Robert De Niro necessary to elicit the best performance from those with whom he is working. During the filming of "The King of Comedy", he directed a slew of anti-Semitic epithets at co-star Jerry Lewis to enhance and authenticate the anger demonstrated by Lewis' character. According to "People" magazine, the technique was successful, with Lewis recalling, "I forgot the cameras were there... I was going for Bobby's throat." De Niro married his first wife, Diahnne Abbott, in 1976. They have a son, Raphael, a former actor who works in New York real estate. De Niro also adopted Abbott's daughter Drena De Niro from
Robert De Niro PS 41, a public elementary school in Manhattan, through the sixth grade. He then went to Elisabeth Irwin High School, the private upper school of the Little Red School House, for the seventh and eighth grades. He was accepted into the High School of Music and Art for the ninth grade, but only attended for a short time before transferring to a public junior high school. De Niro began high school at the private McBurney School and later attended the private Rhodes Preparatory School, although he graduated from neither. Nicknamed "Bobby Milk" for his pallor, De Niro hung out with