Danny DeVito showed unfinished Matilda to child star's dying mother

Danny DeVito took an unfinished version of the movie ‘Matilda’ for its star Mara Wilson’s mother to see before she died.

Wilson, now 29, was appearing on the ‘Lorraine’ show yesterday, talking about her book ‘Where Am I Now?’ when she revealed her co-star’s touching gesture.

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Her mother was battling breast cancer when she was making the movie in 1995.

“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 said.

“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.”

DeVito played the feckless father to Wilson’s prodigious child in the Hollywood adaptation of Roald Dahl’s famous children’s book.

These days, Wilson is mostly a novelist and playwright, though she still occasionally takes acting work, voicing the character of Jill Pill in adult cartoon ‘Bojack Horseman’, and making an appearance in the series ‘Broad City’ earlier this year.

She was just five when she landed her first movie job, playing Nattie Hillard in ‘Mrs Doubtfire’.

Wilson then went on to roles in ‘Miracle on 34th Street’, with Richard Attenborough, ‘Matilda’ in 1996 and then fantasy comedy ‘A Simple Wish’ in 1997, before quitting.

She revealed in an interview in 2012: “”Film acting is not very fun. Doing the same thing over and over again until, in the director’s eyes, you ‘get it right’, does not allow for very much creative freedom.

“The best times I had on film sets were the times the director let me express myself, but those were rare.”