Robert De Niro -- now 70 years old! -- has been an indelible presence on the big screen for more than 40 years. In 1976's "Taxi Driver," De Niro plays troubled veteran Travis Bickle, who takes a job as a late-night cabbie and hates what he sees.
Robert De Niro poses for a portrait in 1973, the year his breakthrough movie, "Mean Streets," was released.
De Niro performs a scene in "The Godfather Part II" in 1974 in New York. The actor won his first Oscar, for best supporting actor, for his performance as the young Vito Corleone.
De Niro was married to Diahnne Abbott from 1976 to 1988. The couple have two children, Drena and Raphael.
De Niro has worked frequently with director Martin Scorsese, left. Here, Scorsese, De Niro and Jodie Foster present "Taxi Driver" at Cannes in 1976. The film won the top prize, the Palme d'Or, at the festival.
De Niro plays a soldier in 1978's "The Deer Hunter." The film won the Oscar for best picture.
For his role as Jake LaMotta in 1980's "Raging Bull" -- directed by Scorsese -- De Niro gained 60 pounds.
His performance in "Raging Bull" won De Niro best actor at the Academy Awards.
De Niro and model Toukie Smith were long-term romantic partners. The union produced two children.
In 1990's "Goodfellas," another collaboration with Scorsese, De Niro plays Jimmy Conway, a New York gangster. The film also stars Joe Pesci, left, and Ray Liotta, center.
De Niro and Scorsese remade the chilling "Cape Fear" in 1991. De Niro plays Max Cady, who stalks a family after being released from prison.
Scorsese, left, and De Niro have a laugh at a news conference to promote the 1995 movie "Casino." The film marked their eighth collaboration.
In "Casino," De Niro plays a Mafia-controlled executive who finds trouble while managing a Las Vegas gaming palace.
De Niro has showed his lighter side on occasion. In 2000 he appeared on "Saturday Night Live's" "Weekend Update" segment with Jimmy Fallon.
President Bill Clinton and De Niro goof around at a fundraiser on Hillary Clinton's birthday at New York's Roseland Ballroom in 2000.
De Niro, a born-and-bred New Yorker, appears with Leonardo DiCaprio at "The Concert for New York City" after the 9/11 attacks in 2001.
Billy Crystal, left, dressed as a turkey, sits on a bench with De Niro, dressed as a pilgrim, during the filming of a Thanksgiving-themed "I Love New York" commercial in 2001.
De Niro played a depressed gangster in two comedies with Crystal, 1999's "Analyze This" and 2002's "Analyze That."
In 2003, De Niro received the American Film Institute's 31st lifetime achievement award.
De Niro plays a straight-arrow ex-CIA officer in the "Meet the Parents" films. Here, he has a scene with Dustin Hoffman in 2004's "Meet the Fockers."
De Niro received his latest Oscar nomination for his performance in 2012's "Silver Linings Playbook," in which he plays the obsessive-compulsive father of Bradley Cooper, right.
De Niro has been nominated for Oscars seven times and won twice. He earned a best supporting actor nod for "Silver Linings Playbook."
De Niro and wife Grace Hightower attend the 2013 Actors Fund's Annual Gala Honoring Robert De Niro at The New York Marriott Marquis on in April 2013.
- Famed, much-lauded actor Robert De Niro turns 70 on Saturday
- De Niro's career began with him disappearing into roles
- More recent films have found him falling back on image, but still taking chances
- De Niro isn't retiring soon; he has seven movies out this year alone
(CNN) -- Robert De Niro has always liked to keep a bit of himself hidden from view.
"I've never been one of those actors who has touted myself as a fascinating human being," he reportedly once said. "I had to decide early on whether I was to be an actor or a personality."
Of course, the modern celebrity-industrial complex being what it is, he didn't get much of a choice.
In hindsight, it's hard to remember a time when De Niro, who turns 70 on Saturday, wasn't Robert De Niro, with his movie star image -- brusque, intense, Italian, New Yorky -- front and center. (In real life, De Niro -- despite his name -- is a mix of ethnicities, including German, Dutch and Irish, though he identifies most closely with his Italian heritage.)
But that wasn't always the case. In the first two decades of his career, he generally disappeared into roles as smoothly and casually as putting on a new suit.
You know them all, of course. The brash, manic Johnny Boy in "Mean Streets," the first of his many Martin Scorsese collaborations. The ailing, slow-witted catcher in "Bang the Drum Slowly." "Godfather II's" young Vito Corleone. "Taxi Driver's" Travis Bickle.
Jake LaMotta ("Raging Bull"), Rupert Pupkin ("The King of Comedy"), Al Capone ("The Untouchables"), Jimmy Conway ("Goodfellas") -- all chips of a multifaceted, diamond-bright talent. Oscar-winning, too: He took home the statue for 1974's "The Godfather: Part II" and 1980's "Raging Bull" and has been nominated five other times.
Those early characters often had something in common. Some were gangsters. Some had hair-trigger tempers. ("You talkin' to me?") There were often hints of hardscrabble lives aching for success, even in cases where they'd achieved it. (Behind the eyes of De Niro's Corleone, long after he starts wearing tailored clothes, are the haunted memories of tenement flats and Ellis Island.)
Still, there was always a sense of mystery. The 5-foot-9 actor had that mesmerizing ability to seem taller or shorter, depending on the role. He famously plowed himself into the Method, gaining and losing weight for "Raging Bull," driving a cab for "Taxi Driver" and learning saxophone for "New York, New York." He kept viewers off balance with occasional comic turns, whether it was as a cheerful repairman in "Brazil" or the exasperated bounty hunter in "Midnight Run."
It's no wonder Bananarama had a song called "Robert De Niro's Waiting," in which they fantasized about escaping with this enigmatic leading man, "talking Italian."
But, more recently, he has been Robert De Niro, the image taking the lead. Given his obvious acting abilities, sometimes it has gotten a little wearying. Why is Robert De Niro in "Showtime" and "15 Minutes"? Who talked Robert De Niro into "The Fan," "The Score" and "Righteous Kill"? Can't he work with Scorsese again?
What happened to the mystery?
Well, the guy does have a movie festival, some restaurants and a hotel to support.
Besides, the actor still gets his turns. He was a shambling spin doctor in "Wag the Dog," the creature in "Mary Shelley's Frankenstein," Fearless Leader in "The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle," a parodistic don in "Analyze This" and "Analyze That," and the ramrod ex-CIA agent in the "Fockers" series.
He has even started showing a little more of himself. He broke down while discussing last year's "Silver Linings Playbook" on Katie Couric's talk show.
And whether Robert De Niro or Robert De Niro, he's been a steady presence. The guy's always working: more than 80 films since 1968, with seven this year alone -- including "American Hustle" with director David O. Russell, who directed De Niro's Oscar-nominated performance in "Playbook."
He promises more to come. After all, he's only 70.
"I might like to do things that are more retiring," he reflected in 2011. "But not retire. As long as I'm enjoying what I'm doing, why retire?"
Why, indeed? Birthdays are full of surprises.
