De Niro’s kidney stone for sale - 6/12/01
It doesn’t get much weirder than this. A TV station is claiming to be auctioning a kidney stoned passed by Robert De Niro in a LA hospital in 1981, and is hoping to raise more than £3,000. The 1 cm-wide stone was bought by Auction World Dot TV founder George Spitaliotis during a trip to Las Vegas. Auction World Dot TV is now trying to authenticate the stone before putting it up for auction. A spokesman for De Niro has been unable to confirm whether the kidney stone came from the actor.

Biography
Robert De Niro was born in New York on August 17th, 1943. His early teens were mostly spent hanging around with a small-time gang, but acting eventually returned. His first paying gig as an actor was in a touring performance of Chekhov’s The Bear. He worked steadily in dinner theatres and Off-Broadway, studying with Method acting teachers Stella Adler and Lee Strasberg.

His first three film releases were with director Brian De Palma, who led him through The Wedding Party, Greetings and Hi, Mom!. In 1973 he caught the attention of critics and other filmmakers when he appeared as Bruce Pearson, a dying baseball player in Bang the Drum Slowly.

The role earned him a New York Film Critics award for Best Actor. 1973 was also the year that he first worked with Martin Scorsese, working in the film Mean Streets. The pair would do some of their best work together, and over the years they have made Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, New York, New York, The King of Comedy, Goodfellas, Cape Fear and Casino.

In 1974, De Niro caught the attention of audiences as well as he appeared as a young Vito Corleone in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather, Part II. He won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar? for that performance. "Are you talkin’ to me?" That’s the question Travis Bickle asked in 1976’s Taxi Driver. Audiences may not have been talking to him, but they were looking.

Travis Bickle is arguably De Niro’s most famous role, and it earned him the first of five Best Actor nominations from the Academy Awards?. De Niro ended the 70’s with his 1978 role in The Deer Hunter. He started the 80’s with his performance of Jake La Motta in Raging Bull. His dedication to his craft was exemplified by his gaining of 60 pounds to play the role.

The role also gained him some golden weight, as he won Best Actor awards from both the Oscars? and the Golden Globes. Other roles in the 80’s included Rupert Pupkin in The King of Comedy with Jerry Lewis, Once Upon a Time in America, Brazil, The Mission, The Untouchables and Midnight Run. The next decade started with Martin Scorsese again as he appeared with Joe Pesci and Ray Liotta in Goodfellas.He worked with Martin again in 1991 when they remade Cape Fear.

De Niro also started the Tribeca Film Center in the 90’s, a company intent on promoting film-making in New York. The need for cash to fund this venture led many critics to believe that was his sole purpose in working in duds like We’re No Angels, The Fan and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.

That wasn’t always the trend in the 90’s however and in 1995 he had well-recieved turns in both Heat (which paired him onscreen with fellow acting god Al Pacino for the first time) and another role for Scorcese in Casino.

He worked with Dustin Hoffman in Wag the Dog (1997) and skewered his mob roles opposite Billy Crystal in the comedy hit Analyze This in 1999. His last performance in 1999, Flawless, also earned him good notices.