Show Business: De Niro: The Phantom of the Cinema

College students cluster in the lobby of a Pittsburgh Holiday Inn, taking a break from workshop sessions on how to sell textbooks in the summertime. Only the aberrant lounger among them would admit to not being a moviegoer. The students' age and educational bracket put them squarely in one of Hollywood's most devoted and tuned-in markets. Robert Redford or Jack Nicholson or Al Pacino could not walk through this crowd unrecognized; Brando might provoke understated pandemonium. Suddenly, the hottest actor now at work in films appears in the lobby and passes through. No...

Want the full story?

Subscribe Now

Subscribe
Subscribe

Learn more about the benefits of being a TIME subscriber

If you are already a subscriber sign up — registration is free!