Robert De Niro’s Real-Life Cab Stint for Taxi Driver: What Actually Happened

# The setup Robert De Niro won an Academy Award in April 1975 for The Godfather Part II. Within months he pursued hands-on research for Travis Bickle by obtaining a legitimate New York City hack license and taking real fares in a yellow cab.

# When he did it

# What Scorsese observed Martin Scorsese rode along with De Niro on several nights. The director told Roger Ebert in March 1976 that the standout impression wasn't about driving skill but about anonymity. "He got a strange feeling when he was hacking," Scorsese said. "He was totally anonymous. People would say anything, do anything in the backseat – it was like he didn't exist." That sense of being unseen fed into the character of Travis Bickle.

# The oft-told passenger anecdote—and the fuller version A frequently retold story says a passenger noticed De Niro's name on the license and made a cutting remark about an Oscar winner driving a cab. That actually happened, but the exchange is more precise than many versions suggest. The passenger was a former actor who said, "Well, that's acting. One year, the Oscar—the next, you're driving a cab!" When De Niro explained he was doing research, the man replied, "Yeah, Bobby. I know. I been there, too."

# De Niro's later remarks De Niro has grown tired of the polished versions of the anecdote. On The Rich Eisen Show he estimated the stint lasted roughly two weeks, said exactly one passenger half-recognized him in the rearview mirror, and dismissed the more elaborate retellings: "That's a good story, but that's not the way I remember."

# A different on-the-ground moment Writer Mark Carducci, who covered the production for Millimeter, later recounted that he rode in De Niro's cab months before cameras rolled without realizing who the driver was. Carducci paid the exact fare and left no tip, an ordinary interaction that underlines how low-key and anonymous De Niro's time behind the wheel could be.

# Why it matters for the film The brief, real-world cab work gave De Niro a direct, observable sense of how a New York cab driver could be invisible in the city's life. Scorsese's observation about anonymity and the reported passenger exchange both show how small, specific encounters informed the film's portrayal of alienation.

# Bottom line De Niro did drive a real NYC cab to prepare for Taxi Driver, but the stint was short, done amid other commitments, and has been slightly embellished in popular retellings. The concrete results—an experience of anonymity and a few memorable run-ins—helped shape his performance as Travis Bickle.