NEW YORK (REUTERS) — Academy Award-winning actor Robert De Niro, 60, has been diagnosed with prostate cancer, but his prospects for a full recovery are good, his publicist said Monday.
“Doctors say the condition was detected at an early stage because of regular checkups,” publicist Stan Rosenfield said in a statement. “Because of the early detection and his excellent physical condition, doctors project a full recovery.”
Rosenfield declined to give further details about the actor’s condition or course of treatment but said De Niro planned to fulfill his commitment to start shooting his next film, “Hide and Seek,” for 20th Century Fox early next year.
De Niro won an Oscar for best actor in 1981 for his role as the emotionally self-destructive boxing champion Jake La Motta in “Raging Bull.” He was named best supporting actor in 1975 for playing the young Mafia patriarch Vito Corleone in “The Godfather: Part II.”
The native New Yorker, who rose to prominence in Martin Scorsese’s 1973 film “Mean Streets,” has received four other Oscar nominations as best actor in “Cape Fear” (1991), “Awakenings” (1990), “The Deer Hunter” (1978) and “Taxi Driver” (1976).
Best known for his tough-guy roles, De Niro was last seen in movie theaters reprising his comic turn as mobster Paul Vitti in the film “Analyze That” with Billy Crystal.
