Things You Probably Didn't Know About The 1990s' Biggest Movie Stars

For decades, Danny DeVito has managed to play some truly disturbing characters. Just look at his work as Oswald Cobblepot/The Penguin in Batman Returns, or his more recent work as Frank Reynolds on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. The man has a unique ability to be truly disgusting. In Matilda, he and Rhea Perlman (his real-life wife at the time) were the despicable parents of the titular young lady, but he's nothing like what he appears on-screen.

In real life, DeVito isn't a monster, and while he was working on Matilda, he proved this time and time again. While the movie was being filmed, Mara Wilson, who played Matilda, was dealing with the fact that her mother was battling cancer. The couple took her out and spent time with her as if she were one of their own children to help her cope with what she was going through. Years later, she described how much that meant to her:

I was eight years old. It was very hard... and they were very nice. While my mom was sick and in the hospital, they would invite me over and take care of me and get my mind off things. It felt very familial.

Keanu Reeves is one of those actors who has steadily put out strong work, and while he's well known for playing John Wick these days, the 1990s were where he firmly established himself, starring in Point Break, Speed, My Own Private Idaho, Much Ado About Nothing, Bram Stoker's Dracula, A Walk in the Clouds, and, of course, The Matrix.

Reeves commands a high salary when he takes a role, but he doesn't always take his full paycheck. He offered to cut some of his pay on several projects so the difference could be applied to another actor. He does this so other noteworthy stars can join him on-screen - for example, his starring role in The Devil's Advocate.

It was too expensive to bring on someone like Al Pacino, so Reeves took a sizable pay cut to bring the star aboard. It's not entirely unselfish, though, as Reeves took the cut to be able to share the screen with the legendary actor. It wasn't the only time he did so.

When Reeves signed on for The Replacements, he took another pay cut so he could have the chance to work with Gene Hackman. For Reeves, the opportunity to work with some of Hollywood's greatest film stars was well worth the cut in pay. Money isn't even his prime motivator, as he explained to Hello magazine: "Money is the last thing I think about. I could live on what I have already made for the next few centuries."

Bill Paxton was a prolific actor who appeared in tons of movies over the years. He is one of the only people to have been taken out by a Xenomorph (Aliens), a Predator (Predator 2), and a Terminator (The Terminator). Before top-lining his own television series with HBO's Big Love, he showed up in such signature '90s movies as Tombstone, True Lies, Apollo 13, and Twister (to name only a few).

In Twister, he played a storm chaser who follows dangerous tornadoes around to study them. While the movie is filled with incredible special effects and movie logic improbability, it did bring a lot of attention to the people who actually do the real thing. When Paxton passed in 2017, those same people honored the actor in their own way.

Using their Spotter Network Markers, hundreds of storm chasers and people who follow weather patterns headed out across Tornado Alley in Kansas and Oklahoma to spell out his initials with their GPS coordinates. Parts of Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas were lit up with a massive "BP" to honor the actor in a touching tribute, which you can see images of here.

Throughout the vast majority of the Harry Potter series, Professor Severus Snape was seen as an antagonist by both fans and the other characters. But as everyone learned by the end, Snape watched out for Harry because he loved Harry's mother, Lily. He was a gruff man, and certainly not kind to Harry, but would have died to keep him safe - and that's precisely what he did. Nobody knew this about Snape's true nature... that is, nobody except author J.K. Rowling and actor Alan Rickman.

To help him better understand the role, Rickman said, Rowling told him about his backstory from the beginning. Rickman ended up arguing with directors about the character because he knew something they didn't. He told RTÉ:

She certainly didn't tell me what the end of the story was going to be in any way at all, so I was having to buy the books along with everybody else to find out, "And now what?" No, she gave me one little piece of information... It wasn't a plot point, or crucial in any tangible way, but it was crucial to me as a piece of information that made me travel down that road rather than that one or that one or that one.

There are hundreds of great stories about Robin Williams; sifting through them all can be daunting. He touched many people's lives with his brilliant comedy and kind heart, but he was also a bit devious at times. While filming Mrs. Doubtfire in San Francisco, the actor decided to have a little fun. Once he had the makeup all fixed up in his Doubtfire disguise, he would walk about the city with nobody knowing they were actually seeing Robin Williams.

He clearly had some fun doing this because he didn't head to a tea shop or anything like that. On one occasion, he visited an adult shop. Remember, he's dressed as an elderly woman, and as far as anyone is concerned, that's precisely what walked through the door. While on this particular outing, he attempted to purchase a rather conspicuous item. He described the outing in a Reddit AMA in 2013:

One time in makeup as Mrs. Doubtfire, I walked into a sex shop in San Francisco and tried to buy a double-headed d*ldo. Just because. Why not? And the guy was about to sell it to me until he realized it was me - Robin Williams - not an older Scottish woman coming in... He just laughed and said, "What are you doing here," and I left. Did I make the purchase? No. Did I walk away with a really good story? Yes.

Samuel L. Jackson began working in Hollywood in the 1970s, but it wasn't until he scored roles in Do the Right Thing, Goodfellas, Coming to America, and Jungle Fever that his career really began to take off. His work in the 1990s only made him more of a star, thanks in large part to his collaboration with Quentin Tarantino, which saw him appear in True Romance, Pulp Fiction, and Jackie Brown before the decade came to an end.

He capped off the '90s playing a Jedi, so it's fair to say he was doing pretty well by the end of the last century. Years before, he was active in the civil rights community, and he even served as an usher at Dr. Martin Luther King's funeral.

When Dr. King was slain in 1968, his service was held at Morehouse College in Atlanta, GA. Several students from the school were chosen as ushers, including Jackson. After the service, he traveled to Memphis, TN, to participate in an equal rights protest march. He spoke about King's passing in a 2005 interview with Parade:

I was angry about the assassination, but I wasn't shocked by it. I knew that change was going to take something different - not sit-ins, not peaceful coexistence.

The following year, Jackson and several other students held members of the Morehouse College board of trustees hostage. Included in the group was Martin Luther King Sr. The group demanded the school's curriculum and governance be reformed. This earned Jackson a charge of unlawful confinement, which resulted in his suspension. He explained the situation during an interview with The Tavis Smiley Show. He was expelled from the college, so his mother sent him to LA, where he began his acting career.