Robert De Niro Joins Harry Ransom Center for a Celebration of Film

Robert De Niro's prop license from Taxi Driver, part of the De Niro collection at the Harry Ransom Center. The actor himself will be in attendance on Sept. 24 for a special fundraising gala benefiting a new research endowment. (Image courtesy of the Harry Ransom Center)

Hollywood is coming to the Harry Ransom Center at UT-Austin with the announcement that Robert De Niro will be hosting A Celebration of Film, a special fundraising gala marking the archive's 65th anniversary.

On Sept. 24 at the Zlotnik Family Ballroom at the AT&T Center, De Niro and some yet-to-be-announced friends will host a very special event looking into the HRC's remarkable archive of film-related research materials. It's a collection that includes the works of legendary producer David O. Selznick (A Star is Born, King Kong, Gone With the Wind), screenwriter Ernest Lehman (Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?), and costume designer Edith Head – and also of De Niro.

The Center has a long relationship with the Taxi Driver and Heat star – it acquired De Niro's archive of scripts, letters, and costumes in 2006 – and that relationship continues with the event. Moreover, that support will add a new element with the establishment of the new De Niro Curator of Film endowment, and the celebration will provide financial security to the fund.

“I strongly believe in and support what the Harry Ransom Center does to open the creative process of filmmaking to students and the community,” De Niro said. “The Center has done a remarkable job curating a breadth of collections underscoring the history of the art form and the business.”

“It is a privilege to welcome Robert De Niro, a great friend of the Ransom Center and ardent supporter of the arts, to Austin as we celebrate 65 years of archiving important American cultural history,” said Harry Ransom Center Director Stephen Enniss. “This endowment will support the ongoing work to preserve film history and inspire the next generation of filmmakers.”

A Celebration of Film: Sat., Sept. 24, Zlotnik Family Ballroom, AT&T Center at the University of Texas at Austin. Tickets, sponsorships, and information at hrc.utexas.edu/gala.