He has been a global star for around 50 years. But before he starred in some of the greatest masterpieces in film history, he too had to make ends meet by playing extras. In this article, you’ll find out who he’s talking about.
Cook
He is one of the greatest living Hollywood legends of all time: Robert De Niro. The 81-year-old has been nominated for an Oscar eight times and took home two statues – for “The Godfather Part II” and “Raging Bull”, just two of the numerous classics and masterpieces in which he has played a role over the course of his career, which has now spanned almost six decades.
A small selection: “1900”, “Taxi Driver”, “The Deer Hunter”, “Once Upon a Time in America”, “The Untouchables”, “GoodFellas”, “Casino”, “Heat”. But How did his career actually begin?
Robert De Niro kept himself afloat with extra roles
Even a giant like Robert De Niro started small: in the mid-1960s, he was one of many young actors who were making ends meet with theater roles, but who actually dreamed of a career in Hollywood. He played his first film role in 1963 in “The Wedding Party,” the directorial debut of Brian De Palma, who would later create “Scarface” and “Dressed To Kill” – although the film didn’t hit the screens until six years later.
In addition, he tried to attract attention as an extra, and cinema audiences were able to catch their very first glimpse of the future acting great in 1965 – although only very few people would have noticed him at all, after all, De Niro was only seen in the background.
The then 20-year-old was traveling with his father in France when he had the opportunity to spend a day filming on “Three rooms in Manhattan“ to participate – a late work by French directing icon Marcel Carné (“Children of Olympus”). De Niro can be seen in the romantic drama as a guest in a restaurant, in individual shots exactly in the middle between the leading actors Annie Girardot and Maurice Ronet. Here you can see an excerpt of said scene:
Three years later, De Niro landed another extra role in a Marcel Carné film, the youth drama “Mirror”. He had his first major role in a feature film in the same year: in the comedy “Greetings”, which was also directed by Brian De Palma.
Another seven years passed before De Niro met a young, up-and-coming director named Martin Scorsese and was hired as the lead actor in the gangster film “The Crucible” – the rest is film history!
Another Hollywood megastar made his first appearance just a few years after De Niro – at the age of just 5! Find out who he is in the following article:
54 years ago, this little boy first appeared in front of the camera, today he is one of the biggest Marvel stars: Did you recognize him?
A similar article has already appeared on our French sister site AlloCiné.
