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- A De Niro Miss?
Friday, August 21, 1998
Fans of "Wag the Dog" star Robert De Niro were worried when an EMS
crew hustled up to the actor's Tribeca penthouse Wednesday night.
Did De Niro hurt himself? It's a mystery. A friend of the actor confirmed the EMS crew
visited De Niro's loft, but vouched that the person in need "wasn't Bob," adding
only that the incident "was a big nothing."
Police and the EMS weren't saying either.
"We got a call about an injury at a top-floor location there," police
spokesman John Giammarino told us. An EMS spokesman said: "A person with an
injury was treated and released on the scene. They refused medical aid."
A spokesman for De Niro was unavailable for comment.
Source: Daily Dish - Rush & Molloy
- De Niro's Domestic Dispute
Monday, June 15, 1998
- Robert De Niro's neighbors in Montauk aren't being such goodfellas about his plans to build onto his oceanside house — despite the best efforts of the tough-guy actor's mom.
De Niro's mother, Virginia Admiral, went around over a year ago asking neighbors whether they'd mind if her son built an extension. According to De Niro's architect, Frank Hollenbeck, they all said, "Fine."
But now that they've gotten a gander at De Niro's proposal to tack on more than 4,000 square feet — including a deck with hot tub — the neighbors are bridling. They say the construction would endanger the bluff that rises above the property.
So far, the East Hampton Zoning Board of Appeals has agreed — voting on June 9 to deny De Niro's request for variances.
Twelve years ago, local officials shot down De Niro's bid to build a studio where his father, the late artist Robert De Niro, could paint in peace. Small wonder the actor has been spending more time at a new house in Ulster County.
His architect tells us the star hopes to return to Montauk "when he has a really nice house. Now, it's just an empty disaster."
Source: Daily Dish - Rush & Molloy
- De Niro's Wedding Blues?
Wednesday, June 10, 1998
- Robert De Niro and Grace Hightower mark their
first wedding anniversary next week - and some friends say the
couple is having a tough time together.
The actor and his wife are said to have come close to splitting
in the last few months. It "looked imminent for awhile there,"
says one source close to the "Raging Bull" star. Says another
pal: "They had a beef and made up. But who knows how it will
end?"
Word is that Hightower wishes De Niro would spend more time
with her and their son, Elliot, who was born in March.
De Niro is known to be an attentive dad, but he's also a workaholic
whose films take him all around the world.
One friend of Hightower observes: "She knew his behavior patterns
before she got married to him." Still, one source believes the
actor has been "trying to make himself scarce. It's like he and
Grace lead separate lives."
Hightower is said to have discussed the couple's pre-nuptial
pact with friends who have legal and financial expertise.
De Niro, meanwhile, has made plans to rent two apartments in a
luxury building near the couple's Tribeca loft. Ostensibly, the
new digs are temporary lodging while their current place
undergoes renovation. But some suspect De Niro also wants the
extra space as a buffer zone or an escape hatch.
Right now, a truce seems to be in effect while De Niro stays
in New York shooting "Analyze This." Even so, the strong-willed
Hightower is said to remain at odds with some of her husband's
inner circle of friends and assistants.
Hightower also apparently doesn't approve of the nannies who
take care of the twin boys De Niro fathered with
ex-girlfriend Toukie Smith.
"She doesn't want those nannies taking care of Elliot," says
a friend. "It's perfectly natural from a mother's point of
view. But not from De Niro's."
De Niro's spokesman, Stan Rosenfield, declined comment.
Hightower couldn't be reached.
Source: Daily Dish - Rush & Molloy
- De Niro Wins Defamation Suit
Thursday, May 21, 1998
- It's payback time for Robert De Niro. A civil court in
Paris has ruled that two newspaper articles linking the
actor to a prostitution ring constituted defamation and
invasion of privacy. The daily France-Soir has to pay De
Niro $13,400 in damages. De Niro still has a lawsuit
pending against Judge Frederic Nguyen, who
questioned him for nine hours about the allegations in
February . . .
Source: Mr. Showbiz
- Witness to the Mob
On May 10 and 11 at 9/8pm on NBC
- Witness To The Mob, a four-hour miniseries from NBC Studios and Jane Rosenthal
and Robert De Niro’s Tribeca Productions, tells the true story of notorious mob hitman
Sammy "The Bull" Gravano, whose controversial "deal" with the FBI helped break
the back of organized crime and sent his former boss, John Gotti, the head of the
Gambino family, to prison for life. Rosenthal, De Niro and Brad Epstein will executive produce.
Source: NBC: Witness to the Mob
- Another Grilling For De Niro?
Thursday, April 2, 1998
- Poor Robert De Niro.
The actor could be dragged into another sex inquiry. Just as the "Wag
the Dog" star is starting to simmer down after being grilled by French
authorities probing a prostitution ring, his name has popped up in a
Pennsylvania pedophilia case.
De Niro has not been charged with any wrongdoing. Rather,
he has been asked to be an alibi witness for Bruce Wishnefsky,
who has been charged with 133 counts of sexual assault against two
underage girls in Carbon County, Pa.
Wishnefsky's lawyer, Robert Kurtz, is contending the girls could
not have been raped by his client in Pennsylvania because they were on
the set of De Niro's 1992 film "A Bronx Tale."
The girls had accompanied "Tale" crew member Brian J. O'Neill to
the set. Last June, O'Neill was convicted of more than 230 counts of
molesting the two girls and five other children.
De Niro's spokesman, Stan Rosenfield, said the actor had not been
called to testify and doubted a judge would would uphold such a
subpoena.
"This story has nothing to do with Robert De Niro," Rosenfield told
us. "He doesn't know the girls involved."
Meanwhile, De Niro was happy to sit for another type of questioning
on Monday in New York.
For three years, James Lipton, dean of the Actors Studio, has
been trying to get him to submit to an interview for broadcast on
Bravo. Hollywood's most button-lipped star agreed and chatted for almost
two hours. Some of the better bites:
- On Robin Williams breaking De Niro's nose while
shooting "Awakenings": "My nose was [already] broken in
this direction. He knocked it back . . . so, actually, he
corrected it."
- De Niro's favorite word: "Refinement."
- His least favorite word: "Boorish."
- His favorite curse word: begins with an F.
- What would he say when he arrives at the pearly gates: "If
heaven exists, I would say to God, 'You've got a lot of explaining
to do.' "
The audience of acting students adored the Oscar-winner, who's due
to start filming here next week on "Analyze This." (He plays a mob
boss who hires a shrink, played by Billy Crystal, to cure
his nervous breakdown.)
The New York shoot should give him time to bond with his and wife
Grace Hightower's newborn son, whose name, we have just learned, is
Elliot.
Source: Daily Dish - Rush & Molloy
- Itemizing
Friday, March 20, 1998
- Goo-goo - you talkin' to me? Robert De Niro's wife, Grace
Hightower, gave birth to a son Wednesday. The boy joins De Niro's
daughter Dreena and sons Raphael, Julian and Aaron (the
later two twins by Toukie Smith) in the actor's ever-expanding family . . .
Source: Daily Dish - Rush & Molloy
- De Niro Dropped from Pope's Poetry Reading
Tuesday, March 3, 1998
- He may have played a priest in "True Confessions" and "Sleepers," but that
doesn't seem to have earned Robert De Niro any special dispensation from
the Vatican.
De Niro was slated to record a CD of Pope John Paul's
poems. But now that French authorities have grilled him in connection with
a call-girl ring, the invitation has been rescinded. "These are poems
written by the Pope, after all, and it appears that the image we had of De
Niro when we made the proposal is far from the truth," says the Rev.
Giuseppe Moscati, who is coordinating the project. De Niro was
questioned but never charged in the matter.
Source: Mr. Showbiz
- De Niro Stands up for Clinton
Tuesday, February 24, 1998
- Robert De Niro says he sympathizes with President Clinton
about the allegations involving Monica Lewinsky, Reuters
reports. The star of "Wag the Dog," which tells the story of
a U.S. president whose aides orchestrate a war to divert
attention from a sex scandal, alluded to his recent run-in
with French police over a call girl ring. De Niro, 53, said
Clinton was being treated unfairly by a media titillated by
salacious stories. Of the media frenzy surrounding the
incident, De Niro said, "I think that's ridiculous, what is
happening with Clinton. He didn't do anything that is so
terrible. We have more important things to worry about." De
Niro made his remarks at the Berlin Film Festival, which
screened all three of his current films, including "Jackie
Brown" and "Great Expectations," an adaptation of the
Charles Dickens classic.
Source: People Online Daily
- De Niro Fumes, Will Return French Award
Tuesday, February 24, 1998
- Don't look for Robert De Niro to appear in any tourism ads for Paris. The
fifty-four-year-old Oscar-winning actor, fuming after
being linked to a police investigation into an international prostitution
ring, says he'll avoid the country in the future. "I will never return to
France," he says in an interview published in Tuesday's Le Monde.
Read more...
Source: Mr. Showbiz
- Crossroads of My Life (Repeat)
Wednesday, February 25, 1998 at 7:00 am EST on A&E Television
- Six "achievers" relate how they faced "crossroads"
and what decisions they made. Featuring financier and philanthropist Michael
Milken, actor Robert De Niro, and entertainment entrepreneur Quincy Jones.
Source: A&E Television Listings
- DeNiro and Hoffman
February 20, 1998
 DeNiro and Hoffman are both on the
cover of February's George Magazine.
Source: George Magazine
- De Niro Reportedly Admits Affair
February 17, 1998
- Robert De Niro has reportedly admitted to having an affair with a woman
linked to a high-priced call girl ring, but he denies ever paying her
for sex. Read more...
Source: Mr. Showbiz
- Judge Defends Heat on De Niro
February 13, 1998
- Robert De Niro's current tormentor is raging like a bull over accusations that he's picking on the "Wag the Dog" star.
Judge Frederique N'Guyen, the court magistrate in Paris who pulled in the screen star for nine hours of questioning Monday about a notorious prostitution ring, angrily defended the move, saying he had good reason for it.
"No matter how violent and defamatory the attacks on me are, it will all come out at the trial that I acted properly," he told us yesterday in a call from Paris. "I have 20 years of experience. I am doing everything according to the law. I know what I am doing."
But De Niro spokesman Stan Rosenfield counters, "He's starting again with innuendo. . . . This is a story not driven by any fact."
De Niro was released and not charged following the questioning.
Meanwhile, De Niro went back to work in Paris, where he is filming "Ronin," a spy thriller directed by John Frankenheimer.
Source: Daily Dish - Rush & Molloy
- De Niro Questioned in Prostitution Investigation
February 10, 1998
- You talkin' to me? There wasn't anyone else there, so French
investigators must have been talking to Robert De Niro.
The Oscar-winning actor was reportedly questioned by police in Paris
as a witness in connection with an international prostitution ring catering
to the rich and famous. De Niro, in the land of wine and cheese to film the
thriller Ronin for director John Frankenheimer, was picked up by
police at the tony Bristol Hotel in central Paris Tuesday afternoon and
questioned for several hours on a warrant issued by investigating magistrate Frederic N'Guyen, with whom he also met. Investigators said that the fifty-four-year-old actor, whom they had been trying to locate since last Friday, did not object to being brought in. Still no word on why exactly police want to speak to De Niro, although sources tell the Associated Press that his name was in an address book seized during the investigation. Stan Rosenfield, De Niro's Los Angeles-based spokesman, said the actor was wanted as a "minor witness" in connection with the probe.
According to Reuters, De Niro was questioned for more than nine hours but was released without being charged. His lawyer, former French Justice Minister Georges Kiejman, told reporters that the actor was asked about his relationship with a prostitute connected to the ring. Kiejman, apparently unhappy with De Niro's treatment, said that he planned to sue N'Guyen for violating secrecy during an investigation and for unlawfully restraining De Niro's movements. He claims that the magistrate ignited a
"media circus" by sending policemen to De Niro's hotel, when the actor had
already said he would appear if summoned. French celebrities have also
been questioned about the call-girl ring, which was allegedly run by a
former Swedish model, Annika Brumark, and a soft-porn photographer,
Jean-Pierre Boureois. Both have been locked up since January on
procurement charges. The two are accused of arranging for about forty women
to go on very expensive "dates" with well-to-do businessmen from
all over the world. For the record, prostitution is legal in France, but
pimping is not. De Niro's wife, Grace Hightower, whom he married last
June, is pregnant and plans to have the child in Paris.
Source: Mr. Showbiz
- Surveillance
January 22, 1998
- Robert De Niro didn't comment when we reported in October that he
and wife Grace Hightower were expecting their first child. But a
shopkeeper in San Sebastian, Spain, has now leaked that he sold baby
clothes to the actor and "a pregnant woman." We hear that De Niro and
Hightower plan to have the baby in Paris, which has been De Niro's base
while shooting John Frankenheimer's thriller "Ronin."
Source: Daily Dish - Rush & Molloy
- Sometime a 'Great' Notion
January 14, 1998
- Those who thought "Great Expectations" would have been a perfect Christmas
movie were baffled when it was moved to the end of this month. But
Robert De Niro, who plays an escaped convict in the
Dickens adaptation, didn't demand it be moved, says his spokesman. "It was
never his decision," says Stan Rosenfield. "De Niro had two other
movies coming out in December ["Jackie Brown" and "Wag the Dog"], and 20th
Century Fox decided to move the date."
Besides, points out Rosenfield, Fox execs were a bit preoccupied with
another of their movies. "Something about a boat?" Rosenfield jests.
Source: Daily Dish - Rush & Molloy
- Enduring Robert De Niro
January 8, 1998
- NEW YORK - It is all Robert De Niro can do to form complete sentences.
He is inarticulate, intimidating and remote. He speaks in staccato bursts
of clauses that run into each other, followed by bouts of prolonged
silences. He is a terrible interview. When he does warm to a topic, he
often expresses himself with vague hand gestures that make quoting him
nearly impossible. Read MORE
on this great article/interview that also has a link to the Today Show video, a real audio sound
of Bobby chatting, and a clip from Wag the Dog!
Source: MSNBC
- Interview on the Today Show
January 7, 1998
- De Niro was interviewed on the 'Today Show'. Dustin Hoffman
was also there... they were both talking about Wag the Dog. If you wanna see the ENTIRE
interview click here you'll need to
download NetShow. When the video starts playing it'll be kinda slow but it's worth it! You don't
see De Niro on TV too many times.
Source: Today Show
- De Niro, Goodfatha
January 5, 1998
- Robert De Niro is getting deeper into middle-age daddyhood. Making
room for his growing family, the actor has asked a neighbor in his Tribeca
building to sell him his loft, and is giving his own place a face-lift.
For years, even while De Niro's children Drena and Raphael
were growing up, the Raging Bull's penthouse has been a distinctly male
domain. But now, at 54, De Niro is actually looking to rent an apartment
while his contractor makes the former bachelor pad kid-friendly.
De Niro and his wife, Grace Hightower, are expecting a spring
arrival. The actor is already besotted with the twin boys that he fathered
with ex-girlfriend Toukie Smith. De Niro and Smith are said to have
an arrangement by which they swap the twins, Aaron and
Julian, every four days. So, lately, the boys have been spending a
lot of time in France, where De Niro has been shooting John
Frankenheimer's thriller "Ronin." But no sooner do the boys taste
their first foie gras than it's back to New York or to Miami - for what
Smith calls "beach reality." It all sounds a little unreal for your
average 2-year-old. But the lads must be racking up some enviable
frequent-flier miles.
Source: Daily Dish - Rush & Molloy
1997 NEWS
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