Jack La Motta, the fiery boxer whose life story was immortalized in the 1980 Martin Scorsese-directed film Raging Bull, has died. He was 95 years old. TMZ first reported the news on Wednesday, revealing that the boxer’s wife said he died in a nursing home due to complications from pneumonia.
“I just want people to know, he was a great, sweet, sensitive, strong, compelling man with a great sense of humor, with eyes that danced,” she told the outlet. In a short statement, Robert De Niro acknowledged La Motta’s passing: “Rest in Peace, Champ.”
To boxing and film fans, La Motta will forever be known as the Raging Bull, an unforgettable fighter and subject of the eponymous black-and-white drama, which starred a young De Niro as the hotheaded champ. Though Scorsese directed the movie, it was De Niro’s idea to make the film—to the point where it became his obsession. In a 2013 interview with Time, the actor recalled reading La Motta’s memoir for the first time and being moved by his story. “It had heart,” he said.
The actor’s instincts were spot-on. The subsequent film was an explosive drama that captured La Motta’s fearsome persona, earning De Niro and Scorsese some of the best reviews of their careers. De Niro also picked up his second acting Oscar for the role.
But how did La Motta feel about it all? The boxer was looped in on the making of the project, initially offering to play himself. “The producer said, ‘Jake, you’re not the type,’” he told Esquire. “Good thing there’s a Robert De Niro.”
The athlete then helped De Niro train to get the ultimate La Motta physique. ”He would say, ‘Hit me, don’t worry, don’t worry,’” De Niro told Time. “He was 55, but he was really tough. I didn’t realize until I got to his age that you could still take a punch.”
Despite all his enthusiasm behind the scenes, watching the film for the first time gave the boxer another kind of punch to the gut. For all its rapturous reviews, La Motta himself was less than enthusiastic about the biopic: “I didn’t particularly like the film,” he revealed in 2015. Why? He was disturbed by its depiction of his own violent behavior. At one point, he turned to his wife to see if his feelings were justified. “Is that the way I was in real life?” he recalled asking her. Her response? “She says, ‘You were worse.’”
“For the first time I thought, my God, was I beating up my brother and doing all that kinda stuff? It was worse,” La Motta then admitted.
He was, however, pretty keen on De Niro’s performance. In an old interview on the Merv Griffin Show, a young De Niro candidly said that it was probably difficult for La Motta to watch the film—but that the boxer was ultimately “happy that the movie turned out well,” even though it showed negative aspects of his life.
“He’s also very tough in a way and he can take it,” De Niro said. “He admits that’s the way he was. He’s very special that way. He doesn’t back down.”
