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Scope and Contents |
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The extraordinary breadth of actor, director, and producer Robert De Niro's cinematic
career from the 1960s through 2020 is reflected in his collection of papers, film,
movie
props, and costumes at the Ransom Center. De Niro is widely regarded as one of the
greatest
actors of his generation and a key figure in "The New
Hollywood," an artistic renaissance that began in the late 1960s. He appeared in
many of the period's key films: Taxi Driver (1976), Raging Bull (1980), The Godfather: Part II (1974), and The Deer Hunter (1978). De Niro has produced more than two dozen
films since the late 1980s and directed A Bronx Tale (1993) and The Good Shepherd (2006). |
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The papers described in this finding aid include De Niro's heavily-annotated scripts
and
correspondence, stage play and photographic materials from his early career, make-up
and
wardrobe photographs, wardrobe continuity books, costume designs, and posters, as
well as
extensive production, publicity, and research materials. The collection focuses exclusively
on De Niro's professional career: while some congratulatory correspondence and exchanges
with his colleagues provide insight into the personal side of his working relationships,
De Niro's private life remains private. The papers are arranged in five series: I.
Films,
1888-2021; II. Plays, circa 1961-2016; III. Television, 1970-2018; IV. Projects, 1899-2012;
and V. Early Career and Career-Related, 1946-2018. |
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Most of the papers are located in the first series, Films, which includes scripts
plus
related production, publicity, and research materials for over one hundred films documenting
De Niro's career from the 1968 film Greetings through Killers of the Flower Moon, released in 2023. While the type and
amount of material present varies from film to film, there is not only abundant evidence
of
De Niro's rigorous preparation for his acting roles from the large amounts of research
material present and his copious notations in scripts, but also insight into the
collaborative nature of his work with a variety of noted writers, directors, actors,
and
other film artists. The evolution of many screenplays can also be traced, often from
the
original source material through numerous drafts to the final shooting script. The
close
attention paid to the details of wardrobe, make-up, and hairstyle design and continuity
is
also evident and particularly well-represented in the production materials. |
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Series II. Plays contains scripts, photographs, and production and publicity materials
from
stage productions, ranging from De Niro’s early appearances on stage as an actor to
the
musical adaptation of A Bronx Tale, which he co-directed on
Broadway in 2016. Series III. Television consists of scripts and production and research
materials for television productions De Niro acted in or produced, including appearances
on
individual episodes of shows such as Saturday Night Live and
television movies like The Wizard of Lies (2017), a Home Box
Office (HBO) production. |
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Series IV. Projects, includes plays, screenplays, and television scripts received,
reviewed, or considered. These productions were either never realized or were completed
without the involvement of De Niro. The majority of the works originate from writers
and
directors with whom De Niro has long been closely associated and include scripts for
such
notable films as Apocalypse Now, The Aviator, A Bridge Too Far, Clockers, Gangs of New York, Glengarry Glen Ross, The Godfather: Part III, Hoffa, The Last Temptation of Christ,
Silence, and Weeds. This series also includes
screenplays and research materials for an unrealized film project that De Niro was
to
direct, tentatively titled "Finn." Some of the research
materials collected for this project were later used for The Good Shepherd. |
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Series V., Early Career and Career-Related, contains articles about De Niro, collected
materials, early contracts, correspondence, and photographs as well as materials related
to
awards, film festivals, public appearances, and tributes. Of special note are photographs,
résumés, contracts, programs, and reviews documenting De Niro’s student work and early
stage
and film roles. Much of the correspondence in the collection is located in this series,
often congratulatory in nature or related to shared projects. Correspondents include
friends
and industry colleagues, such as Kenneth Branagh, Michael Cimino, Francis Ford Coppola,
Jonathan Demme, Ron Howard, Roland Joffé, Harvey Keitel, George Lucas, David Mamet,
Al
Pacino, Harold Pinter, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Lee Strasberg, Jack Valenti,
and
Harvey Weinstein, among others. A complete index of all correspondent names in this
series
is included in this finding aid. |
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Additions to the original accession were processed and added to the inventory in 2012,
2018, 2023, and 2024. Electronic files were added to the inventory in 2022 and 2023. |
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Series Descriptions |
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Series I. Films, 1888-2021 |
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The bulk of the De Niro Papers are located in this series and comprise materials from
over
one hundred films dating from De Niro's 1968 film Greetings through Killers of the Flower Moon,
released in 2023. Materials in this series are arranged alphabetically by film title,
and
items for each film are consistently arranged in this order: screenplays first, followed
by
production, publicity, and research materials. |
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Screenplays
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Screenplays are heavily represented in the collection and are present for all of De Niro's
acting roles. The number of screenplays present for each film varies from film to
film, but
most are represented by multiple versions. For example, Meet the Fockers has thirty-five scripts written steadily over the
course of three years, while Raging Bull has twenty scripts
that evolved intermittently from conception to completion over a span of about ten
years. |
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Modern screenplays are notorious for their variant titles, multiple writers, and numerous
re-writes, and the De Niro scripts are no exception. Working with information provided
on
the title pages and dated revisions, multiple scripts for individual films have been
arranged in their probable order of creation, although undated scripts and inserted
revisions make definitive sequencing difficult. The films Analyze This and Meet the Fockers provide good
examples of a complex array of scripts with more than a dozen writers and derivative
drafts. |
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Descriptions of individual scripts in the following folder list are often limited
to the
date of the original script and, for subsequent revisions, the date last revised.
Variant
titles, draft numbers or other draft identifications (e.g., "final
shooting script"), and writer names are also included if present. The descriptions
frequently also include either "with RDN notes" or "no RDN notes." De Niro's handwritten annotation of scripts is a
hallmark of his working method; rendered in ink, these annotations are primarily dialogue
and script changes and notes regarding his role. Later scripts are often annotated
on the
title page with the date De Niro read the script and/or discussed it with the
screenwriter. |
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Shooting scripts are present for most of the films. In most cases, the shooting scripts
designated in the finding aid are the ones De Niro used during filming. They are heavily
annotated with De Niro's handwritten notes and are often bound in three-ring binders
full of
inserted script revisions and production materials. The Raging Bull shooting script contained a particularly large amount of
inserted material; in order to preserve it and also retain its original order, a facsimile
copy was created and is available for research use. The original script is restricted
from
access and may be viewed only with the permission of the Ransom Center’s Film Curator. |
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Production materials
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The production materials in the De Niro Papers reflect the myriad tasks involved in
film-making. While nearly all the De Niro films contain some production materials,
their
type and quantity varies from film to film. The papers contain a large volume of production
materials for the two films De Niro directed, A Bronx Tale and The Good Shepherd, and a smaller
selection of production materials from other films. Among the types of items present
are ADR
(automated dialogue replacement) sheets, call sheets, casting lists and résumés, contact
and
crew lists, dialogue notes, one-liner and shooting schedules, continuity and make-up
photographs, production reports, production stills, recruited audience preview reports,
storyboards, De Niro's handwritten notes, production-related memos and correspondence,
congratulatory correspondence, and wardrobe continuity and inventory lists. Several
films
also include original costume, tattoo, and set designs, as well as location photography. |
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Photographs dominate the production materials in terms of sheer volume and include
hair/make-up, wardrobe, and production stills. The prints are largely in 4x6-inch
and
Polaroid formats, but also include 8x10-inch and oversize. Prints have been arranged
by roll
number and sleeved in frame order. Frame order is especially critical for documenting
make-up application, as evidenced by more than 3,000 prints for Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. For this film, De Niro endured a
full-body plaster cast used to create a body suit that transformed him into "The Creature." Shot by shot, the photographs document the
painstaking 16-hour make-up sessions, capturing the intricate application of face,
hair, and
body prosthetics in incredible detail. The Polaroids are primarily make-up and wardrobe
continuity prints and are often marked with scene numbers and other pertinent information.
In some cases, metal rings or safety pins were used for portability on the set and
to retain
scene sequence. For the film Awakenings, 135 continuity
Polaroids on a single ring record the state of De Niro's hair and beard for each scene,
to
guarantee continuity over multiple takes and reshoots. |
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Wardrobe continuity material is present for more than three dozen films, ranging from
a few
sheets for some films to the wardrobe continuity book for The
Irishman, comprised of over two hundred pages. Typically, wardrobe items were
listed in detail on specially-formatted sheets and supplemented with Polaroids showing
De Niro in costume, as well as individual items such as shoes and jewelry. Because
overlapping Polaroids were often taped onto the wardrobe sheets and presented a handling
problem, facsimiles were made of some of the wardrobe continuity material in the
collection. |
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Publicity materials
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This category of film material is the least prevalent in this series, and the amount
and
type varies from film to film. Publicity materials include advertising graphics and
layouts,
articles and reviews, correspondence and memos, marketing and promotional materials,
posters, premiere programs and tickets, press kits, press junket itineraries, press
releases, publicity and studio stills, screening cards and invitations, and tour
information. Three cardboard cutout standees of De Niro in costume created to promote
The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle, The King of Comedy, and The Mission were transferred to the Costume and Personal Effects
Department at the Ransom Center and are cataloged in the Ransom Center’s Objects and
Visual
Materials database. |
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Research materials
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De Niro is well known for thoroughly researching and preparing for his acting roles.
In
addition to articles, pamphlets, chapter sections, and other printed material, the
collection includes 311 books used for research on topics ranging from mobsters and
tattoos
to Jesuits and baseball. For each film, the books are arranged by author and title
within
the research section and each book is cataloged with a bv (bound volume) number. Some
of
these books are inscribed to De Niro and De Niro also annotated many of the volumes
with
handwritten notes. Many of the books originally contained loose items; these items
have been
withdrawn and filed together. The new location of each withdrawn item is indicated
in the
folder list, and correspondence found inside bound volumes is listed in the Index
of
Selected Correspondents included in this finding aid. Research material for Cape Fear, The Good Shepherd, and The Mission is particularly extensive. |
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Some correspondence and production memoranda are scattered throughout Series I. and
selected correspondents appear in the Index of Selected Correspondents included in
this
finding aid. |
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Series II. Plays, circa 1961-2016 |
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A smaller volume of work in this series documents De Niro’s work on stage as actor,
producer, and director. Arranged alphabetically by production title, the material
includes
annotated scripts, production photographs, programs, and publicity materials from
productions De Niro acted in, including early roles in plays such as The Boor, Generation, Glamour, Glory & Gold, Kool Aid, One Night Stands of a Noisy Passenger, Tchin-Tchin, and The World of Günter Grass as well
as De Niro’s starring role on Broadway in Reinaldo Povod’s Cuba and
His Teddy Bear (1986). Also in this series are materials related to theatrical
productions co-produced (We Will Rock You, 2002) and
co-directed (A Bronx Tale: The Musical, 2016) by De Niro.
Materials from A Bronx Tale: The Musical are particularly
extensive, with many annotated drafts of the script by Chazz Palminteri and production
materials including casting lists, calendars, and timelines. |
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Series III. Television, 1970-2018 |
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This series consists of scripts, photographs, and production and research materials
from
television productions De Niro appeared in or produced, arranged alphabetically by
title.
These include scripts for individual episodes of series De Niro guest starred on,
from an
early appearance on the soap opera Search for Tomorrow in
1970 to his cameo appearances playing Robert Mueller on Saturday
Night Live in 2018. Materials from The Wizard of
Lies, directed by Barry Levinson for Home Box Office (HBO) (2017), are also filed
in this series, and include a significant volume of research materials collected by
De Niro
for his role as Bernie Madoff in that film. |
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Series IV. Projects, 1899-2012 |
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Throughout De Niro's long career, a great quantity of script material has come his
way for
consideration. The plays, screenplays, and television scripts in this series are some
of the
projects that held De Niro's interest although, for a variety of reasons, his involvement
remained limited. The projects material has been arranged alphabetically by title.
The
majority of works include writers and directors with whom De Niro has long been closely
associated, such as Michael Cimino, Francis Ford Coppola, Brian De Palma, George Gallo,
Michael V. Gazzo, William Goldman, Elia Kazan, Robert Kuhn, David Mamet, Michael Powell,
Richard Price, Paul Schrader, Martin Scorsese, and David Seltzer. Notable film projects
in
this series include Apocalypse Now, The Aviator, A Bridge Too Far, Clockers, Gangs of New York, Glengarry Glen Ross, The Godfather: Part III, Hoffa, The Last Temptation of Christ,
Silence, and Weeds. Series II also contains a
significant volume of screenplays and research materials for an unrealized film project
that
De Niro was to direct, tentatively titled "Finn." Some of
the research materials collected for this project were later used for The Good Shepherd. Approximately thirty of the bound volumes
collected as research for "Finn" are restricted from
access; patrons with a research interest in any volumes listed as restricted in the
finding
aid can contact the Ransom Center’s Film Curator for more information. Duplicates
of bound
volumes collected for research were removed from the collection. |
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Series V. Early Career and Career-Related, 1946-2018 |
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This series contains articles about De Niro, award-related materials, books retained
for
general research and received as gifts, correspondence, photographs, and posters.
Also
included are materials from film festivals, public appearances, tributes, and film
series;
and material that documents De Niro’s early career, including acting class materials,
head
shots, resumes, contracts, and reviews. |
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Much of the correspondence in the collection is located in this series, often
congratulatory in nature or related to shared projects. Correspondents include friends
and
industry colleagues, such as Giorgio Armani, Lauren Bacall, Robert Bolt, Kenneth Branagh,
Ellen Burstyn, Michael Cimino, Francis Ford Coppola, Jonathan Demme, Barry Diller,
Richard
Dreyfuss, Dominick Dunne, Jane Fonda, Whoopi Goldberg, Tom Hayden, Israel Horovitz,
Ron
Howard, Roland Joffé, Garson Kanin, Elia Kazan, Harvey Keitel, John F. Kennedy, Jr.,
Martin
Landau, George Lucas, David Mamet, Marsha Mason, Al Pacino, Joseph Papp, Jane Pauley,
Harold
Pinter, Richard Pryor, Cliff Robertson, Oliver Sacks, Martin Scorsese, Gene Shalit,
Steven
Spielberg, Sharon Stone, Lee Strasberg, Emma Thompson, Jack Valenti, Harvey Weinstein,
Robin
Williams, Henry Winkler, Shelley Winters, and Franco Zeffirelli, among others. An
index of
all correspondent names in this series is included in this finding aid. |
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Early career-related materials include many photographs from the early days of De Niro's
career. De Niro created his own résumé head shots, the earliest of which lists his
acting
experience through 1963. This series of photographs ends in the early 1970s with the
appearance of studio publicity stills for films such as Bloody Mama and Mean Streets. The résumés
attached to many of the head shots, some with four different images per print, provide
valuable information regarding De Niro's stage performances that date from his days
in
training with The Dramatic Workshop, Luther James Studio, Stella Adler Theatre Studio,
and
Raphael Kelly. These résumés include the parts he played in repertory theater, tours,
commercials, performances at Hunter College and Sarah Lawrence College, the off-Broadway
shows, and early films including Greetings and The Wedding Party. Often play reviews are also attached to the head
shots. Programs and production photographs for many of these early plays are filed
by title
in Series II. |
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The series also contains materials from events De Niro attended, including the Academy
Awards, Cannes Film Festival, and many other awards ceremonies, film festivals, and
tributes; clippings of articles and other publicity materials; photographs of De Niro,
ranging from informal snapshots to studio portraits; and collected materials, including
books, photographs, programs, and posters. De Niro’s commercial and advertising work
is also
documented in this series, with scripts, clippings, and artwork from commercials and
print
advertisements spanning his career from 1967 to 2018. |
