A big milestone today in Hollywood for Robert De Niro, who, after nearly 50 years is one of Tinseltown’s most revered and vaunted cinematic heirlooms: the filmdom pioneer who remains of the slim few of his generation who bridges the gap of Old Hollywood and the New Hollywood, which he was hugely instrumental in helping shape, turns 70 years old.

Born on August 17, 1943 in New York City, Robert De Niro’s career spans an arc over many different eras and tastes in American history, film history, and world history. He has made an absolute and finite art of the character of the tough guy, who harbors an emotionally stilted, bottled-up rage inside the color of the darkest of spectrums, within his characters. His style is from an old school, yet a school which teaches the approach of its technique well into the perpetuity. The man’s resume is like a rundown of some of the all-time top American films. With influence that runs deep like an electrical current to all involved with cinema, be it his co-workers, craftsmen, artists, and fans, Robert De Niro sits high atop a mighty short shortlist of actors who have reached zeniths again and again and continue to stimulate, accentuate, gravitate, and mediate to all parties involved in the Tinseltown game.