Danny Ocean (character)

Before Ocean's Eleven

Before the series begins, it is established Danny was married to Tess Ocean for at least three years. He has fond memories of Reuben Tishkoff and has known Rusty Ryan for many years, having established a good friendship with him and many other people. Rusty mentions that Danny had stolen Incan matrimonial headmasks before his capture. He was paroled after serving four years of a five-year sentence for felony fraud conviction. The parole selection staff says he has been implicated in more than a dozen separate counts of conspiracy to commit fraud, but has never been charged in those crimes.

Ocean's Eleven

George Clooney as Danny Ocean in the Ocean's Eleven remake.

At the start of Ocean's Eleven, Danny gets paroled from prison and after less than a day, he breaks his parole by going to another state to find Rusty. After meeting up with his friend, he reveals his plan to rob the vault of Terry Benedict's casino. When asked why he wants to do this, Danny just says that the house always wins in Vegas, but when you get the best hand you can get like he has now, you go all in and take the house. They recruit eight other members for the robbery, and taking a hint from Rusty's silence, Danny elects to get one more, Linus Caldwell. The Eleven begin preparations and Rusty finds out the real reason for Danny wanting to rob Benedict. Benedict, who owns the casinos, is now with Danny's ex-wife, Tess. Despite arguments with Rusty, Danny says his intention is to rob the casinos and Tess will be a side effect.

Despite his attempts to get Tess back, they fail and he is "redflagged" at the hotel. Since his history with Tess and criminal record is known by Benedict, Rusty decides that Danny will have to back out of the heist, and the group goes ahead without him. Linus is given Danny's role in the caper. Danny arrives on the night of the heist and says goodbye to Tess. However, while doing so, he secretly passes her a mobile phone to keep the con going.

He allows himself to be taken to an empty room where a man arrives to beat him up. However, after the door is closed, it becomes apparent the man is on his side. He uses the opportunity to enter the air-ducts and meet up with Linus where he says this was just a test for Linus and it was all an act.

After infiltrating the vault and after several series of bluffs and cons, the group succeeds in stealing $160 million. He also tricks Benedict into revealing in front of Tess that he'd rather have the money than her. He is sent back to jail for three to six months for violating his parole. When he comes out, Tess and Rusty are waiting for him, and they drive off into the sunset, closely followed by two of Benedict's lackeys.

Ocean's Twelve

Some three years after Ocean's Eleven, Danny is celebrating his third anniversary for the second time with Tess in Ocean's Twelve. He is buying her flowers and jewelry after checking a bank for a possible robbery. Meanwhile, Tess, who is at their new home, receives an unexpected guest to their house, Mr. Benedict. He tells Tess that they must return his money. He does the same with the other ten, giving them two weeks to pay back the money or they will be executed by Benedict. It's revealed that after hearing another man brag that Ocean's previous job was the best, Francois "The Night Fox" Toulour is angered by the possibility of a better thief than him and reveals the location of the Eleven to Benedict.

Danny is short on funds as are the rest, except Reuben and Livingston, as most of the millions have been deeply invested. They go to Europe to get the money. However, Toulour interferes with their plans and reveals his own. Toulour offers to pay the debt of the Eleven if they can prove themselves better thieves. Through consultation with Toulour's mentor, LeMarque, the group comes out ahead with the object of the theft, a golden egg originally stolen by LeMarque but put back after his wife made him return it. Toulour explains to Danny how he stole what he believed to be the egg. When Danny reveals in reality it was a replica, Toulour concedes and pays off the debt.

Ocean's Thirteen

Sometime after Ocean's Twelve, Reuben, against Danny and Rusty's warnings, partners with ruthless Las Vegas businessman Willy Bank. in Ocean's Thirteen, the two intend to build a new, multibillion-dollar hotel/casino. However, Bank strong-arms Reuben into signing his share of the deal over to Bank, leaving Reuben with a single poker chip worth $10,000. The shock of the swindle gives Reuben a heart attack. Danny calls in the rest of the Eleven to get revenge. However, he leaves Tess behind, saying "it's not her fight." Despite the group wanting to kill Bank, and Danny being saddened by Reuben's heart attack, Danny and Rusty persuade the team that Danny should first talk to Bank, asking him to give Reuben back his share. When Bank refuses, the group prepares to rob him, setting up a series of events where they can infiltrate the casino and plant various rigged games throughout the casino, allowing them to trigger slot machines or rig roulette wheels, their primary goal being to ensure that the casino loses rather than simply ensure their own victory.

With the help of Roman Nagel (the engineer who created the holographic egg in Ocean's Twelve) and a seemingly placated Benedict, the group manages to plant a magnetron on Bank, so that when he enters the security sector of his casino, it locks down from the magnetron's interference. With the security shut down for three and a half minutes, the group uses the pre-rigged games to break the house, causing Bank over $500 million in losses. As the security comes back online, the group simulates an earthquake and gets the entire casino to evacuate before the patrons can start losing again.

Danny then faces off against Bank. After Bank threatens Danny with all the friends he knows who'll hurt him, Danny is calm and confident, claiming every guy Bank knows likes Danny better. At that point, to add insult to injury, Basher and Linus airlift Bank's collection of prized diamond necklaces, worth an additional $250 million.

Afterward, Danny and the group, including the recovered Reuben, celebrate their victory. As they leave, in the airport, Rusty tells him to lose weight and Danny tells him to settle down and have a couple of kids.

A running joke in the movie is that there is a code between people who "shook Sinatra's hand." Frank Sinatra played the character of Danny Ocean in the 1960s version of the film.

Ocean's 8

In the spin-off film focusing upon Danny Ocean's sister Debbie, who is attempting to pull off a major heist at New York City's star-studded Met Gala, Danny is revealed to have died at some point in 2018, although she and other characters note their suspicion that he may have faked his death. At the film's conclusion, she visits his grave and makes one of his trademark olive martinis, claiming he would have loved the heist.