Remembering the Artist: Robert De Niro, Sr. Page #4

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to visit me in Europe

"at the opportune moment to

help me through a shock,

"such as the one in Paris,

and to give me courage

to leave an

unbearable situation."

"It was he who practically

pushed me on the plane

to return to New York.

Thank you, God, for Bobby's

having turned out so well."

As I started doing better

and better as an actor,

I was happy that things were

going all right with me

'cause it could help us all.

The obvious one is I say

that my mother and father

certainly wouldn't be happy

if I was selling insurance.

They would never not approve

of me wanting to be an actor.

"We ran into Bobby

on the street.

"He is tan from a sunlamp

for his new movie part.

"I wanted to run my

fingers through his hair

and to kiss him,

but I hardly think he

would have appreciated it."

I know he was proud and

also felt probably

resentful on one level

that he was not getting

the recognition that

he felt he deserved,

but he was always

proud, you know,

and would never

say anything to me.

You know, once, he got mad,

and was yelling and ranting.

"You know, I should have

gotten recognition."

And I went, "Ah, well..."

But then he would

always say how artists

don't get recognition

till after they're dead.

He would always say that.

And I said, "That makes sense,

from what I know."

"Being a painter

is an affection,

like being a homosexual.

"One has to have the strength

to continue working without

"the thought of recognition,

either before or after death,

"just as one had to have the

strength to accept life alone

without the thought of

a romantic attachment."

With reference to Bob De Niro,

about his need to paint

in spite of lack of

recognition, whatever...

he just had to paint.

Sure, you go on painting.

After all, there's

Michelangelo back there,

Pierro della Francesca,

Velzquez.

These are your gods.

You're painting for the

greater glory of art.

Not for anybody

out there, really.

You're painting for the big

guys up there and you're

trying to emulate them and,

if possible, to beat them

and hopefully to live for

the ages like they do.

De NIRO:
Then he did have it and

then he was not dealing with it,

and the doctor would

call me and say,

"Have him come in.

Have him come."

And I was really...so busy

with everything in my own life

that I didn't think of

sometimes--I might have

called him and said,

"Dad, you gotta go there.

You gotta go."

"Yeah." And he would avoid it.

He was avoiding it.

He was scared to go back

and even deal with it.

I regret that to this day,

because I think if I had

really been on him...

All I know was that later on,

he was bed-ridden, sick...

then he went to my mother's.

We had nurses there and so on.

He died on his 71st birthday

and died of prostate cancer.

But I wish that I'd been

more--because I think

he would have lived...

he could have lived

till now.

SANDLER:
Even today,

I don't think he's gotten

the recognition he deserves.

STORR:
De Niro's legacy is

still, in a way, up for grabs.

Individual artists

have moments.

It has nothing to do with

whether they're good or not.

It has to do with the

culture's taste

and appetites shifting.

But everybody who has a way of

making something is like

the actor who's on stage and

the spotlight shifts to them

and then shifts away, but if

they're still doing it when

the spotlight comes back,

they'll have another

great moment.

That would have happened to

De Niro, very likely.

De NIRO, VOICE-OVER:

"Will I be recognized

in my lifetime?

"Have I delusions of grandeur

by believing that sometime,

"someday, someone will be

interested in reading

what I write here each day?"

The reason I kept this

studio is for my kids...

for them to know what

their grandfather did.

So...as I say,

you know, being a kid I

wasn't that interested in his,

you know, going to shows and

all that but I realized

how important it is for children

to appreciate the things

that your parents did

if they want

to share them with you.

'Cause I regret certain things

with my parents...

that I didn't follow through on.

I feel it's my obligation to

kind of document what he did,

to keep it going.

The whole reason to do

it is for my father...

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