Video: Tough guy Robert De Niro wells up on US chat show

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxJKp7Qgcls

Are you talking to me? Robert De Niro gets a little choked up when talking to a chat show host. It's a long way from Raging Bull...

by Genna Patterson

The seasoned actor Robert De Niro has made his name by playing tough guys and gangsters. So it took us by surprise when he broke down on Katie Couric's US chat show, when discussing the motivation behind his role in Silver Linings Playbook. With De Niro was co-star Bradley Cooper and the movie's director David O'Russell.

O'Russell began talking about how his son has a mood disorder and that De Niro had connected with the material really well. O'Russell's son played a cameo role in the movie, which sees Bradley Cooper's character suffer from a mental illness not dissimilar to his own. O'Russell went on to describe how De Niro began crying in one scene and that it wasn't planned.

When presenter Katie questioned De Niro, he welled up and couldn't get the words out. Then beside him, Cooper got a little tearful too. By the end of the segment, De Niro had regained composure, but not before bringing some audience members to tears too.

Bless his cotton socks. It takes a real man to cry on a live TV show. In our eyes, De Niro is still the toughest actor out there.

Below is De Niro as Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver, a little more tough guy than soft touch.