Billy Crystal Kicks Off the AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute To Robert De Niro

ladies and gentlemen Billy Crystal [Applause] [Applause] [Music] so we're in Paris we were doing a press junket for analyzed this in France and we were very tired we had done 70 interviews in the one afternoon and I was exhausted because he insists that we do everything together for the simple reason that I talk we do six minutes at a clip for five minutes and 55 seconds I go on and on and on the interview usually says a new mr. DeNiro what do you think and he'll go yeah yeah like you said yeah we done that's the Robert De Niro that I know and I love and tonight we're here to present him with his 31st annual AFI Life Achievement Award he is such an icon to people that when I started working with him years ago people said to me what do you call him you know what do you call him you know what's he like what do you call him so he was a little rule of thumb for those of you who were asking the same question who don't know him like like I'm fortunate to do first of all of course this Robert De Niro it's very respectful safe smart it's his billing it's a great name then there's Bob Bob dinner this is for people who know him friends that he trusts he likes having you around you're a solid friend with him you get to call him Bob then there's Bobby now Bobby is reserved for movie executives who have never met him well regardless of what you call him we were all gathered here tonight for one reason fear what would happen to us if we didn't show up he has made over 60 films 20 of them last year and over half of them have taken place in New York City so tonight my friend is not only about you but also about the love you have for that great city where you have lived your entire life that's Bob with his father Robert De Niro's senior who was a brilliant painter and his mom virginia admiral and his little bobby baby three months old actually he was only one month old but he told me he thought the picture would play better if he looked like he was three months old and it started even then he was eight years old here already the work ethic he actually gained 22 pounds for this picture and by but he was a normal kid he had an imaginary friend named Nunzio who beat up all the imaginary friends of all of the other kids but the early years as we all know are never easy here's an early headshot that we found in the office of a very famous director this is also when Bob sang with the Monkees apparently hey I'm a monkey I'm a monkey I love the monkey around I'm gonna pay for this I'm gonna pay for this I have here Bob this is the actual index card that was paperclip to the back of this headshot and it says right here it's May 5th 1973 he lived at 219 West 14th Street right it says their height 511 weight a 155 to 262 that's amazing but it also says special talents none none it's actually a blank none none well they were wrong and we all know that very very wrong witness this folks this is one of Bob's first jobs take a look it doesn't take a lot of money to buy a 1970 ambassador it just looks like it does the College of these burned expensive cars Joey you need such an expensive car GPS make money right oh hey mom I didn't cause so much Hey hey Richie get the sneakers off the C will you please Joey so fancy body ambassador comes my way hey come on let's go for a ride huh Joey we undressed you look beautiful [Music] why are we giving him this award boy you got better from here great things one of the great actors in American film and tonight we all gather to honor you because you you you have a gift my friend you do yet yes you do and I'm honored to be here I'm honored to be your friend and thank you for making me a better actor [Applause] [Music]

Channel: American Film Institute

Views: 2,730,181

Rating: 4.827003 out of 5

Keywords: robert, deniro, de, niro, goodfellas, godfather, raging, bull, cape, fear, martin, scorsese, joe, pesci, al, pacino, movie, AFI, laa, life, achievement, award, lifetime, actor, hollywood, los, angeles, kodak, theater, deer, hunter, meet, the, parents, ben, stiller, analyze, this, that, presenter, comedy

Id: rXanKGbG7DI

Length: 5min 49sec (349 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 09 2009