De Niro: A Biography

by John Baxter

Overview

The life of Hollywood’s number one movie actor, the elusive Robert De Niro, who shuns the limelight and rarely gives interviews, written by the leading film critic and biographer of Spielberg, Kubrick, Woody Allen and George Lucas.

Robert De Niro is the pre-eminent Hollywood character performer of our time: film portraits like the young Don Vito Corleone in THE GODFATHER II, Jake La Motta in RAGING BULL and Travis Bickle in TAXI DRIVER are some of the most vivid ever put on celluloid. De Niro cannot be cast to type, prefers to work for old friends like Martin Scorsese, and (apart from FRANKENSTEIN) has never played anything but 20th-century roles.

John Baxter calls him ‘the archetypal empty bottle which only becomes visible when it’s filled by a role’: which makes him such a tempting subject for one of Hollywood’s finest historian/biographers.

As well as his film roles, Baxter examines De Niro’s often controversial private life, his collaborations with directors like Martin Scorsese and performers like Harvey Keitel and Meryl Streep, and his increasingly ambitious off-screen activities.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780006532309
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	10/06/2003
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	5.06(w) x 7.81(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

John Baxter is a film critic, novelist, biographer and broadcaster, whose books include The Hollywood Exiles, The Cinema of Josef von Sternberg, The Cinema of John Ford, and biographies of Ken Russell, Fellini, Buñuel, Steven Spielberg, Stanley Kubrick, Woody Allen and George Lucas. Born and brought up in Australia, he has worked in London, taught in the United States, and now lives in Paris.

Table of Contents

	List of Illustrations	vi
	Acknowledgments	ix
1	The Last Actor Alive	1
2	New York	6
3	My Father's Business	21
4	Stella	39
5	Sally, Candy, Andy and the Others	50
6	Shelley and the Boys	62
7	The Year of the Turkey	77
8	Boyz of the 'Hood	93
9	An Offer You Can't Refuse	109
10	Sleepless	130
11	If You Can Make it There ...	145
12	Going for a Soldier	169
13	Jake	185
14	A Harp with Class	203
15	The Epic that Never Was	227
16	The South American Picture	241
17	Falling Angel	254
18	The Man Upstairs	277
19	A Made Man	295
20	Rabbit in a Maze	313
21	In Cop Land	329
22	Ageing Bull	348
	Filmography	377
	Index	393

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

‘Amusing and eminently readable’ Empire‘Not recommended for the faint-hearted’ Sunday Telegraph‘Excellent. Baxter’s analysis of De Niro as an actor is fascinating’ Julie Evans, Manchester Evening News‘Baxter is fascinating on the making of De Niro’s great movies’ Sunday Tribune (Dublin)‘Informative and highly readable’ Allan Hunter, Herald (Glasgow)

Editorial Reviews

‘Amusing and eminently readable’ Empire
‘Not recommended for the faint-hearted’ Sunday Telegraph
‘Excellent. Baxter’s analysis of De Niro as an actor is fascinating’ Julie Evans, Manchester Evening News
‘Baxter is fascinating on the making of De Niro’s great movies’ Sunday Tribune (Dublin)
‘Informative and highly readable’ Allan Hunter, Herald (Glasgow)

From the Publisher

Robert De Niro's ability to inhabit his characters completely makes him one of our greatest actors. Despite his fame-or perhaps because of it-he rarely gives interviews, which may explain the dearth of material available on him. Drawing on his own research and interviews with friends and colleagues, Baxter, a British film critic and the author of more than 15 film books, has written a detailed, unauthorized overview of De Niro's life and career. A native of New York City, De Niro was the only child of artist parents who had an unconventional marriage (Baxter asserts that De Niro's father was gay). At 17, shy, lonely, and with few prospects, he decided to train as an actor, toiling long and hard before his breakthrough in Taxi Driver. Though there are some juicy tidbits here, the book's strength lies in Baxter's detailed critique of De Niro's movies and career and the inclusion of a filmography. Unfortunately, the text is marred by an irritating, sometimes overly dramatic point of view, as when Baxter puts thoughts in De Niro's head and words in his mouth. Nevertheless, given the scarcity of literature on the actor, this will make a welcome addition to performing arts collections.-Rosellen Brewer, Monterey Cty. Free Libs., Salinas, CA Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

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