It would not be an exaggeration to say that Robert De Niro is one of the best actors in the history of cinema. If today, on the eve of his 80th birthday (August 17), we follow his creative path, we will find films that we will never get tired of watching. Specifically, between the seventies and the nineties, a period which, unsurprisingly, includes the two Oscars he received: in 1975, as best supporting actor for his portrayal of the young Vito Corleone in The Godfather – Part II, and in 1981 2008 for Best Actor for his role as boxer Jack LaMotta in Raging Bull.
By the time of the first statuette, his career had already started for several years. Italian-American by origin (from his father’s side, whose parents were from Ferrazzano, in the province of Campobasso) and by habitat (raised in Little Italy, New York County, the city where he was born in 1943), De Niro studied at the Lee Actors Studio Strasberg and made his debut at the age of twenty in the comedy Auggie by Brian De Palma. This is followed by, among others, “Three Bedrooms in Manhattan” and “Young Wolves” by Marcel Carnet and “Chao America! and “Hi Mom!”, also by De Palma.
However, the first significant role comes in 1973, when the actor has to play a baseball player suffering from Hodgkin’s lymphoma in John D. Hancock’s Beat the Drum Slowly. De Niro, who became known for his research and training for his characters, moved to Atlanta to learn the techniques of the sport. That same year, De Palma introduced him to Martin Scorsese, who had him play a gangster in Mean Streets – Sunday in Church, Monday in Hell, beginning an important partnership. In 1974, the young Vito Corleone finally received an Oscar. Thus, he enters the ranks of new Hollywood talent (with Jack Nicholson, Dustin Hoffman, Al Pacino and Gene Hackman) and, next year, he is called to star in two masterpieces: Bernardo Bertolucci wants him in his Novecento and Martin Scorsese for Taxi Driver. Night taxi driver Travis Bickle is considered one of the best interpretations of him (the impromptu line in front of the mirror: “Are you talking to me?” is one of the most famous in the history of cinema), and De Niro prepared for this by actually being a taxi driver. Thanks to this role, he was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor and won the Palme d’Or at Cannes. Also in 1975, he starred in “Last Lights” by Elia Kazan.
After the boring musical “New York, New York” with Liza Minnelli (for which, playing the saxophonist, he really learns to play the saxophone), De Niro triumphs with Michael Cimino’s “The Deer Hunter” along with Christopher Walken and Meryl Streep and receives a new Oscar nomination, which, however, wins three years later with Raging Bull. For the role of a boxer, La Motta is gaining thirty kilograms.
In 1984, a new masterpiece comes out: Sergio Leone chooses him to play the role of Jewish gangster David “Noodles” Aaronsohn in the blockbuster Once Upon a Time in America. Shortly thereafter, he met Streep again in Ulu Grosbard’s Falling in Love, and in 1986 he co-starred with Jeremy Irons and Liam Neeson in The Mission, which won the Palme d’Or at Cannes. A year later, he returned to work with De Palma, playing Al Capone in The Untouchables, and then the role of Lucifer in Angel Heart – Ascensore per l’inferno.
In 1990, De Niro finds Scorsese for The Goodfellas (he is gangster Jimmy Conway), and also plays Love Letters with Jane Fonda and Awakenings with Robin Williams. The latter film earned him an Oscar nomination as well as Cape Fear – Cape Fear, in which he plays a psychopath and vindictive ex-con along with Nick Nolte and Jessica Lange.
In 1993 he made his debut behind the camera: The Bronx Story, for which he is also a translator, is a success. Followed by Michal Caton-Jones’ “I Want to Start Over” with a very young Leonardo DiCaprio; “Frankenstein Mary Shelley” by Kenneth Branagh and with him. Also in 1994, he received the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the Venice Film Festival, along with Claudia Cardinale, Steven Spielberg and Roman Polanski. Other successful titles follow, such as Martin Scorsese’s Casino, Michael Mann’s The Heat Is a Challenge (in which he shares the screen with Al Pacino for the first time, they had no scenes on the set of The Godfather). in general), Sleepers by Barry Levinson, Marvin’s Room by Jerry Zaks, Sex and Power by Levinson, Ronin by John Frankinheimer, and Therapy and Bullets by Harold Ramis.
Even the 2000s are characterized by success, from the trilogy “I introduce you to your parents”, “I meet your parents?” and “Meet the Parents” to “15 Minutes: New York Murder Series” and “The Score” by Frank Oz, in which he first co-starred with Marlon Brando. In 2004, he starred in The Bridge of San Luis Rey, the first of a series of disappointing films such as The Find – Evil Reborn and Sfid Sentz’s Rule (again with Al Pacino). In 2006, he returned behind the camera in The Good Shepherd – Shadow of Power, in which he also had a small role alongside Angelina Jolie and Matt Damon.
In 2010, he starred in Italian in Giovanni Veronesi’s “Manuale d’amore 3” and in David O’s “Positive Side – A Guide to Silver Linings”. Russell again receives an Oscar nomination (Best Supporting Actor) after 21 year. In 2019, he plays Murray Franklin in Joker.
It should be remembered that in 2002, De Niro, along with Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hutkoff, organized the New York Tribeca Film Festival in response to the 9/11 attacks and the subsequent loss of viability in Manhattan’s Tribeca neighborhood.
De Niro, who was naturalized by an Italian in 2006 while retaining his US citizenship, has seven children, the latest of whom, Gia Virginia, was born last May from a relationship with Tiffany Chen.
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(ITALPRESS).