Talk:Robert De Niro

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Robert De Niro article. This is not a forum for general discussion about the article's subject.
Please sign and date your posts by typing four tildes (~~~~). Put new text under old text. Click here to start a new topic. New to Wikipedia? Welcome! Ask questions, get answers.	Be polite Assume good faith No personal attacks Be welcoming	Article policies No original research Neutral point of view Verifiability

This article must adhere to the policy on biographies of living persons. Controversial material of any kind that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous. If such material is repeatedly inserted or there are other concerns relative to this policy, report it on the living persons biographies noticeboard.

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Biography. For more information, visit the project page.	Biography Portal
B	This article has been rated as B-Class on the Project's quality scale. [FAQ] See comments

Contents 1 ITALIAN STREET GANG + "BOBBY MILK" 2 De Niro's heritage 3 Incorrect Information on Ancestry 4 "Tufano" vandalism 5 De Niro and Pacino 6 De Niro's height 7 De Niro's Italian accent 8 Stephanie Adams 9 PHOTOGRAPH 10 Greatest Actor of All Time 11 italian citizenship 12 To the person who incorrectly stated that DeNiro is an Italian citizen 13 Irish bias 14 Education 15 His name 16 Pancake 17 "stage character??"

[edit] ITALIAN STREET GANG + "BOBBY MILK"

so it says that his nickname was 'bobby milk' 

due to his white complexion. But the gang was located in 'little italy',

were the other members, black or dark skin? Because if they were all italians, 

then they wouldn't have called him that way, since they would all be of white complexion. Thank you for answering. ciao

Maybe something for trivia: isn't there an 80's song called Robert De Niro's waiting?

=> Yes, by Brit Girl group Bananarama

Regarding the categories, I believe that ethnically Mr. De Niro is, despite his name, more Irish than Italian. Quill

Yes, I have heard many times that Robert De Niro is mostly Irish.

he is 1/4 Irish.

Did De Niro speak any Italian while growing up, or just English? Alexander 007 07:21, 27 July 2005 (UTC)

his granndfather was born in Italy so unlikely Robert Jr. spoke the language. Arniep 21:16, 20 October 2005 (UTC)

" Although De Niro is often thought to be of Italian descent, he is also part Dutch, French, German, and Irish, but identifies "more with [his] Italian side than with [his] other parts.""

Can anybody find a source for this? IMDB mentions at least three times that he's Irish, so I think that, unless someone finds a cogent citation to the contary, it should be removed, and stated that he is in fact mostly Irish-American.

His paternal grandfather was Italian, paternal grandmother Irish, maternal grandfather mixture of Dutch/French/British, maternal grandmother German. Arniep 21:14, 20 October 2005 (UTC)

To add something here, I consider myself more jewish than anything else, because I take after my father in appearance and personality, he takes more after his father in appearance and personality, rather than my cajun french grandmother or irish great-grandmother. So I call myself jewish, even though I'm more like a samaritan, heh. 71.15.46.131 13:14, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

It might be reasonably asked how De Niro manages to be "three quarters Irish through his mother" when your mother only gives you half your genetic inheritance (your father gives you the other half, in case you were wondering).[[User:|User:]] 22:10, 20 September 2005 (UTC)

The use of fractions to donate someones ancestral background is so vague as to be nearly meaningless. cardigan3000

How can it be vague? If anything it is over precise. Arniep 21:12, 20 October 2005 (UTC)

For example . If someone has grand parents who are respectively Dutch , Swedish , French and Norwegian then do you give them a quarter each. If his parents are then considered for example American and Canadian do you then give each of these a half? What if one of his great great grandparents was scottish? WHat fraction do they have? In the end you will have a number that is above 1. Therefore it is worthless. [[User:|User:]] 12:21, 30 December 2005 (UTC)

I found the source of the picture, I didn't see a copyright, though. I'll look again.-Wiseguy100

Why is Robert De Niro listed as a German-American?

because one of his grandparents was German. Arniep 21:12, 20 October 2005 (UTC)

"Like so many fellow actors, De Niro is a staunch Democrat." Is this really NPOV?--Mpeisenbr 14:28, 2005 August 31 (UTC)

Yes, I think this is right because De Niro's political activism is well known, although this only became the case in the late 1990s, and it is in keeping with the vast majority of Hollywood people.

[edit] De Niro's heritage

I don't know why Arniep is clearly against Italian orgins. I'm an Italian guy so I try to explain to him (and to everybody, of course) something about Robert De Niro's origins. I changed the actor's orginis from American to Italian American many times and every time Arniep replaced it back. Well, De Niro is widely considered an Italian American. Here some questions: first, De Niro's surname cleary reveals his Italian past; second, De Niro as always be identified as an Italian American character due to his roles in IA films (let's think about Goodfellas, Analyze This, the marvelous Godfather, Part II, ecc); third, HE identifies himself as an Italian American man according to many interviews (he has stated that he identifies "more with (his) Italian side than with (his) other parts." That's written in Wikipedia's page), the honorary Italian citizenship (he don't get it because of Italian diplomatic problems), the many presences as a member of the NIAF (The National Italan American Foundation) to official events. So there're pleanty of reasons why De Niro must be considered an Italian American actor. I think Wikipedia, a free expression of culture, have to be as much as possible free and correct. I don't want to change De Niro's heritage anymore. If you would rechange it again I'll send a mail to Wikipedia's Webmaster due to loss of free expression. Thank u and good work

Doctor01

PS The same as Brittany Murphy: I saw you canghed her page again. Her father was Italian and that makes her Italian American (her original name is Sharon Bertolotti).

Arniep has made a valid editorial decision by removing that from the introductory sentence. The first sentence should give the subject's nationality, not ethnicity. Ethnic heritage may properly be described in the article, but short of a subject like Thurgood Marshall (the first African American to be either Solicitor General or Supreme Court justice), it is not going to be so integral to the subject that the information deserves top billing. Try to keep identity politics out of this, and whatever claim you were trying to make about "free expression" appears to be meritless. Postdlf 23:09, 12 November 2005 (UTC)

Britanny Murphy is only half Italian and DeNiro is only 1/4. You used the phrase "widely regarded" - "Widely regarded" does not refer to facts, it refers to fiction constructed by the public. An encyclopedia is about facts.Vulturell 06:41, 13 November 2005 (UTC)

I'm not particularly keen to get involved in this debate, but I have to say I found it amusing that Doctor01 references Goodfellas, a movie in which De Niro plays an Irish-American character. --Ryano 15:57, 1 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Incorrect Information on Ancestry

There is lots of incorrect information in this article regarding DeNiro's ancestry. For one, both DeNiro's paternal grandparents were born in Italy, not just his paternal grandfather. [1] This fact would also obviously affect the numbers given regarding his German, Irish, and French ancestry (they wouldn't add up). Therefore, unless verification can be given for the exact fraction he is of those ancestries, it would be better to just state something along the lines of "DeNiro is also parts German, Irish, French, etc." --Brian Brockmeyer 07:50, 13 November 2005 (UTC)

I think that article is just a tad off - his paternal GREAT-grandparents were Italian. His paternal grandmother is very well-known to be Irish-American. Look at this book (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1560254696/qid=1131872739/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/?v=glance&s=books) you can search it online - search for Irish - it clearly says DeNiro's father is Irish-Italian. This is also repeated all over the web. I think the article you linked to just made a slight error.Vulturell 09:06, 13 November 2005 (UTC)

Ok. Works for me. Thanks for clearing that up. --Brian Brockmeyer 20:59, 13 November 2005 (UTC)

I always think interesting to know someone ethnic back ground. Are we sure he is 25% IRISH or what ? please if someone know sure sure let me know. " Although he is commonly referred to as an Italian-American actor, De Niro is actually three-quarters Irish in ancestry. He was, however, quite close to his Italian paternal grandfather, whom Robert visited frequently in Syracuse, NY when he was young. " the Internet Movie Database

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000134/bio

[edit] "Tufano" vandalism

Note that edits inserting supposed information about "Marc Tufano" are vandalism and should be reverted on sight. This has affected multiple articles (Robert De Niro, The Beatles, etc. etc.) -- Curps 18:40, 24 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] De Niro and Pacino

It says in the article that De Niro didn't work with Al Pacino until "Heat", in 1995. What about "The Godfather, Part II"? Carter Somerville 23:02, 11 January 2006 (UTC)

Thanks, article corrected. Arniep 23:44, 11 January 2006 (UTC)

This depends on what you consider to be meant by "work with Al Pacino" As in Godfather II although they appear in the same film they do not share the screen as they are part of two different timelines, in fact they would not have worked together on the making of this film and quite possibly were never once on set at the same time. In the commentary for the Godfather II DVD it is pointed out that for a split second between a fade out from 'young vito' to Michael in present time you can see both character sharing the screen, this was said to be the only time they had shared a screen until Heat.

With this in mind i would re-correct the article and state that they never worked together until Heat, i do not think that appearing in the same film is enough to qualify as working together unless they shared a scene. - Gary Murphy, 5th Feb 2006.

That seems logical and of course is correct in the terms with which film people consider having worked together they did not until Heat.(82.35.165.216 00:16, 7 July 2006 (UTC))

[edit] De Niro's height

I believe De Niro's height should be listed as 5'9" because has been known for wearing lifts in his shoes throughout his movie career. His page at celebheights.com makes it clear 5'9" was the maximum height he was, and now at 62 he is closer to 5'8".

[edit] De Niro's Italian accent

Is it true ? I've seen someone add this info in the page. I don't know so I'm asking to you. --Doctor01 12:33, 6 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Stephanie Adams

Under "Trivia", were were told: Dated professional model Stephanie Adams for a length of time.

I've removed this.

A weaker version of this claim has appeared within Stephanie Adams (now protected). The only evidence yet proffered for the weaker claim is a mention in a short gossip column (the JPEG is displayed on Adams's website) in one or other of NYC's lowbrow newspapers that an unnamed source had said that Adams had had an (yes, one) "intimate" dinner at De Niro's place. (See that article's talk page for discussion.) This is very, very feeble evidence for a claim made in the article on Adams, about whom there's really not much to say and for whom some barrel-scraping might be understandable (if not justifiable). De Niro is hugely more noteworthy, and the article about him certainly doesn't need to descend to such levels of feebly sourced trivia. -- Hoary 00:46, 2 May 2006 (UTC)

Should it perhaps be mentioned that he really digs black women?

==removed all mention of "The Discipline" here since it no longer appears in the article. and by the way, citation is NOT needed when someone writes "some regard De Niro as the successor to Marlon Brando." its so widely and so commonly known that requiring citation for that is like saying you need a citation for "the sun rises in the east." or wait, here's the citation you can use: "The World." Stevewk 16:18, 3 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] PHOTOGRAPH

That is not a photo of De Niro with Pacino at top of page. Its Pacino with another actor who played Pacinos brother- I cant recall his name but the cast list will prove I'm right.

[edit] Greatest Actor of All Time

De Niro is the greatest, Pacino's a close second. They both have so many classic movies.--Tainted Drifter 05:28, 13 October 2006 (UTC)

This about the entry. Not a fansite Rubberchix 16:13, 4 November 2006 (UTC)

For what it's worth, I think DeNiro is a very moderate actor, who seems to portray the same voice and facial expressions in every scene of every movie he ever makes. I realize others disagree. Still, from my perspective, it's hard not to perceive this article as quite biased.66.171.197.53 14:09, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

• The same claim was made about Henry Fonda, for example. Was he overrated? What about other actors who had a recognizable style? Wahkeenah 14:50, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] italian citizenship

he can't be honorary citizen, because mayor of Rome gave him an italian passport...

[edit] To the person who incorrectly stated that DeNiro is an Italian citizen

I removed the note in the trivia section that said he is an Italian citizen, because elsewhere in the article it makes clear that he is NOT actually an honorary Italian citizen because of diplomatic problems. The note was written in broken lowercase English which leads me to believe that it was a non-native English speaker who wrote it, and the link article the person cited was entirely in Italian, and from what I could gather, not even ABOUT Robert DeNiro. So, please, if you don't know English very well, don't edit the English wikipedia, especially if you're going to add inaccurate information. Stick to the Italian-lanuage wikipedia, please. 141.224.232.207 23:21, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Irish bias

Someone tried to bias this article by saying De Niro is mostly Irish- this is a lie- he only has Irish grandmother. Chooey 22:20, 6 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Education

Is De Niro's falling out with his father somehow related to the category? Where shall we put this little nugget?--johno95 17:51, 20 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] His name

Is his name Robert De Niro or is it Robert DeNiro? Calvero2 21:14, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Pancake

This tidbit under education either needs to be removed or requires a citation. I would say its probable vandalism since the grammar and spelling is so poor.

[edit] "stage character??"

I'm not about to call out names, but to the person who made this change: Why would you change "credited professionally as", which is far more accurate, to "whose stage character is spelled as", which is innacurate and clumsy wording? A "character" is generally recognized to be a fictional person. Furthermore, a "stage character" would imply a character in a theatrical stage production, not film. Finally, the phrase "credited professionally as" was just fine and I can't imagine why you would change it. I'm changing it back to a more accurate statement that makes sense if you don't mind. Cris Varengo 18:34, 22 March 2007 (UTC)