Word: devito
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...dispatcher with a heart of gunk. Not, you might say, Hollywood's idea of a leading man, unless for a Muppet remake of Rumpelstiltskin. But in today's Hollywood, where the hottest teen idol is a 64-year-old named Rodney Dangerfield, anything is possible. So why not Danny DeVito as the topliner of the highly liked summer hit Ruthless People? Or as the scene stealer in a rock video touting a previous hit, The Jewel of the Nile? Or as the voice of the sweet-souled Grundle King in the cartoon feature My Little Pony? Or as a bustling...
...Danny," says his friend, Writer-Director James L. Brooks. "Instead of getting mad at the hurt he's experienced -- which takes the fun out of success when it comes -- Danny decided instead that it's a gas things have worked out so well." It was Brooks who helped cast DeVito as Louie DePalma, the pernicious troll of the Sunshine Cab Co. on TV's Taxi (1978-83). Expectorating slurs, dancing a jig at the bad luck of his betters or revealing the winsome vulnerability of a lizard left too long in the sun, Louie ranks with Frank Burns...
...feeling for family -- genteel or belligerent, sickening and sustaining -- is crucial to DeVito, born 41 years ago in Asbury Park, N.J. "My father was a tough man with a great deal of warmth," he says. "It made for a mixed bag of emotions; you never knew when it would explode. He owned a candy store, then a dry cleaner's, then a pool hall. In the pool hall, I'd put tips on the cues, clean the tables and hang out. It was my day-care center. At home I was spoiled by my mom and her millions of girlfriends...
...after a stint as "Mr. Danny" in his sister Angie's beauty parlor ("I once did 35 heads on a New Year's Eve") that he enrolled at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts to study makeup and picked up acting, fencing and mime as well. The response of DeVito's father to the news of this career move came as a shock. "Dad said, 'Great, Dan. I know you can do it.' I wanted to run out of the room and check the address of the house to make sure I was in the right...
...DeVito, at a round, balding five feet seems typecast as the quasi-crude, allegedly ruthless exploiter, as he skips around his multi-colored Memphisdecor with a bottle of champagne to celebrate his wife's fate, tries to shoot her poodle Muffy, and leers lustfully at his mistress...