Despite his diminutive 5-foot frame, actor Danny DeVito loomed large on television and in features after his stint as the acerbic Louie De Palma on the classic sitcom, “Taxi” (ABC/NBC, 1978-1983). After gaining acclaim as the sex-obsessed mental patient Martini in both the stage and film versions of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” (1975), DeVito landed the role of Louie and spent the next five years delighting in his torment of a ragtag group of New York cabbies. Once the Emmy Award-winning show was canceled, he made his way in features, delivering a variation on the Louie De Palma theme in
Worked as hairdresser for one year at his sister's shop in New Jersey at age 18 (date approximate)
1966
Met Michael Douglas while studying at the AADA and working at the Eugene O'Neill Foundation when the two were at the National Playwrights Conference in Waterford, CT
After graduating from the AADA, tried to find acting work in New York and later Los Angeles, but eventually moved back to the New York area
