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Danny DeVito

Danny DeVitoAKA Daniel Michael DeVito Jr.

Born: 17-Nov-1944
Birthplace: Neptune, NJ

Gender: Male
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Actor, Film Director, Film/TV Producer
Party Affiliation: Democratic

Nationality: United States
Executive summary: Short loudmouth from Taxi

Danny DeVito is a short, usually comedic, actor and filmmaker. In his most famous role, he played Louie De Palma, the unscrupulous and somewhat slithery dispatcher on the sitcom Taxi. As director, his resume includes Throw Momma from the Train and The War of the Roses, and as producer his films include Get Shorty, Out of Sight, and Erin Brockovich.

DeVito's father was a small businessman whose endeavors rarely prospered. Before deciding to become an actor, DeVito worked as a licensed hair stylist in his sister's salon. He studied at New York's American Academy of Dramatic Arts, and made his New York stage debut in 1969, opposite Bert Convy in Shoot Anything With Hair That Moves. Working in summer stock in Connecticut, he met and befriended the young Michael Douglas. DeVito was soon subletting Douglas's Manhattan apartment, and when he met another aspiring actress named Rhea Perlman, she moved in two weeks later. DeVito played Martini in an off-Broadway production of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, with William Devane as McMurphy. Five years later Douglas produced a film version of the play, starring Jack Nicholson, and gave DeVito his first screen role, reprising Martini. His other films include Terms of Endearment with Shirley MacLaine and Debra Winger, Romancing the Stone with Kathleen Turner and old chum Douglas, and Twins with Arnold Schwarzenegger.

His first feature, Throw Momma from the Train, was an acerbic, uncredited remake of Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train, and his The War of the Roses with Douglas and Turner challenged Hollywood expectations of a happy ending. In the underrated Death to Smoochy, a dark satirical spin on the Pee-wee Herman scandal, Robin Williams played a disgraced clown seeking vengeance on the titular fuchsia rhino, played by Edward Norton.

With Perlman, DeVito founded Jersey Films, an independent studio which produced Reality Bites and Pulp Fiction, and the silly cop sitcom Reno 911! Perlman and DeVito co-wrote the 1975 short, Minestrone, in which DeVito discovered a tiny scuba diver in his soup. They have worked together often, in Taxi, and in films from Swap Meet to The Ratings Game to Roald Dahl's Matilda.

In 2005, DeVito and Perlman were sued by Ivan Harnden, a guest at their 2003 New Years Eve party. He alleged that DeVito and Perlman "had a duty to exercise due care in operating and managing the party and the dance floor," and that they were thus liable for injuries Harnden received when a drunken partygoer smashed a champagne glass into his face during the festivities. "It's a frivolous lawsuit," said DeVito's lawyer. "The last time I checked drinks do spill."

Father: Daniel DeVito (small business owner)
Mother: Julia (homemaker)
Sister: Angela DeVito (beauty salon owner)
Wife: Rhea Perlman (actress, cohabited 1970s, m. 28-Jan-1982, sep. 2012-13, three children)
Daughter: Lucy Chet DeVito (actress, b. Mar-1983)
Daughter: Grace Fan DeVito (b. Mar-1985)
Son: Jake Daniel DeVito (b. Oct-1987)

    High School: Oratory Prep School, Summit, NJ
    Conservatory: Academy of Dramatic Arts
    Conservatory: Wilifred Academy of Hair and Beauty

    Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee
    Environmental Media Association Board of Directors
    Friends of Hillary
    Hillary Clinton for President
    Obama for America
    Obama Victory Fund 2012
    PAC For a Change
    Emmy 1981 for Taxi
    Golden Globe 1980 for Taxi
    Endorsement of DirecTV 2003
    Endorsement of Intel Consumer Electronics Show keynote, Las Vegas, NV (5-Jan-2006)
    Wedding: Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta Jones (2000)
    Risk Factors: Vegetarian, Smoking

    TELEVISION
    It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia Frank Reynolds (2006-)
    Taxi Louie De Palma (owner, 1978-83)

    FILMOGRAPHY AS DIRECTOR
    Duplex (26-Sep-2003)
    Death to Smoochy (28-Feb-2002)
    Matilda (2-Aug-1996)
    Hoffa (25-Dec-1992)
    The War of the Roses (8-Dec-1989)
    Throw Momma from the Train (11-Dec-1987)
    The Ratings Game (15-Dec-1984)

    FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR
    Dumbo (11-Mar-2019)
    Smallfoot (20-Sep-2018) [VOICE]
    Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond (5-Sep-2017) · Himself
    Salinger (5-Sep-2013) · Himself
    The Lorax (2-Mar-2012) [VOICE]
    Hotel Noir (2012)
    Revenge of the Electric Car (22-Apr-2011) · Himself
    Girl Walks Into a Bar (7-Mar-2011)
    I'm Still Here (6-Sep-2010) · Himself
    When in Rome (29-Jan-2010) · Al
    Solitary Man (Sep-2009)
    Housebroken (2009) · Tom Cathkart
    Guest of Cindy Sherman (Apr-2008) · Himself
    Just Add Water (18-Mar-2008)
    Nobel Son (28-Apr-2007) · George Gastner
    Reno 911! Miami (23-Feb-2007)
    The Good Night (25-Jan-2007) · Mel
    Deck the Halls (22-Nov-2006)
    10 Items or Less (11-Sep-2006)
    Even Money (Mar-2006)
    Relative Strangers (2006) · Frank Menure
    The OH in Ohio (2006)
    Be Cool (4-Mar-2005)
    Marilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dancing and Charm School (24-Jan-2005) · Booth
    Big Fish (10-Dec-2003) · Amos Calloway
    Anything Else (27-Aug-2003) · Harvey
    Austin Powers in Goldmember (22-Jul-2002) · Famous Mini Me
    Death to Smoochy (28-Feb-2002)
    America: A Tribute to Heroes (21-Sep-2001) · Himself
    Heist (10-Sep-2001) · Bergman
    What's the Worst That Could Happen? (01-Jun-2001) · Max Fairbanks
    Screwed (12-May-2000) · Grover Cleaver
    Drowning Mona (2-Jan-2000) · Chief Rash
    Man on the Moon (20-Dec-1999) · George Shapiro
    The Big Kahuna (16-Sep-1999)
    The Virgin Suicides (19-May-1999) · Dr. Horniker
    Living Out Loud (15-Sep-1998)
    Completely Cuckoo (16-Dec-1997) · Himself
    The Rainmaker (21-Nov-1997) · Deck Shifflet
    L.A. Confidential (19-Sep-1997) · Sid Hudgens
    Hercules (14-Jun-1997) [VOICE]
    Mars Attacks! (13-Dec-1996) · Rude Gambler
    Space Jam (15-Nov-1996) · Swackhammer [VOICE]
    Matilda (2-Aug-1996)
    Felony (3-Jan-1996)
    Get Shorty (20-Oct-1995) · Martin Weir
    Junior (24-Nov-1994) · Dr. Larry Arbogast
    Renaissance Man (3-Jun-1994)
    Look Who's Talking Now (5-Nov-1993) · Rocks [VOICE]
    Jack the Bear (2-Apr-1993)
    Hoffa (25-Dec-1992) · Bobby Ciaro
    Batman Returns (19-Jun-1992) · Penguin
    Other People's Money (18-Oct-1991)
    The War of the Roses (8-Dec-1989) · Gavin D'Amato
    Twins (9-Dec-1988) · Vincent Benedict
    Throw Momma from the Train (11-Dec-1987) · Owen
    Tin Men (6-Mar-1987) · Tilley
    Ruthless People (27-Jun-1986) · Sam Stone
    My Little Pony: The Movie (20-Jun-1986) [VOICE]
    Wise Guys (18-Apr-1986)
    Head Office (29-Dec-1985)
    The Jewel of the Nile (11-Dec-1985) · Ralph
    Johnny Dangerously (21-Dec-1984) · Burr
    The Ratings Game (15-Dec-1984)
    All the Kids Do It (24-Apr-1984)
    Romancing the Stone (30-Mar-1984) · Ralph
    Terms of Endearment (23-Nov-1983) · Vernon Dahlart
    Going Ape! (10-Apr-1981)
    Goin' South (2-Oct-1978)
    The World's Greatest Lover (18-Dec-1977) · Assistant Director
    The Van (21-Apr-1977)
    Deadly Hero (15-Oct-1976)
    One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (19-Nov-1975) · Martini
    Scalawag (14-Nov-1973)
    Hurry Up, or I'll Be 30 (14-Nov-1973)
    Lady Liberty (1971)


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