Robert De Niro grew up in Little Italy so pale and skinny that neighborhood kids called him Bobby Milk. He transformed himself into Travis Bickle, Jake LaMotta, and Vito Corleone through a method acting discipline so total that he drove a cab for weeks, gained sixty pounds, and learned to box at a professional level.

This episode traces De Niro from his bohemian Greenwich Village childhood through his partnership with Martin Scorsese, his commitment to physical transformation, and the quiet intensity that redefined screen acting.

• He gained sixty pounds to play the aging Jake LaMotta in Raging Bull
• He drove a real New York taxi cab to prepare for Taxi Driver
• His portrayal of young Vito Corleone in The Godfather Part II won him the Academy Award
• He co-founded the Tribeca Film Festival in 2002 to revitalize Lower Manhattan after September 11