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The strange connection between Robert De Niro and Kiss
Life is full of surprises, including the unforeseen fact that legendary actor Robert De Niro and rock heroes Kiss share a strange connection. It turns out that the two parties are linked by the late drummer Eric Carr.
Per an account by Kiss bassist Gene Simmons during an interview with Classic Rock in 2016, it is alleged that De Niro was interested in Carr’s girlfriend when they first met and, afterwards, Carr introduced the actor to a famous Kiss superfan who helped him prepare for his iconic role in 1982’s The King of Comedy.
Simmons revealed that he and De Niro aren’t actually close, and whenever they bump into each other it’s more of a “hello, goodbye” situation, as it was through Carr where their connection formed. According to Simmons, Carr had a “pretty hot black girlfriend named Pantera”, and when De Niro first met the couple, he “wasted no time on zoning in on Pantera”. He didn’t disclose whether anything happened between De Niro and Pantera.
However, the more interesting part of their connection came via the famous Kiss superfan, ‘Fat Vinnie’. Per Simmons’ claim, Vinnie went to somewhere between 200 and 300 Kiss concerts from the 1970s to the early ’80s. He said: “He travels around the world. He’s had triple-bypass heart operations. All the way through the recovery process he has still seen every show”.
When preparing for The King of Comedy, which tells the story of a deluded fan of comedian Jerry Lewis, De Niro wanted to meet a real-life superfan, and so Carr introduced him to Vinnie. According to Simmons, De Niro went to live in Vinnie’s house for a while in a bid to understand how he lived his life. Simmons said: “He fashioned his idiosyncrasies and his style of talking for the entire film on a Kiss fan! In fact, there’s a pivotal moment where De Niro said he wanted Fat Vinnie to come and work for him as his driver and personal assistant. But Vinnie said, ‘Sorry, I can’t. Kiss is going back out on tour!'”
Elsewhere, it has been revealed that De Niro’s Rupert Pupkin from The King of Comedy is also slightly connected to his character Murray Franklin in Todd Phillips’ Joker. During an interview with IndieWire in back 2019, De Niro confirmed that his performance in Joker was an ode to Pupkin: “There’s a connection, obviously, with the whole thing”.
“It’s not as a direct connection as the character I’m playing being Rupert many years later as a host,” he explained, saying that he would also be willing to reprise his role in The King of Comedy for a direct sequel, “If they would’ve proposed that to me, I would’ve said, ‘That’s interesting, maybe we’ll try to do that… But by making this type of film, it is connected in a way, as you’ll see”.
