In The Deer Hunter, which actor plays steelworker Michael Vronsky?

Robert De Niro plays steelworker Michael Vronsky in The Deer Hunter.

Michael is one of a group of friends from a Pennsylvania steel town whose lives are transformed by the Vietnam War. The 1978 film, directed by Michael Cimino, follows the friends before, during, and after the conflict. De Niro’s performance centers on Michael’s leadership, physical courage, and increasingly difficult attempts to reconnect with his community.

The cast also includes Christopher Walken as Nick Chevotarevich and John Savage as Steven Pushkov. Walken won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance. The film is particularly associated with its depiction of Russian roulette, although the historical evidence for that practice as a systematic Viet Cong or North Vietnamese method is disputed. That distinction is important: the film is a dramatic work about trauma and memory, not a documentary account of every event shown.