The American actor, producer, and director Robert De Niro (born 1943) is one of the most respected actors of his generation. He is best known for his roles as the young Vito Corleone in
The Robert De Niro Costumes and Props, 1967-2005 (bulk 1990-2005), consist of approximately 8,000 costume, prop, and makeup items from fifty-six motion pictures and two theater productions. Included are items from unidentified productions for which the genre and date are unknown. The costumes and props were acquired in 2006 along with De Niro’s personal papers, moving image materials, and personal effects, which are described separately and housed in Manuscript, Film, and Personal Effects collections within the Ransom Center.
The materials in this collection provide evidence of decisions made and/or implemented by the costume designer, the wardrobe department, the property master, and the makeup artist. The collection is arranged by production title and, within each production, by item number, reflecting the order in which the material was received and/or cataloged. A list of represented productions is appended to this description. Item-level descriptions are available in a searchable database which is accessible by production, actor, and costume designer.
The collection contains 5,100 costumes, 2,350 props, 350 makeup items such as colored contact lenses and fake teeth, and 200 production accessories, a category which includes items used by De Niro in conjunction with a production but not visible on film, such as padding worn in fight scenes. Also included are about thirty personal effects such as De Niro’s personal trailer slippers used on the set of
Coverage varies from one or two items to hundreds of objects per production. Generally, older productions are represented by fewer items. With 1,000 items,
Many items were received at the Ransom Center with wardrobe tags attached indicating the name of the actor, the scene number, and/or change number in which the item was used, and whether the item was actually worn or used. Apart from materials representing
Similarly, the sources of items in this collection are poorly documented. Most contemporary costumes were purchased off-the-rack from mainstream retailers. Some period costumes were fabricated by tailors for specific productions, notably the archbishop’s vestments from
Gift of Robert De Niro, 2006-2008 (G12588), except for three items donated by Paul Schrader in 2006 (G12503)
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Item-level descriptions are available in a
Darnelle Vanghel, Leanda Gahegan, Helen Adair, Jill Morena, Nicole Kern, Emilio Banda, and Alan Carrier, 2006-2009
De Niro’s personal papers, moving image materials, and personal effects are described separately and housed in Manuscript, Film, and Personal Effects collections within the Ransom Center.
The following productions are represented in the De Niro Costumes and Props. All are motion pictures unless otherwise indicated. Please note that while a small number of items are attributed to
Wardrobe continuity books are described separately and located in the Robert De Niro Papers.