Danny DeVito took an unfinished version of ‘Matilda’ to hospital to show Mara Wilson’s dying mother.
The 71-year-old actor played the 29-year-old star’s evil on-screen father in the 1996 movie but he was much nicer in real life and showed Mara’s mum Suzie the motion picture before it was completed, just months shortly before she tragically died of breast cancer.
Mara – who plays the titular character in the movie – said: "I was worried she wouldn’t get to see the film. I didn’t know this until later but Danny DeVito took it unfinished to the hospital and showed it to her.
"She loved it. My mother always loved the book as well and used to read it to the children at my brother’s school, so it was a real family affair.
"My heart was warmed as she was involved until the very end."
Suzie sadly passed away in the months after the film’s December 1996 release, and Mara admits her mother and father Mike always wanted her to become a big screen star.
She said: "My parents very much wanted me to be an actress.
"I never meant to become famous. I was five years old. I had no concept of what that was. I was completely out of my depth.
"It was just seen as something I could do, like so many other kids who lived in Southern California. A lot of kids act in LA."
Mara shot to fame in 1993 classic ‘Mrs. Doubtfire’ and went on to star in ‘Miracle on 34th Street’ a year later before landing the part of Matilda.
But she is now an author and always wonders whether she should’ve quit acting sooner than she did.
Speaking on ‘Lorraine’, she added: "I often think about this. I wonder if I should have stopped after ‘Matilda’ and ended on a high note."
Danny DeVito’s heartfelt Matilda screening
