Danny DeVito (Actor)

"He also has an uncanny ability to simultaneously repulse, amuse and move an audience--thanks, in part, to his not-so-secret weapon: shortness.

Indeed, that he stands only five feet tall is a key to De Vito's comedy. His height, combined with his stocky frame, unusually large head and thinning hair, gives him the appearance of a child-man, which exonerates him from responsibility for his actions. With his nastiness construed--and understood--as a natural lashing out against his physical 'handicap', he can get away with being mean. Also, there's something inherently funny about a child-man who's nasty. On first glance, you'd expect him to be more, say, adorable, but when he turns out to be a monster, you still don't believe he's bad and laugh at the apparent contradiction." --From "Funny as Hell" by Robert Seidenberg, AMERICAN FILM, September 1989

"I got this 150-some-odd-page script that said 'Pulp Fiction, by Quentin Tarantino, final draft', and I knew that there was something going on. And I read it and loved it, and I said to Rhea while I was reading it, 'Either I'm the sickest individual alive or I think this is hysterically funny.' I never thought it would take off as big as it did." --Danny DeVito in US, August 1996

"The joy of working with Danny DeVito? Well, for starters, I can see the top of his head. Also, the man is one of the most insightful directors I've ever had. His passion for his work is infectious, he's enormously gifted, and he's absolutely wild and wonderful. Remember the Tasmanian devil in Bugs Bunny? Well, this guy is like the Tasmanian devil with a good heart." --Billy Crystal on DeVito

Besides his connection with Michael Douglas, DeVito acted in father Kirk's feature directing debut, "Scalawag" (1973)

In 2007, DeVito teamed with world renowned restaurateur David Manero and Michael Brauser to open his first restaurant, named DeVito South Beach, an Italian chop house on trendy Ocean Drive in Miami Beach, Florida.

On the tabloids: "First of all, you want to be in the newspapers, you know people want to see [you], but there's no need for people to hunt you down like an animal. I usually just smile, [let them] take the picture and go on my merry way, and the people who are chasing me, I don't look at them.

[But] if it's so belligerent, so in-your-face, and you have no defense against it, you probably act like a frightened animal and run away. Anything can happen when you're in that situation and unfortunately sometimes the consequences are very grave. In this very tragic thing, I was moved and saddened by Princess Diana and Dodi [Fayed]. . . that's uncalled for." --DeVito to CHICAGO TRIBUNE, October 16, 1997