DANNY DEVITO
AS THE STAR APPROACHES A MILESTONE BIRTHDAY, HE LOOKS BACK OVER HIS ALWAYS SUNNY LIFE
As he approaches a milestone birthday, the actor looks back over his Always Sunny life and shares lessons he’s learned.
Forty years after making his sitcom debut as devious dispatcher Louie De Palma on Taxi, Danny DeVito still loves the small-screen life. “It’s like I Love Lucy,” he raves of his long-running FXX hit It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. “You know how Lucy and Ethel would always dig a big hole and get into it, and you’d watch them get out? I’m having a good time doing that.”
That’s always been the case for Danny, who turns 75 in November. “I learn from everything I do,” says Danny, who found big-time stardom on the 1978–’83 Emmywinning comedy.
What’s the greatest lesson he’s gleaned? “Making TV and movies is a collective, a collaborative art,” he told Closer at the TCA Summer Press Tour. “It’s this potpourri of people who really want the best for whatever they’re doing — it’s like making a really great cathedral with all the bricks you put in.”
He’s also a passionate advocate for education. “You have to be aware of what’s going on in the world,” he says. “And it’s always
wise to dive in a little bit more. Don’t just read the headline. Be inquisitive and read the entire article. Try to get to the bottom of stuff.”
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The grandson of Italian immigrants, Danny grew up in Asbury Park, N.J., and overcame his diminutive stature to become a major movie star (Twins, Get Shorty) and director (Throw Momma From the Train, The War of the Roses) as well as a TV fave. And he’s not finished yet. “I’m looking forward to what’s coming up,” he says.
As for his big birthday, he plans to spend it “with friends and family,” says Danny, who’s amicably separated from Taxi co-star Rhea Perlman, his wife since 1982 and the mother of their three kids. “Every time I have a birthday, I just have a really good time.”
That’s in keeping with his philosophy of “kindness and gentleness and embracing the things that are really good to you,” Danny says. “The best thing you can do is to keep that positive vibe going!” — Bruce Fretts, with reporting by Amanda Champagne-Meadows