Robert De Niro, who won Oscars for "The Godfather Part II" and "Raging Bull" and who's widely considered the greatest actor of his generation, joins the ranks of such Hollywood legends as John Ford, Sidney Poitier, Barbra Streisand, Billy Wilder and Gregory Peck, in receiving the American Film Institute's 31st annual Life Achievement Award.
De Niro's was lauded by friends and collaboraters, Martin Scorsese (a previous AFI recipient), Joe Pesci, Leonardo DiCaprio, among others including Robin Williams, Billy Cystal, James Wood, Jodie Foster, Harvey Kietel, Sean Penn, and Ed Norton.
Other
De Niro films included "Mean Streets", "Taxi Driver", "GoodFellas",
"Deer
Hunter", "Analyze This", "Analyze That", "Bang the Drum Slowly", "The Score",
"Awakenings", "A Bronx Tale", (Filmography follows).
The
De Niro tribute will be telecast June 23 on USA Network.
===================================================
Yes,
they're talking to you: AFI honors De Niro
With
a mix of reverence and raunch, a parade of stars pays tribute
as
the actor receives the Life Achievement Award.
Los
Angeles Times
By
Susan King
Times
Staff Writer
June
14, 2003
In an evening filled with respect, sentimentality and much R-rated humor, Robert De Niro received the American Film Institute's 31st annual Life Achievement Award Thursday evening at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood.
The 59-year-old actor, who won Oscars for "The Godfather Part II" and "Raging Bull" and who's widely considered the greatest actor of his generation, joins the ranks of such Hollywood actors and directors as John Ford, Sidney Poitier, Tom Hanks, Barbra Streisand, Billy Wilder and Gregory Peck who have previously received the AFI honor over the past three decades.
De Niro, who has let his characters primarily do his talking during his 30-year-plus career, seemed uncomfortable with all the attention and praise being heaped upon him from such friends and collaborators as director Martin Scorsese and actors Joe Pesci, Harvey Keitel, Sean Penn, Leonardo DiCaprio and Edward Norton. But he seemed genuinely touched when he accepted the honor from Scorsese, with whom he has made eight films, including "Mean Streets," "Taxi Driver," "GoodFellas" and "Raging Bull."
"It's been a terrific night," said the actor. "It wasn't so bad. Maybe I've gotten older " Looking over at Scorsese, a previous AFI recipient, De Niro added: "Marty, you are so special to me."
In taped interviews, De Niro spoke thoughtfully, often movingly, about some of his great roles. At one point, speaking of a scene in Michael Cimino's "Deer Hunter," when his character returns from Vietnam to visit his paralyzed friend in the hospital, the actor burst into tears.
Though the AFI ceremony is one of the biggest events in Hollywood, this year's festivities were definitely of a New York state of mind. At one point in the evening Robin Williams joked that the dais looked like "the last supper in Little Italy."
Billy Crystal, who appeared with De Niro in the comedies "Analyze This" and "Analyze That," remarked that people always want to know what he calls the actor. Crystal joked that people who know him call him Bob. Bobby is used by "movie executives who have never met him and Mr. De Niro is what they call him when they meet him."
And on a serious note, Crystal told the actor: "Thank you for making me a better actor."
Friend
and frequent co-star Keitel told the audience that De Niro is a "guide
and a role model for a generation of people" — a theme that played out
throughout the night. Norton, who worked with his idol in
"The
Score," described De Niro as the "e.e. cummings of acting" due to his economy
of style. "I dreamed of working with De Niro," he said. "He set a standard
we all aspired to."
Jodie Foster, who co-starred at age 12 with De Niro in "Taxi Driver" as a young prostitute, recalled before production began this "strange man" would pick her up at her hotel every morning and have breakfast with her. "He was not about to talk," she said, smiling. But there was a method to De Niro's madness, Foster added. "He introduced me to the craft of acting. He taught me how to build a character. You make a great Henry Higgins."
The taped interviews interspersed among tributes, the actor opened up and offered insight into how he prepares his parts, from making long, copious notes in his scripts to, in the case of "The Godfather Part II," traveling to Sicily and taping examples of the 14 dialects of the region.
Williams, who co-starred with De Niro in "Awakenings," brought down the house with his rapid-fire one-liners describing the disheveled, mustached actor as resembling Saddam Hussein and that Scorsese's bushy eyebrows actually played the role of De Niro's Mohawk hairdo in "Taxi Driver."
"Once Upon a Time in America" co-star James Woods proclaimed: "Bob, as an actor you stink! Let's talk about 'Rocky & Bullwinkle,' " referring to one of the actor's lesser films of recent years. Woods then introduced a clip from a long-forgotten 1971 film called "Jennifer on My Mind," in which De Niro played a dope-loving gypsy cabdriver.
After 2 1/2 hours of tributes and a performance by Beyoncé Knowles of "New York, New York," Scorsese finally took the stage to give his friend the AFI honor. "He has an extraordinary genius to transform himself to be the character," said the director. "He never judges his character. He's a good man."
...
Gregory Peck had died earlier in the morning at age 87. And as De Niro,
who worked with Peck in "Cape Fear," bid the crowd "goodnight,"
he
looked up at the heavens and added "Goodnight, Gregory Peck."
The De Niro tribute will be telecast June 23 on USA Network.
Yes,
they're talking to you: AFI honors De Niro
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/printedition/calendar/
la-et-king14jun14,1,2827595.story?coll=la-headlines-calendar
===================================================
De
Niro's Filmography:
Date
of Birth: August 17, 1943
Place
of Birth: New York City
2001
Fifteen Minutes
The Score
2000
The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle
Men of Honor
Meet The Parents
1999
Flawless
Entropy
Analyze This
1998
Great Expectations
Ronin
1997
Wag the Dog
Cop Land
Jackie Brown
1996
The Fan
Marvin's Room
Sleepers
1995
A Hundred and One Nights
Heat
Casino
1994
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
1993
This Boy's Life
A Bronx Tale
Mad Dog and Glory
1992
Night and the City
1991
Guilty by Suspicion
Cape Fear
Mistress
Backdraft
More Than a Movie
1990
Hollywood Mavericks
Awakenings
Goodfellas
Stanley and Iris
1989
Jacknife
We're No Angels
1988
Midnight Run
1987
Angel Heart
The Untouchables
1986
The Mission
1985
Brazil
1984
Once Upon a Time in America
Falling in Love
1983
The King of Comedy
1982
La Vrai Histoire
De Gerard Lechomeur
1981
The Godfather 1902-1959: The Complete Epic
True Confessions
1980
Raging Bull
1978
The Deer Hunter
New York, New York
1977
The Godfather Saga
1976
Novecento
The Last Tycoon
Taxi Driver
1974
The Godfather Part II
1973
Mean Streets
Bang the Drum Slowly
1971
Born to Win
Jennifer on My Mind
The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight
1970
Bloody Mama
Hi, Mom!
1969
Sam's Song
The Wedding Party
1968
Greetings
Director
1993
1993
A Bronx Tale
Producer
1989
We're No Angels (executive)
1992
Thunderheart
Mistress
1993
A Bronx Tale
"Tribeca" Tv Series (executive)
1994
Frankenstein (associate)
1996
Marvin's Room
Faithful
1997
Wag the Dog
Robert
DeNiro - Biography and Filmography
http://www.robert-deniro.com/bio.htm