Martin Scorsese AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies list. Scorsese has often said he thinks De Niro's best work under his direction was Rupert Pupkin in "The King of Comedy". After the turn of the century, Scorsese found a new muse with younger actor Leonardo DiCaprio, collaborating for five feature films to date, along with one short. Several critics have compared Scorsese's new partnership with DiCaprio with his previous one with De Niro. Frequent collaborators also include Victor Argo (6), Harry Northup (6), Harvey Keitel (5), Murray Moston (5), J. C. MacKenzie (3), Joe Pesci (3), Frank Vincent (3) and Verna Bloom (3).
Robert De Niro Bickle earned him his first Academy Award Nomination for Best Actor. His portrayal of Jake LaMotta in "Raging Bull" was lauded, as well as his interpretation of Max Cady in "Cape Fear". In 1976, De Niro appeared in "1900", Bernardo Bertolucci's biographical exploration of life in Italy before World War II, seen through the eyes of two Italian childhood friends at the opposite sides of society's hierarchy. He also starred in "The Last Tycoon" (1976), directed by Elia Kazan. Kazan recalls that De Niro "would do almost anything to succeed" and noted that he cut his weight down from 170