12 Best Danny DeVito Movies & TV Shows, Ranked

Despite standing less than five-feet tall, Danny DeVito is a giant of the entertainment industry. With literally dozens of credits to his name, DeVito has towered over the film and TV worlds through sheer force of his talent for more than half a century, with no signs of slowing down. While he has made his name and earned his fame as an actor, he's also an accomplished director and a prolific producer. Heck, he has credits for screenwriting, editing, and even soundtracks! DeVito's a cinematic "Renaissance Man," and not just because he starred in a 1994 comedy with that name. 

Despite DeVito's gargantuan cinematic contributions, this multi-talented, multi-hyphenated filmmaker has never won an Academy Award, and has only been nominated once, for producing "Erin Brockovich." Yet even while watching his buddies Jack Nicholson and Michael Douglas roll in gold, DeVito stays in good spirits, because that's the guy he is. Well, he won't complain about it, but we will!

Okay, we don't have the power to get DeVito his deserved Oscar, but we can do the next best thing: celebrate his greatest achievements in film and television! This list will only include movies and shows where DeVito had a major starring or supporting role, so legit classics like "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest" or "Terms of Endearment" are out. Because we're here to give Danny DeVito his due with his 12 best movies and TV shows, ranked.

Y'know the tired "take my wife...please" joke from Henny Youngman? Sam Stone (Danny DeVito) takes it to the next level. He despises his wife, the overbearing Barbara (Bette Midler), who he married solely for her wealth. Sam wants her dead, and schemes about how to murder her to inherit $15 million. Fortune smiles on Sam when two kidnappers in duck masks take her for a $500,000 ransom, a bounty he has no intention of paying. Quite the contrary, Sam hopes they'll do him a favor and off her themselves, forcing the two confused criminals to figure out what to do next. So clearly, "Ruthless People" is a warm, fuzzy, feel-good comedy for the whole family.

DeVito and Midler do their best impersonation of themselves in "Ruthless People," and that's not a criticism; in this movie it's very much a good thing. Nobody plays an unscrupulous charlatan who would literally pawn off his own wife better than DeVito, while Middler plays that same wife like a shrill succubus and heinous harpy mixed into one acid-flavored smoothie. The kidnappers (the babyfaced Judge Reinhold and a post-"Supergirl" Helen Slater) are actually the nicest ones. So if you want to watch DeVito and Midler do what they do best (play people who are the worst), "Ruthless People" will tickle your twisted funny bone.

Elmore Leonard's singular style helped influence a generation of storytellers, from crime novelists like Dennis Lehane, to filmmakers like Steven Soderbergh and Quentin Tarantino. Yet in an oeuvre that includes as varied an assortment as "3:10 To Yuma," "Justified," "Jackie Brown," and "Out Of Sight," many Leonard fans consider the quintessential adaptation of his work to be "Get Shorty" from director Barry Sonnenfeld.

John Travolta plays Chili Palmer in the 1995 film, a part that fits him like a glove; a Miami mobster who is sent to Los Angeles to collect a debt from a Hollywood producer of cheesy horror films, Harry Zimm (Gene Hackman). Along the way, Palmer falls for Zimm's leading lady, Karen Flores, (Rene Russo), and discovers that producing movies in the film business isn't all that different from collecting favors for the mob. Danny DeVito plays Karen's ex-husband, a myopic, megalomaniacal movie star named Martin Weir who's interested in playing Chili in a biopic. While Travolta's been in some stinkers, "Get Shorty" isn't one of them, with him giving a proper movie star performance that oozes cool. Yet as the titular "Shorty" in "Get Shorty," DeVito delivers the goods, stealing the show as a self-absorbed superstar in this sharp satire of Hollywood vanity.

Despite Jim Carrey having debatably the greatest year of any movie star in Hollywood history in 1994 — "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective," "The Mask," "Dumb & Dumber — the comedian decided he wanted to be taken seriously as an actor in the late '90s. In fairness, that decision resulted in some darn fine movies, including a few of his best, like "The Truman Show," "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," and "Man On The Moon." We're only talking about the latter, because that's the one co-starring Danny DeVito.

Jim Carrey went full method (some would say "psychotic") in his performance as Andy Kaufman in Miloš Forman's biopic of the eccentric comedian. This was oddly appropriate, as Kaufman was known for becoming his characters, and Carrey's eerily authentic performance makes "Man On The Moon" rise above its weepy biopic formula. While Forman cast many of Kaufman's costars from "Taxi" as themselves (including Judd Hirsch and Marilu Henner), one former castmate did not return to play himself: Danny DeVito. That's because he had a part as Kaufman's manager, George Shapiro. Every comedian needs a straight man, and DeVito delivers as Shapiro, grounding Carrey's antics, and thus the film itself, with his reserved performance. While purposefully not as showy as Carrey, DeVito's understated work helps keep the movie moving, without taking attention away from its star.

Remaking a classic film makes sense (or more accurately, cents), right? If a movie made money once, it'll do so again. Well, "Throw Momma From The Train" takes that idea one step further, essentially remaking Alfred Hitchcock's classic "Strangers On A Train," but this time not as a suspense thriller, but as a pitch-black comedy. Danny DeVito stars and directs the 1987 film, playing Owen, a man who is so fed up with his domineering mother (Anne Ramsey), that after watching "Strangers On A Train" he concocts a plot to killer her ... with a twist. Owen asks his creative writing teacher, a down-on-his luck novelist named Larry (Billy Crystal) to murder his mother (by throwing her from the train); in exchange, Owen will kill Larry's malicious ex-wife, Margaret (Kate Mulgrew). 

It's virtually impossible for a remake to live up to a masterpiece, and "Throw Momma From The Train" doesn't even try, trading spine-tingling Hitchcockian suspense for laugh-out-loud comedy. It's an inspired approach, which could work well with some Hitchcock classics ("The Birds" or "North By Northwest"), but fail with others ("Vertigo" and "Psycho"). Here it works spectacularly, thanks mostly to DeVito's chemistry with his co-star Crystal. DeVito was wise to cast himself, as he plays against type, trading his trademark, unscrupulous street smarts to play an weak-willed, childlike character whose meekness motivates him to murder.

Before there was "The Lost City" starring Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum, there was "Romancing the Stone," starring Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner, and Danny DeVito. Twenty-eight years before, to be precise. "Romancing the Stone" was actually the first of three collaborations between the trio, and one of six collaborations DeVito had with his good buddy Douglas, including movies Douglas produced, like "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest."

The 1984 action-comedy has Turner playing Joan Wilder, a romantic-adventure writer whose fantasies become reality when she is forced to deliver a treasure map to criminals in the Colombian jungle to save her sister (Mary Elaine Trainor) from being killed. She enlists the help of — and trades barbs with — Jack T. Colton (Michael Douglas), a dashingly rugged and ribald, charming and cynical adventurer. DeVito plays Ralph, a crooked antiquities dealer from Queens who kidnaps Joan's sister, and stalks Joan and Jack throughout the jungle. 

Naturally, Turner and Douglas are the star attractions, but Danny DeVito steals every scene he's in playing the wicked and wisecracking Ralph, doing what he does best; forcing us to fall in love with a truly reprehensible human being. "Romancing the Stone" started as director Robert Zemeckis' homage to 1940s serials, but became the standard for romantic comedies for the next three decades.

Danny DeVito, Michael Douglas, and Kathleen Turner quickly followed up 1984's "Romancing The Stone" with the 1985 sequel, "The Jewel of The Nile," a turnaround time inconceivable in today's Hollywood (and was pretty darn rare in the 1980s too). While that film fell far short of its predecessor, it was still pretty delightful, though its 31% drop at the global box office ended the cinematic adventures of Jack, Joan, and Ralph. The trio's next collaboration wouldn't come for another four years, and would be a very different kind of movie; 1989's Danny DeVito-directed black comedy, "The War of the Roses."

Douglas and Turner play Oliver and Barbara Rose, whose once-beautiful love story descends into divorce, and eventually farce, as husband and wife go to extreme lengths to gain control of their opulent mansion. DeVito tries to ref the situation as Oliver's beleaguered attorney and colleague Gavin D'Amato, while also narrating the couple's destruction. While we included most of the entries on this list for DeVito's acting, we're celebrating "The War of the Roses" for his direction. His fourth directorial displays graceful and dynamic visuals that demonstrated his increasing confidence behind the camera, while he directed his buddies Douglas and Turner to two of their best performances. While its $83 million worldwide didn't match the heights of "Romancing The Stone," it's haul was pretty darn impressive considering it's a movie about divorce.

Danny DeVito was once again in front of and behind the camera for the 1996 family film "Matilda," an adaptation of Roald Dahl's 1988 children's novel. Mara Wilson plays the titular Matilda Wormwood, a girl who uses her newly discovered power of telekinesis to stand up to her uncaring parents (real-life couple DeVito and Rhea Perlman), and the dictatorial headmistress at her school, Agatha Trunchbull (Pam Ferris). DeVito turns out to be a particularly adept adapter of Dahl's work, both as an actor and director. His performance as sleazy slime-ball Harry Wormwood is spot on, while he deploys a captivating visual style to capture the claustrophobic feeling of being a child who's bullied by grownups through the use of tight sets and wide-angle lenses.   

But DeVito's best directorial decision was casting Mara Wilson as Matilda. Wilson played pivotal supporting roles in "Mrs. Doubtfire" and "Miracle On 34th Street," and she proves herself a gifted leading lady, carrying the movie on her tiny shoulders at just eight years old. Her performance is even more amazing considering Wilson's mother was battling breast cancer, which took her life before the film's release. DeVito and Perlman looked out for Wilson, with the actress revealing in her 2016 memoir "Where Am I Now?" that DeVito showed her mother an early cut of "Matilda" before her passing. Nobody does a better job playing a dirtbag than Danny DeVito, but in real life the dude's a mensch. 

Danny DeVito was born to play Frank Reynolds in "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia." At this point imagining the series without DeVito seems impossible, but he actually didn't show up until season two. While he was a huge fan of the sitcom, he only joined the main cast on one condition: "If they come up with an organic character, something that was not just Danny DeVito coming into a show, if it made sense."

Casting DeVito as Dennis and Dee's vile father certainly made a lot of sense. No, this isn't Danny DeVito playing himself, but it's hard to think of another part that so perfectly personifies all of the traits of a "Danny DeVito role." Crooked, corrupt, conniving, covetous, cowardly, cruel ... there aren't enough words in the English language to properly describe what a scoundrel Frank Reynolds is. But in typical DeVito fashion, you still can't help but love the louse because of how freaking funny he is. Sure, it may seem strange to say that an acclaimed actor's five-decade career was all in preparation for one part on a cult TV show, but when you remember you're talking about Danny DeVito, somehow it all makes perfect sense.

With more than $216 million worldwide, "Twins" became Arnold Schwarzenegger's biggest smash hit (and payday) by that point (1988). Yep, bigger than "Conan the Barbarian," "The Terminator," and "Predator" — and it isn't even close. Sounds like Arnie should have teamed with Danny DeVito sooner; it turned out to be a critical career move, and turned the Austrian Oak into a legit international, A-lister superstar. The premise of "Twins" is simple. So simple, it's explained by the poster. Arnold Schwarzenegger, built like a statue of a Greek god made from muscle not marble, and Danny DeVito, who looks like, well, Danny DeVito, are not just relatives, not just brothers, but twins. 

Granted, that sounds like a SNL sketch, not a feature-length movie. But "Twins" more than meets the promise of its premise, thanks to the deft comedic touch of director Ivan Reitman (just four years after he ruled 1984 with "Ghostbusters") and especially its stars: Schwarzenegger as the charmingly childlike Julian and DeVito as the crooked gadfly with a heart of gold, Vincent. Suffice it to say, "Twins" was also DeVito's biggest hit by that point, proving that he and Arnold were born to play brothers. 

Sadly, the failure of the trio's 1994 reunion, "Junior," proved that while moviegoers were willing to believe Schwarzenegger and DeVito were twin brothers, they couldn't buy the former Mr. Olympia as a mother. At least we got a sweet Super Bowl State Farm commercial with them to wash the bad taste out of our mouths.

Most people would be too intimidated to follow up Jack Nicholson's scene-stealing performance as The Joker in Tim Burton's record-breaking "Batman." Most people aren't Danny DeVito. Sure, he wasn't vacuum-sealed into his suit like Michelle Pfeiffer was for Catwoman, but there's no denying the dude utterly disappeared into his role as The Penguin (and not just because of the makeup). Yet at the same time, The Penguin still feels very much like a "Danny DeVito character." From "Taxi" to "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia," DeVito has always shined playing slime balls, and in "Batman Returns," he's literally spitting up slime. And blood. And other liquids we haven't identified yet.

"Batman Returns" famously got Tim Burton booted from the director's chair, but three decades later it's rightly celebrated as an auteurist's audacious achievement, with DeVito's performance being a big reason why. With a German Expressionist aesthetic taken straight from "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari," punctuated by a snarling, sneering style, DeVito plays the role like a harp from Hell. Like Nicholson before him, DeVito reinvented a character that became rather silly into a monster more grotesque on the inside than he was on the outside. Some may think Colin Farrell's performance as Oswald Cobb in HBO's "The Penguin" has overshadowed DeVito's work. We prefer to say DeVito walked (or waddled) so that Farrell could fly, which is impressive for a flightless bird.

Danny DeVito made his film debut as "Thug" in 1970's "Dreams of Glass," before gaining attention for his supporting role as Martini in Miloš Forman's "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest" in 1975. But it was in 1978 that DeVito landed the breakthrough role that not only set him on the road to stardom, but established the screen persona he continues to this day: Louie De Palma in TV's "Taxi." The show follows the lives of New York cabbies at the Sunshine Cab Company, with disillusioned lifer Alex Reiger (Judd Hirsch) at its center. Throughout the show's five seasons, "Taxi" became a breeding ground for future comic heavyweights, including Tony Danza, Christopher Lloyd, Carol Kane, Rhea Perlman, and Andy Kaufman. But none shined brighter than DeVito as the dictatorial dispatcher De Palma.

DeVito's De Palma is a mean, selfish, sexist, self-centered, slimy, sleazy, conniving bully who seems to enjoy belittling his cabbies behind the safe confines of his cage. In a lesser actor's hands we'd loathe Louie De Palma. But in an irony that would come to define virtually every character DeVito ever plays, we find ourselves caring about De Palma. Why? Who knows? Maybe because we suspect he's hiding a secret pain, or perhaps because we know his bullying is all bluster to protect a very sad little man. Or maybe it's just because he's played by Danny DeVito, who we just can't bring ourselves to hate.

Many movies are great because of the performances and characters. Some because of the script or the direction. "L.A. Confidential" is one of those movies where everything works, which is why it tops our list as Danny DeVito's best movie. While Kim Basinger deservedly won a Supporting Actress Oscar, "L.A. Confidential" is truly an ensemble piece. Basinger brings timeless Hollywood glamour as Lynn Bracken, Kevin Spacey plays corrupt with a touch of class as Det. Vincennes, DeVito delivers slithering sleaze as Sid Hudgens, while Guy Pearce and Russell Crowe give star-making, scene-stealing performances as the brainy Det. Exley and the brawny Officer White, respectively.

DeVito's supporting turn as tabloid muckraker Hudgens is critical to "L.A. Confidential," both for propelling the plot forward, and lending the film his movie star gravitas. In the same way "Casablanca" thrives thanks to established character actors like Claude Rains, Peter Lorre, and Sydney Greenstreet, "L.A. Confidential" takes advantage of the audience's decades-long relationship with DeVito. The moment he shows up you know what this guy is all about, which is a corrupt charlatan who stands for nothing but himself. Only a movie star as talented as Danny DeVito could pull that off by his mere presence, one of the many reasons he deserves to be celebrated.