All Topics  
Jack Lemmon

 
Jack Lemmon

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Jack Lemmon
 
 
  Topics Jack Lemmon Topic Home

John Uhler "Jack" Lemmon III (February 8, 1925 – June 27, 2001) was an American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 actor
Actor

An actor or actress is a person who acting in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio programming in that capacity....
 known principally for his comedic roles. He starred in over 60 films including Some Like It Hot
Some Like It Hot

Some Like It Hot is an Cinema of the United States comedy film directed by Billy Wilder and starring Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, and Jack Lemmon....
, The Apartment
The Apartment

The Apartment is a Cinema of the United States comedy film-drama film produced and directed by Billy Wilder, and starring Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, and Fred MacMurray....
, Days of Wine and Roses
Days of Wine and Roses (film)

Days of Wine and Roses is a drama film directed by Blake Edwards with a screenplay by JP Miller adapted from his own critically acclaimed 1958 in television teleplay for Playhouse 90 of the same name ....
, Irma La Douce
Irma la Douce

Irma La Douce is a 1963 comedy starring Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine....
, The Odd Couple
The Odd Couple (film)

The Odd Couple is a comedy film written by Neil Simon, based on his The Odd Couple, directed by Gene Saks, and starring Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau....
, The Out-of-Towners
The Out-of-Towners (1970 film)

The Out-of-Towners is a 1970 in film comedy film written by Neil Simon, directed by Arthur Hiller, and starring Jack Lemmon and Sandy Dennis....
, Glengarry Glen Ross
Glengarry Glen Ross (film)

Glengarry Glen Ross is a 1992 independent film, adapted by David Mamet from his acclaimed 1984 Pulitzer Prize for Drama- and Tony award-winning Glengarry Glen Ross....
, The China Syndrome
The China Syndrome

The China Syndrome is a 1979 in film thriller film which tells the story of a reporter and cameraman who discover safety coverups at a nuclear power plant....
 and JFK
JFK (film)

JFK is an Cinema of the United States directed by Oliver Stone and released on December 20, 1991 in film. It examines the events leading to the John F....
.

on was born in an elevator
Elevator

An elevator or lift is a vertical transport vehicle that efficiently moves people or goods between floors of a building. They are generally powered by electric motors that either drive traction cables and counterweight systems, or pump hydraulic fluid to raise a cylindrical piston....
 at Newton-Wellesley Hospital
Newton-Wellesley Hospital

Newton-Wellesley Hospital is a community teaching medical center located in Newton, Massachusetts on Washington Street. It is affiliated with Tufts University School of Medicine and Harvard Medical School....
 in Newton
Waban, Massachusetts

Waban is one of the 13 villages of Newton, Massachusetts....
, Massachusetts
Massachusetts

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a U.S. state located in the New England region of the Northeastern United States United States. It borders Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north....
, a suburb of Boston
Boston, Massachusetts

Boston is the State capital and largest city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is considered the economic and cultural center of the region, and is sometimes regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England." Boston city proper had a 2007 est...
. He was the son of Mildred Burgess LaRue (née
Married and maiden names

A married name is the family name adopted by a person upon marriage, and in speaking of the many cultures where the practice is traditional for women, the maiden name is the family name that the married name replaces....
 Noel) and John Uhler Lemmon, Jr., who was the president of a doughnut
Doughnut

A doughnut is a sweet, deep-fried piece of dough or batter . The two most common types are the torus-shaped ring doughnut and the filled doughnut, a flattened sphere injected with jam, jelly, cream, custard, or other sweet filling....
 company.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Jack Lemmon'
Start a new discussion about 'Jack Lemmon'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Quotations


Death ends a life, not a relationship.






Encyclopedia


John Uhler "Jack" Lemmon III (February 8, 1925 – June 27, 2001) was an American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 actor
Actor

An actor or actress is a person who acting in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio programming in that capacity....
 known principally for his comedic roles. He starred in over 60 films including Some Like It Hot
Some Like It Hot

Some Like It Hot is an Cinema of the United States comedy film directed by Billy Wilder and starring Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, and Jack Lemmon....
, The Apartment
The Apartment

The Apartment is a Cinema of the United States comedy film-drama film produced and directed by Billy Wilder, and starring Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, and Fred MacMurray....
, Days of Wine and Roses
Days of Wine and Roses (film)

Days of Wine and Roses is a drama film directed by Blake Edwards with a screenplay by JP Miller adapted from his own critically acclaimed 1958 in television teleplay for Playhouse 90 of the same name ....
, Irma La Douce
Irma la Douce

Irma La Douce is a 1963 comedy starring Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine....
, The Odd Couple
The Odd Couple (film)

The Odd Couple is a comedy film written by Neil Simon, based on his The Odd Couple, directed by Gene Saks, and starring Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau....
, The Out-of-Towners
The Out-of-Towners (1970 film)

The Out-of-Towners is a 1970 in film comedy film written by Neil Simon, directed by Arthur Hiller, and starring Jack Lemmon and Sandy Dennis....
, Glengarry Glen Ross
Glengarry Glen Ross (film)

Glengarry Glen Ross is a 1992 independent film, adapted by David Mamet from his acclaimed 1984 Pulitzer Prize for Drama- and Tony award-winning Glengarry Glen Ross....
, The China Syndrome
The China Syndrome

The China Syndrome is a 1979 in film thriller film which tells the story of a reporter and cameraman who discover safety coverups at a nuclear power plant....
 and JFK
JFK (film)

JFK is an Cinema of the United States directed by Oliver Stone and released on December 20, 1991 in film. It examines the events leading to the John F....
.

Biography


Early life

Lemmon was born in an elevator
Elevator

An elevator or lift is a vertical transport vehicle that efficiently moves people or goods between floors of a building. They are generally powered by electric motors that either drive traction cables and counterweight systems, or pump hydraulic fluid to raise a cylindrical piston....
 at Newton-Wellesley Hospital
Newton-Wellesley Hospital

Newton-Wellesley Hospital is a community teaching medical center located in Newton, Massachusetts on Washington Street. It is affiliated with Tufts University School of Medicine and Harvard Medical School....
 in Newton
Waban, Massachusetts

Waban is one of the 13 villages of Newton, Massachusetts....
, Massachusetts
Massachusetts

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a U.S. state located in the New England region of the Northeastern United States United States. It borders Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north....
, a suburb of Boston
Boston, Massachusetts

Boston is the State capital and largest city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is considered the economic and cultural center of the region, and is sometimes regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England." Boston city proper had a 2007 est...
. He was the son of Mildred Burgess LaRue (née
Married and maiden names

A married name is the family name adopted by a person upon marriage, and in speaking of the many cultures where the practice is traditional for women, the maiden name is the family name that the married name replaces....
 Noel) and John Uhler Lemmon, Jr., who was the president of a doughnut
Doughnut

A doughnut is a sweet, deep-fried piece of dough or batter . The two most common types are the torus-shaped ring doughnut and the filled doughnut, a flattened sphere injected with jam, jelly, cream, custard, or other sweet filling....
 company. Lemmon attended John Ward Elementary School in Newton. He later revealed that he knew he wanted to be an actor from the age of eight. Lemmon attended Phillips Academy
Phillips Academy

Phillips Academy is a co-educational University-preparatory school for boarding and day students in grades 9-12. The school is located in Andover, Massachusetts, Massachusetts, 25 miles north of Boston, Massachusetts....
 (Class of 43) and Harvard University
Harvard University

Harvard University is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Massachusetts, United States, and a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1636 by the colonial Massachusetts legislature, Harvard is the Colonial Colleges institution of higher learning in the United States....
 (Class of 47) where he was an active member of several Drama Clubs - becoming president of the Hasty Pudding Club
Hasty Pudding Club

The Hasty Pudding Club was founded by Nymphus Hatch, a junior at Harvard University, in 1790. The club is named for the traditional American dish that the founding members ate at their first meeting....
 - as well as a member of the Delphic Club for Gentleman, a final club
Final club

A final club is an undergraduate social club at Harvard College. There are currently eight such all-male clubs at Harvard: the A.D. Club ; Delphic Club ,; Fly Club ; Fox Club ; Owl Club ; The Phoenix - S K Club ,; Porcellian Club ; and the Spee Club , where John F....
 at Harvard. At twenty-two years of age, Lemmon graduated from Harvard University
Harvard University

Harvard University is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Massachusetts, United States, and a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1636 by the colonial Massachusetts legislature, Harvard is the Colonial Colleges institution of higher learning in the United States....
 and joined the Navy
United States Navy

The United States Navy is the navy of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy currently has approximately 331,682 personnel on active duty as of 31 December 2008 and 124,000 in the United States Navy Reserve....
, receiving V-12
V-12 Navy College Training Program

The V-12 Navy College Training Program was designed to supplement the force of commissioned officers in the United States Navy during World War II....
 training and serving as an ensign
Ensign (rank)

Ensign is a junior rank of Officer #Commissioned officers in the militaries of some countries, normally in the infantry or navy. As the junior officer in an infantry regiment was traditionally the carrier of the ensign, the rank itself acquired the name....
. On being discharged, he took up acting professionally, working on radio, television and Broadway
Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 39 large professional theaters with 500 seats or more located in the Theatre District, New York in Manhattan, New York City....
. He studied acting under Uta Hagen
Uta Hagen

Uta Thyra Hagen was a Germany-born United States actress and acting teacher....
. He also became enthused with the piano and learned to play it on his own. He could also play the harmonica and the bass fiddle.

Career

Lemmon's film debut was a bit part
Bit part

A bit part is a Supporting actor with at least one line of dialogue. In United Kingdom television, bit parts are referred to as under sixes ....
 as a plasterer/painter in the 1949 film The Lady Takes a Sailor but he was not noticed until his official debut opposite Judy Holliday
Judy Holliday

File:Judy Holliday.jpgJudy Holliday was an United States Academy Awards- and Tony Award-winning actress....
 in the 1954 comedy
Comedy

Comedy as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse generally intended to amuse, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western culture origins are found in Ancient Greece....
, It Should Happen to You
It Should Happen to You

It Should Happen to You is a 1954 comedy film starring Judy Holliday, notable as the first screen appearance of Jack Lemmon, who was then an aspiring young actor....
. Lemmon worked with many legendary leading ladies of the cinema screen, among them Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model, and a sex symbol.After spending much of her childhood in foster homes, Monroe began a career as a model, which led to a film contract in 1946....
, Natalie Wood
Natalie Wood

Natalie Wood was an American actress.Following her film debut at the age of four, Wood became a successful child actor in such films as the Christmas classic Miracle on 34th Street ....
, Betty Grable
Betty Grable

Betty Grable was an American dancer, singer, and actress.Her iconic bathing suit photo made her the number-one pin-up girl of the World War II era....
, Janet Leigh
Janet Leigh

Janet Leigh was an American actress.Discovered by the actress Norma Shearer, Leigh secured a contract with MGM and began her film career in the late 1940s....
, Shirley MacLaine
Shirley MacLaine

Shirley MacLaine is an United States Academy Awards-winning film and theater actress, dancer, activist, and author, well-known for her beliefs in new age spirituality and reincarnation....
, Romy Schneider
Romy Schneider

Romy Schneider was a Austrian-born, Austrian-German actress. Born in Vienna, she also held French citizenship and died in Paris at the age of 43....
, Doris Day
Doris Day

Doris Mary Anne von Kappelhoff is a German-American singer, actress, and animal welfare advocate known as Doris Day. Able to sing, dance, and play comedy and dramatic roles, she became one of the biggest box-office stars....
, Kim Novak
Kim Novak

Kim Novak is an United States actor who was one of her nation's most popular movie stars in the late 1950s. She is best known for her performance in Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo ....
, Judy Holliday
Judy Holliday

File:Judy Holliday.jpgJudy Holliday was an United States Academy Awards- and Tony Award-winning actress....
, Rita Hayworth
Rita Hayworth

Rita Hayworth , was an American actress who attained fame during the 1940s not only as one of the era's top musical stars, but also as the era's defining sex symbol, most notably in the 1946 film Gilda....
, June Allyson, Virna Lisi
Virna Lisi

Virna Lisi is a Best Actress Award and C?sar Award awards-winning Italy film actress....
, Ann Margret, Sophia Loren
Sophia Loren

Sophia Loren is an Academy Award-winning Italian people film actress. She is widely considered to be the most popular Italian actress of her time and is also famous for being a major international sex symbol....
, Grace Lee Whitney
Grace Lee Whitney

Grace Lee Whitney is an American actor and entertainer, also known as Ruth Whitney and Lee Whitney. She is most famous for playing the role of Janice Rand in a number of Star Trek television series and films....
, Kathryn Grant
Kathryn Grant

Kathryn Grant may refer to:* Kathryn Crosby, American actress who also used the stage name Kathryn Grant* Kathryn Ptacek, American author who also wrote under her married name, Kathryn Grant...
 and many, many more. He was also close friends with Tony Curtis
Tony Curtis

Tony Curtis is an United States film acting. He is best known for light comic roles, especially as a musician on the run from gangsters in Some Like It Hot with Jack Lemmon and Marilyn Monroe....
, Ernie Kovacs
Ernie Kovacs

Ernie Kovacs was an United States comedian whose uninhibited, often ad-libbed, and visually experimental comic style came to influence numerous television comedy programs for years after his early death in an automobile accident....
 and Walter Matthau
Walter Matthau

Walter John Matthau was an United States award-winning actor best known for his role as Oscar Madison in The Odd Couple and his frequent collaborations with fellow Odd Couple star Jack Lemmon....
. He made two films with Curtis and eleven with Matthau..

He became a favorite actor of director
Film director

A film director, or filmmaker, is a person who directs the making of a film. A film director visualizes the Screenplay, controlling a film's artistic and dramatic aspects, while guiding the technical crew and actors in the fulfillment of his or her vision....
 Billy Wilder
Billy Wilder

Billy Wilder was an Austrian-United States journalist, filmmaker, screenwriter, and film producer, whose career spanned more than 50 years and 60 films....
, starring in his films Some Like It Hot
Some Like It Hot

Some Like It Hot is an Cinema of the United States comedy film directed by Billy Wilder and starring Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, and Jack Lemmon....
, The Apartment
The Apartment

The Apartment is a Cinema of the United States comedy film-drama film produced and directed by Billy Wilder, and starring Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, and Fred MacMurray....
, Irma La Douce
Irma la Douce

Irma La Douce is a 1963 comedy starring Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine....
, The Fortune Cookie
The Fortune Cookie

The Fortune Cookie is a 1966 in film film starring Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon in their first on screen collaboration, and directed by Billy Wilder....
, Avanti!
Avanti!

Avanti! is a 1972 in film comedy directed by Billy Wilder, starring Jack Lemmon, Juliet Mills, Clive Revill, Edward Andrews and Gianfranco Barra....
, The Front Page
The Front Page (1974 film)

The Front Page is a 1974 in film comedy film-drama film directed by Billy Wilder and starring Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau as a reporter and editor at a 1920s Chicago newspaper....
 and Buddy Buddy
Buddy Buddy

Buddy Buddy is a 1981 in film dark comedy based on the play by Francis Veber. It stars Jack Lemmon as a man on the verge of suicide, Walter Matthau as a hitman for the mob, Paula Prentiss as Lemmon's wife, and Klaus Kinski as the director of a sex clinic....
. Wilder felt Lemmon had a natural tendency toward overacting that had to be tempered; the Wilder biography Nobody's Perfect quotes the director as saying, "Lemmon, I would describe him as a ham, a fine ham, and with ham you have to trim a little fat". The biography also quotes Jack Lemmon as saying, "I am particularly susceptible to the parts I play... If my character was having a nervous breakdown, I started to have one".

Lemmon recorded his own album in 1958 while filming Some Like It Hot
Some Like It Hot

Some Like It Hot is an Cinema of the United States comedy film directed by Billy Wilder and starring Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, and Jack Lemmon....
 with Marilyn Monroe. Twelve jazz tracks were created for Lemmon and another twelve tracks were added which were the soundtracks to the film. Lemmon also played the piano and recorded his own versions of Monroe's trademark songs, I Wanna Be Loved By You and I'm Through With Love, for the album which was released in 1959 as A Twist of Lemmon/Some Like It Hot.

Lemmon was awarded the Best Supporting Actor Oscar
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor

Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry....
 in 1956 for Mister Roberts
Mister Roberts (film)

Mister Roberts is a 1955 comedy film-drama film directed by John Ford and stars Henry Fonda as Mister Roberts. The film was nominated for Academy Award for Best Picture and Academy Award for Sound Oscars; Jack Lemmon received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor....
 (1955) and the Best Actor Oscar
Academy Award for Best Actor

Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry....
 for Save the Tiger
Save the Tiger

Save the Tiger is a 1973 in film film which tells a story of moral conflict in modern America. It stars Jack Lemmon, Jack Gilford, Laurie Heineman, Thayer David, Lara Parker and Liv Lindeland....
 (1973), becoming the first actor to achieve this double. He was also nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for his role in the controversial film Missing
Missing (film)

Missing is a 1982 in film film directed by Costa Gavras, starring Jack Lemmon, Sissy Spacek, Melanie Mayron, John Shea and Charles Cioffi. It is based on the true story of American journalist Charles Horman, who disappeared in the bloody aftermath of the US-backed Chilean coup of 1973 that deposed President Salvador Allende....
 in 1982 and for his role in Some Like it Hot. In 1988, the American Film Institute
American Film Institute

The American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B....
 gave him its Lifetime Achievement Award
AFI Life Achievement Award

The AFI Life Achievement Award was established by the Board of Directors of the American Film Institute on February 26, 1973 to honor a single individual for his or her lifetime contribution to enriching American culture through motion pictures and television....
.

Days of Wine and Roses
Days of Wine and Roses (film)

Days of Wine and Roses is a drama film directed by Blake Edwards with a screenplay by JP Miller adapted from his own critically acclaimed 1958 in television teleplay for Playhouse 90 of the same name ....
 (1962) was one of his favorite roles. He portrayed Joe Clay, a young, fun-loving alcoholic businessman. In that film, Lemmon delivered the line, "My name is Joe Clay ... I'm an alcoholic." Three and a half decades later, he admitted on the television program, Inside the Actors Studio
Inside the Actors Studio

Inside the Actors Studio is the Emmy-nominated, longest-running original series on the Bravo cable television channel, hosted by James Lipton....
, that he was not acting when he delivered that line, that he really was a recovering alcoholic at the end of his life.

Lemmon's production company JML produced Cool Hand Luke
Cool Hand Luke

Cool Hand Luke is a Cinema of the United States drama film starring Paul Newman and directed by Stuart Rosenberg. The screenplay was adapted by Donn Pearce and Frank Pierson from the novel by Pearce....
 in 1967. Paul Newman
Paul Newman

Paul Leonard Newman was an United States actor, film director, entrepreneur, Humanitarianism, and auto racing enthusiast. He won numerous awards, including an Academy Award for his performance in the 1986 Martin Scorsese film The Color of Money and eight other nominations three Golden Globe, a BAFTA Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a...
 was grateful to Lemmon for his support and offered him the role later made famous by Robert Redford
Robert Redford

Charles Robert Redford Jr. , better known as Robert Redford, is an Academy Award-winning United States film director, actor, film producer, businessman, model , environmentalism, philanthropist, and founder of the Sundance Film Festival....
 in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is a American Revisionist Western that tells the story of bank robbers Butch Cassidy and his partner Harry Longabaugh , based loosely on historical fact....
 but Lemmon turned it down. He did not like riding horses and he also felt he'd already played too many aspects of the Sundance Kid's character before.

Throughout his career, Lemmon often appeared in films alongside actor Walter Matthau
Walter Matthau

Walter John Matthau was an United States award-winning actor best known for his role as Oscar Madison in The Odd Couple and his frequent collaborations with fellow Odd Couple star Jack Lemmon....
. They would go on to be one of the most beloved duos in cinema history. Among their pairings was as Felix Unger
Felix Unger

Felix Unger was one of the principal characters in Neil Simon's play The Odd Couple. Felix was portrayed in the play by Art Carney, in The Odd Couple by Jack Lemmon, and in the The Odd Couple by Tony Randall....
 (Lemmon) and Oscar Madison
Oscar Madison

Oscar Madison is a character in The Odd Couple, which began as a Broadway theatre Play , then was a The Odd Couple and then a The Odd Couple ....
 (Matthau) in the 1968 film, The Odd Couple
The Odd Couple (film)

The Odd Couple is a comedy film written by Neil Simon, based on his The Odd Couple, directed by Gene Saks, and starring Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau....
. They also starred together in The Fortune Cookie
The Fortune Cookie

The Fortune Cookie is a 1966 in film film starring Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon in their first on screen collaboration, and directed by Billy Wilder....
 (for which Matthau won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor), The Front Page
The Front Page

The Front Page was a hit Broadway theatre comedy, written by one-time Chicago reporters Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur and first produced in 1928....
 and Buddy Buddy
Buddy Buddy

Buddy Buddy is a 1981 in film dark comedy based on the play by Francis Veber. It stars Jack Lemmon as a man on the verge of suicide, Walter Matthau as a hitman for the mob, Paula Prentiss as Lemmon's wife, and Klaus Kinski as the director of a sex clinic....
. In 1971, Lemmon directed Matthau in the comedy Kotch
Kotch

Kotch is a 1971 in film, Academy Award-nominated comedy film which tells the story of an elderly man who runs away so as not to be put into a nursing home, and strikes up a friendship with a pregnant teenage girl....
. It was the only movie that Lemmon ever directed and Matthau was nominated for the Best Actor Oscar for his performance. Additionally, Lemmon and Matthau had small parts in Oliver Stone
Oliver Stone

William Oliver Stone is an United Statesn film director and screenwriter. Stone came to prominence as a director with a series of films about the Vietnam War, in which he had participated as an American infantry soldier, and his work continues to focus frequently on contemporary political and cultural issues, often controversially....
's 1991 film, JFK
JFK (film)

JFK is an Cinema of the United States directed by Oliver Stone and released on December 20, 1991 in film. It examines the events leading to the John F....
 (the only film in which they both appeared but shared no screentime). In 1993, the duo teamed up again to star in Grumpy Old Men
Grumpy Old Men (film)

Grumpy Old Men is a 1993 in film Warner Bros. romantic comedy film starring Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau, and Ann-Margret, with Burgess Meredith, Daryl Hannah, Kevin Pollak, Katie Sagona, Ossie Davis, and Buck Henry....
. The film was a surprise hit, earning the two actors a new generation of young fans. During the rest of the decade, they would go on to star together in Out to Sea
Out to Sea

Out to Sea is a 1997 in film romantic comedy film starring Walter Matthau, Jack Lemmon, Rue McClanahan, Dyan Cannon & Brent Spiner. The film was directed by Martha Coolidge....
, Grumpier Old Men
Grumpier Old Men

Grumpier Old Men is a 1995 in film Warner Bros. romantic comedy film starring Walter Matthau, Jack Lemmon, Ann-Margret, and Sophia Loren, with Burgess Meredith, Daryl Hannah, Kevin Pollak, Katie Sagona, Ann Morgan Guilbert....
 and the widely-panned The Odd Couple II
The Odd Couple II

The Odd Couple II is the 1998 in film sequel to 1968's The Odd Couple . It reunites Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon in their last film together....
. The only death scenes that Lemmon performed were in The China Syndrome
The China Syndrome

The China Syndrome is a 1979 in film thriller film which tells the story of a reporter and cameraman who discover safety coverups at a nuclear power plant....
 in 1979 and in The Legend of Bagger Vance
The Legend of Bagger Vance

The Legend of Bagger Vance is a 2000 in film film directed by Robert Redford, based on the same-titled 1995 Novel by Steven Pressfield. The story takes place in the US state of Georgia in 1931....
 where he played uncredited introductory and final scenes. For his part in The China Syndrome
The China Syndrome

The China Syndrome is a 1979 in film thriller film which tells the story of a reporter and cameraman who discover safety coverups at a nuclear power plant....
, he was awarded Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival
Cannes Film Festival

The Cannes Film Festival , founded in 1946, is one of the world's oldest, most influential and prestigious film festivals alongside Venice Film Festival and Berlin Film Festival....
. In 1982
1982 in film

for use in movie theaters.* Hugh Grant makes his film debut.*October 8th = Angelina Jolie makes her film debut as a child actress appearing with her father Jon Voight, in Lookin' to Get Out....
, he won another Cannes award for his performance in Missing
Missing (film)

Missing is a 1982 in film film directed by Costa Gavras, starring Jack Lemmon, Sissy Spacek, Melanie Mayron, John Shea and Charles Cioffi. It is based on the true story of American journalist Charles Horman, who disappeared in the bloody aftermath of the US-backed Chilean coup of 1973 that deposed President Salvador Allende....
 (which also received the Palme d'Or
Palme d'Or

The Palme d'Or is the highest prize awarded to competing films at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the organising committee....
). He is currently the only actor other than Marcello Mastroianni
Marcello Mastroianni

Marcello Vincenzo Domenico Mastroianni was an Italians actor.During his career, Mastroianni had won or been nominated multiple times for awards such as Volpi Cup, Best Actor Award , BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, David di Donatello for Best Actor, Nastro d'Argento, Sant Jordi Award, Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion...
 to have won it twice..

At the 1998 Golden Globe Awards
55th Golden Globe Awards

The 55th Golden Globe Awards, honoring the best in film and television for 1997, were held on 18 January, 1998. The winners were selected from the 55th Golden Globe Awards nominees....
, he was nominated for "Best Actor in a Made for TV Movie" for his role in Twelve Angry Men
12 Angry Men (1997 film)

12 Angry Men is a 1997 teleplay adapted from the Reginald Rose 12 Angry Men....
 losing to Ving Rhames
Ving Rhames

Irving Rameses "Ving" Rhames is a Golden Globe-winning United States actor....
. After accepting the award, Rhames asked Lemmon to come onstage and in a move that stunned the audience, gave his award to him. (The Hollywood Foreign Press Association
Hollywood Foreign Press Association

Hollywood Foreign Press Association is an organization comprising journalists who cover the United States film industry, but are affiliated with publications outside of the United States....
, which presents the Golden Globes, decided to have a second award made and sent to Rhames.).

Personal life

Lemmon was one of the best-liked actors in Hollywood. He is remembered as making time for people as the actor Kevin Spacey
Kevin Spacey

Kevin Spacey is an American character actor, film director, screenwriter, film producer, and crooner. He grew up in California, and began his career as a stage actor during the 1980s, before being cast in supporting roles in film and television....
 recalled in a tribute. When already regarded as a legend, he met the teenage Spacey backstage after a theater performance and spoke to him about pursuing an acting career. Spacey would later work with Lemmon in Dad
DAD

DAD is an abbreviation that may refer to:* D-A-D, a Danish rock band formerly known as "Disneyland After Dark".* Diode array detector.* Da Nang International Airport , an airport in central Vietnam serving both civilian and military traffic....
 (1989), the critically acclaimed film Glengarry Glen Ross
Glengarry Glen Ross (film)

Glengarry Glen Ross is a 1992 independent film, adapted by David Mamet from his acclaimed 1984 Pulitzer Prize for Drama- and Tony award-winning Glengarry Glen Ross....
 (1992) and on stage in a revival of Long Day's Journey Into Night
Long Day's Journey Into Night

Long Day's Journey into Night is a 1956 drama in four acts written by American playwright Eugene O'Neill. The play is widely considered to be his masterwork....
. Lemmon's performance even inspired Gil Gunderson, a character on The Simpsons
The Simpsons

The Simpsons is an Television in the United States animated cartoon Situation comedy created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company....
 that is modeled on Lemmon's character in the film.

Lemmon was married twice. His son, Chris Lemmon
Chris Lemmon

Christopher Boyd Lemmon is an American actor and author....
, (b. 1954), was his first child by his first wife, actress Cynthia Stone
Cynthia Stone

Cynthia Stone was an United States television actress....
 (b. February 26, 1926, Peoria, Illinois
Peoria, Illinois

Peoria is the largest city on the Illinois River and the county seat of Peoria County, Illinois, Illinois, in the United States. As of the United States Census, 2000, the city was the sixth largest in Illinois and had a total population of 112,936....
). He is also an actor. His second wife was the western actress Felicia Farr
Felicia Farr

Felicia Farr is a former American actress and model....
, with whom he had a daughter, Courtney, born in 1966.

Jack Lemmon died of colon cancer and metastatic cancer of the bladder
Urinary bladder

In anatomy, the urinary bladder is a solid, muscle, and distensible organ that sits on the pelvic floor in mammals. It is the organ that collects urine excreted by the kidneys prior to disposal by urination....
 on June 27, 2001. He had been fighting the disease, very privately, for two years before his death.

Lemmon's son, Chris Lemmon, made several TV shows and movies. He also wrote a book about his father after his death named A Twist of Lemmon: A Tribute to My Father.

He is interred at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery
Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery

The Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery is located at 1218 Glendon Avenue in the Westwood, Los Angeles, California area of Los Angeles, California....
 in Westwood
Westwood, Los Angeles, California

Westwood is a district in western Los Angeles, California, California, United States. Westwood is best known as the home of the University of California, Los Angeles ....
, California where he is buried next to his friend and Odd Couple co-star, Walter Matthau. In typical Jack Lemmon wit, his gravestone simply reads 'Jack Lemmon — in'. After Matthau's death in 2000, Lemmon appeared with friends and relatives of the actor on a Larry King Live
Larry King Live

Larry King Live is an American talk show hosted by Larry King on CNN. The show debuted in 1985, and is CNN's most watched program, with over one million viewers nightly....
 show in tribute. A year later, many of the same people appeared on the show again to pay tribute to Lemmon.

Awards and nominations


Academy Award

  • 1955 Best Actor in a Supporting Role
    Academy Award for Best Actor

    Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry....
     -     Mister Roberts
    Mister Roberts (film)

    Mister Roberts is a 1955 comedy film-drama film directed by John Ford and stars Henry Fonda as Mister Roberts. The film was nominated for Academy Award for Best Picture and Academy Award for Sound Oscars; Jack Lemmon received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor....
  • 1973 Best Actor in a Leading Role - Save the Tiger
    Save the Tiger

    Save the Tiger is a 1973 in film film which tells a story of moral conflict in modern America. It stars Jack Lemmon, Jack Gilford, Laurie Heineman, Thayer David, Lara Parker and Liv Lindeland....


Nominations
  • 1959 Best Actor in a Leading Role
    Academy Award for Best Actor

    Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry....
     -     Some Like It Hot
    Some Like It Hot

    Some Like It Hot is an Cinema of the United States comedy film directed by Billy Wilder and starring Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, and Jack Lemmon....
  • 1960 Best Actor in a Leading Role - The Apartment
    The Apartment

    The Apartment is a Cinema of the United States comedy film-drama film produced and directed by Billy Wilder, and starring Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, and Fred MacMurray....
  • 1962 Best Actor in a Leading Role - Days of Wine and Roses
    Days of Wine and Roses (film)

    Days of Wine and Roses is a drama film directed by Blake Edwards with a screenplay by JP Miller adapted from his own critically acclaimed 1958 in television teleplay for Playhouse 90 of the same name ....
  • 1979 Best Actor in a Leading Role - The China Syndrome
    The China Syndrome

    The China Syndrome is a 1979 in film thriller film which tells the story of a reporter and cameraman who discover safety coverups at a nuclear power plant....
  • 1980 Best Actor in a Leading Role - Tribute
    Tribute (film)

    Tribute is a play by Bernard Slade.The plot focuses on Scottie Templeton, a popular actor who has spent his life shirking responsibility....
  • 1982 Best Actor in a Leading Role - Missing
    Missing (film)

    Missing is a 1982 in film film directed by Costa Gavras, starring Jack Lemmon, Sissy Spacek, Melanie Mayron, John Shea and Charles Cioffi. It is based on the true story of American journalist Charles Horman, who disappeared in the bloody aftermath of the US-backed Chilean coup of 1973 that deposed President Salvador Allende....


Cannes Film Festival

  • 1979 Best Actor - The China Syndrome
  • 1982 Best Actor - Missing


Golden Globe Awards

Jack Lemmon has 22 Golden Globe Nominations. This number is surpassed only by Meryl Streep
Meryl Streep

Mary Louise "Meryl" Streep is an American actress who has worked in theatre, television, and film. She is widely regarded as being one of the most talented and respected movie actors of the modern era....
 who is currently the most nominated actress ever in the history of the awards with 23.

  • 1959 Best Actor, Musical/Comedy
    Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy

    The Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy was first awarded by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association as a separate category in 1951 in film....
     -     Some Like It Hot
  • 1960 Best Actor, Musical/Comedy - The Apartment
  • 1972 Best Actor, Musical/Comedy - Avanti!
    Avanti!

    Avanti! is a 1972 in film comedy directed by Billy Wilder, starring Jack Lemmon, Juliet Mills, Clive Revill, Edward Andrews and Gianfranco Barra....
  • 1991 Cecil B. DeMille Award
    Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award

    The Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement in motion pictures is an annual award given by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association at the Golden Globe Award ceremonies in Hollywood, California....
  • 1993 Best Ensemble Cast - Short Cuts
    Short Cuts

    Short Cuts is a 1993 in film drama film directed by Robert Altman. Filmed from a screenplay by Robert Altman and Frank Barhydt, it is inspired by nine short stories and a poem by Raymond Carver....
  • 1999 Actor in a Motion Picture Made for TV - Inherit the Wind
    Inherit the Wind

    Inherit the Wind is a Play by Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee, which opened on Broadway theatre in January 1955; a 1960 in film Hollywood, Los Angeles, California film based on the play; and three television remakes....


Nominations
  • 1962 Best Actor, Drama
    Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama

    The Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture - Drama was first awarded by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association as a separate category in 1951 in film....
     -     Days of Wine and Roses
  • 1963 Best Actor, Musical/Comedy - Irma la Douce
    Irma la Douce

    Irma La Douce is a 1963 comedy starring Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine....
  • 1963 Best Actor, Musical/Comedy - Under the Yum Yum Tree
    Under the Yum Yum Tree

    Under the Yum Yum Tree is a 1963 sex comedy farce that stars Jack Lemmon in the leading role as a sex-crazed landlord. He is joined by Carol Lynley, Paul Lynde, Dean Jones and Edie Adams....
  • 1965 Best Actor, Musical/Comedy - The Great Race
    The Great Race

    The Great Race is a 1965 in film slapstick comedy movie film director by Blake Edwards, written by Blake Edwards and Arthur A. Ross, with music by Henry Mancini and cinematography by Russell Harlan....
  • 1968 Best Actor, Musical/Comedy - The Odd Couple
    The Odd Couple (film)

    The Odd Couple is a comedy film written by Neil Simon, based on his The Odd Couple, directed by Gene Saks, and starring Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau....
  • 1970 Best Actor, Musical/Comedy - The Out-of-Towners
    The Out-of-Towners

    The Out-of-Towners may refer to:* The Out-of-Towners , a 1970 feature film starring Jack Lemmon and Sandy Dennis* The Out-of-Towners , a 1999 remake of the 1970 film starring Goldie Hawn and Steve Martin...
  • 1973 Best Actor, Drama - Save the Tiger
  • 1974 Best Actor, Musical/Comedy - The Front Page
    The Front Page

    The Front Page was a hit Broadway theatre comedy, written by one-time Chicago reporters Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur and first produced in 1928....
  • 1979 Best Actor, Drama - The China Syndrome
  • 1980 Best Actor, Drama - Tribute
  • 1982 Best Actor, Drama - Missing
  • 1986 Best Actor, Comedy/Musical - That's Life!
    That's Life! (film)

    That's Life! is a 1986 in film film by Blake Edwards.The film was made independently by Edwards using largely his own finances and was distributed by Columbia Pictures....
  • 1987 Actor in a Motion Picture Made for TV
    List of Golden Globe Awards: Mini-series, Best Actor

    The Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Mini-series or Motion Picture Made for Television is one of the annual television award given by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association....
     -     Long Day's Journey Into Night
    Long Day's Journey Into Night

    Long Day's Journey into Night is a 1956 drama in four acts written by American playwright Eugene O'Neill. The play is widely considered to be his masterwork....
  • 1988 Actor in a Motion Picture Made for TV - The Murder of Mary Phagan
    The Murder of Mary Phagan

    The Murder of Mary Phagan, a 1988 two-part TV miniseries made by Orion Pictures Corporation and distributed by National Broadcasting Company , tells the true story of Leo Frank, a factory manager unjustly convicted of murdering a little girl in Georgia in 1913....
  • 1989 - Nominated Best Actor, Drama - Dad
    Dad (film)

    Dad is an 1989 comedy-drama based on William Wharton 's novel of the same name. The movie stars Jack Lemmon, Ted Danson, Olympia Dukakis, Kevin Spacey and Ethan Hawke, and was written and directed by Gary David Goldberg....
  • 1993 Actor in a Motion Picture Made for TV - A Life in the Theater
  • 1997 Actor in a Motion Picture Made for TV - 12 Angry Men
    12 Angry Men (1997 film)

    12 Angry Men is a 1997 teleplay adapted from the Reginald Rose 12 Angry Men....
  • 1999 Actor in a Motion Picture Made for TV - Tuesdays with Morrie
    Tuesdays With Morrie

    Tuesdays with Morrie is a 1997 biographical novel by United States writer Mitch Albom. The story was later adaptedp by Thomas Rickman into a television movie , which aired on 5 December 1999 and starred Hank Azaria....


Filmography


Film

  • The Lady Takes a Sailor
    The Lady Takes a Sailor

    The Lady Takes a Sailor is a 1949 in film comedy film starring Jane Wyman, Eve Arden and Dennis Morgan....
     (1949)
  • It Should Happen to You
    It Should Happen to You

    It Should Happen to You is a 1954 comedy film starring Judy Holliday, notable as the first screen appearance of Jack Lemmon, who was then an aspiring young actor....
     (1954)
  • Phffft!
    Phffft!

    Phffft! is a black and white Romance film comedy starring Judy Holliday, Jack Lemmon, Kim Novak and featuring Jack Carson. It was written by George Axelrod and directed by Mark Robson, and was the second film featuring Holliday and Lemmon that year, after It Should Happen to You....
     (1954)
  • Three for the Show
    Three for the Show

    Three For The Show is a Musical theatre comedy remake of Too Many Husbands. It starred actress Betty Grable in her last Musical theatre, opposite Jack Lemmon, Gower Champion and Marge Champion....
     (1955)
  • Mister Roberts
    Mister Roberts (film)

    Mister Roberts is a 1955 comedy film-drama film directed by John Ford and stars Henry Fonda as Mister Roberts. The film was nominated for Academy Award for Best Picture and Academy Award for Sound Oscars; Jack Lemmon received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor....
     (1955)
  • My Sister Eileen
    My Sister Eileen

    My Sister Eileen originated as a series of short stories by Ruth McKenney that eventually evolved into a book, a Play , a musical theatre, two films, and a CBS television series in the 1960-1961 season....
     (1955)
  • Hollywood Bronc Busters (1955)
  • You Can't Run Away from It
    You Can't Run Away from It

    You Can't Run Away from It is a 1956 Technicolor musical comedy starring June Allyson and Jack Lemmon. Directed and produced by Dick Powell, the film is a remake of the 1934 in film Academy Award-winning film It Happened One Night....
     (1956)
  • Fire Down Below
    Fire Down Below (1957 film)

    Fire Down Below is a 1957 in film drama film starring Rita Hayworth, Jack Lemmon and Robert Mitchum....
     (1957)
  • Operation Mad Ball
    Operation Mad Ball

    Operation Mad Ball is a madcap 1957 military comedy starring Jack Lemmon, Kathryn Grant, Ernie Kovacs, Dick York, Arthur O'Connell, and Mickey Rooney and directed by Richard Quine....
     (1957)
  • Cowboy (1958)
  • Bell, Book and Candle (1958)
  • Some Like It Hot
    Some Like It Hot

    Some Like It Hot is an Cinema of the United States comedy film directed by Billy Wilder and starring Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, and Jack Lemmon....
     (1959)
  • It Happened to Jane
    It Happened to Jane

    It Happened to Jane is a 1959 romantic comedy film starring Doris Day, Jack Lemmon and Ernie Kovacs directed by Richard Quine and written by Norman Katkov and Max Wilk....
     (1959)
  • The Apartment
    The Apartment

    The Apartment is a Cinema of the United States comedy film-drama film produced and directed by Billy Wilder, and starring Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, and Fred MacMurray....
     (1960)
  • Stowaway in the Sky
    Stowaway in the Sky

    Stowaway in the Sky is a 1960 in film France family adventure film, directed by Albert Lamorisse.Albert Lamorisse used his ten year old son Pascal as the main character in the film....
     (1960)
  • Pepe
    Pepe (film)

    Pepe is a 1960 movie starring Cantinflas in the title role, directed by George Sidney. A multitude of cameo appearances attempted to replicate the success of Mario Moreno's American debut, Around the World in Eighty Days , produced by Mike Todd in 1956....
     (1960)
  • The Wackiest Ship In the Army
    The Wackiest Ship in the Army

    The Wackiest Ship in the Army may refer to:*The Wackiest Ship in the Army *The Wackiest Ship in the Army ...
     (1960)
  • The Notorious Landlady
    The Notorious Landlady

    The Notorious Landlady is a 1962 in film comedy/mystery American film starring Kim Novak, Jack Lemmon, and Fred Astaire....
     (1962)
  • Days of Wine and Roses
    Days of Wine and Roses (film)

    Days of Wine and Roses is a drama film directed by Blake Edwards with a screenplay by JP Miller adapted from his own critically acclaimed 1958 in television teleplay for Playhouse 90 of the same name ....
     (1962)
  • Irma la Douce
    Irma la Douce

    Irma La Douce is a 1963 comedy starring Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine....
     (1963)
  • Under the Yum Yum Tree
    Under the Yum Yum Tree

    Under the Yum Yum Tree is a 1963 sex comedy farce that stars Jack Lemmon in the leading role as a sex-crazed landlord. He is joined by Carol Lynley, Paul Lynde, Dean Jones and Edie Adams....
     (1963)
  • Good Neighbor Sam
    Good Neighbor Sam

    Good Neighbor Sam is a 1964 in film farce motion picture screenwriter and movie director by David Swift and starring Jack Lemmon. It was based on the novel by Jack Finney....
     (1964)
  • How to Murder Your Wife
    How to Murder Your Wife

    How to Murder Your Wife is a 1965 in film USA comedy film starring Jack Lemmon and Virna Lisi. The film was directed by Richard Quine, who also directed Lemmon in My Sister Eileen, It Happened to Jane, Operation Mad Ball and Bell, Book and Candle ....
     (1965)
  • The Great Race
    The Great Race

    The Great Race is a 1965 in film slapstick comedy movie film director by Blake Edwards, written by Blake Edwards and Arthur A. Ross, with music by Henry Mancini and cinematography by Russell Harlan....
     (1965)
  • The Fortune Cookie
    The Fortune Cookie

    The Fortune Cookie is a 1966 in film film starring Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon in their first on screen collaboration, and directed by Billy Wilder....
     (1966)
  • Luv
    Luv (play)

    Luv is a play by Murray Schisgal.A mix of absurdist humor and traditional Broadway comedy more in the Neil Simon vein, Luv concerns two college friends - misfit Harry and materialistic Milt - who are reunited when the latter stops the former from jumping off a bridge, the play's setting....
     (1967)
  • There Comes a Day (1968)
  • The Odd Couple
    The Odd Couple (film)

    The Odd Couple is a comedy film written by Neil Simon, based on his The Odd Couple, directed by Gene Saks, and starring Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau....
     (1968)
  • The April Fools (1969)
  • The Out-of-Towners
    The Out-of-Towners (1970 film)

    The Out-of-Towners is a 1970 in film comedy film written by Neil Simon, directed by Arthur Hiller, and starring Jack Lemmon and Sandy Dennis....
     (1970)
  • Kotch
    Kotch

    Kotch is a 1971 in film, Academy Award-nominated comedy film which tells the story of an elderly man who runs away so as not to be put into a nursing home, and strikes up a friendship with a pregnant teenage girl....
     (1971)
  • The War Between Men and Women
    The War Between Men and Women

    The War Between Men and Women is a comedy film starring Jack Lemmon, Barbara Harris , and Jason Robards. It is based on the writings of humorist James Thurber, and was released in 1972 in film by Cinema Center Films....
     (1972)
  • Avanti!
    Avanti!

    Avanti! is a 1972 in film comedy directed by Billy Wilder, starring Jack Lemmon, Juliet Mills, Clive Revill, Edward Andrews and Gianfranco Barra....
     (1972)
  • Save the Tiger
    Save the Tiger

    Save the Tiger is a 1973 in film film which tells a story of moral conflict in modern America. It stars Jack Lemmon, Jack Gilford, Laurie Heineman, Thayer David, Lara Parker and Liv Lindeland....
     (1973)
  • The Police Can't Move (1974) (narrator)
  • The Front Page
    The Front Page (1974 film)

    The Front Page is a 1974 in film comedy film-drama film directed by Billy Wilder and starring Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau as a reporter and editor at a 1920s Chicago newspaper....
     (1974)
  • Wednesday (1975)
  • The Gentleman Tramp (1975) (narrator)
  • The Prisoner of Second Avenue
    The Prisoner of Second Avenue

    The Prisoner of Second Avenue is an United States comedic Play written by famed playwright Neil Simon. The play was later made into a movie that was released in 1975....
     (1975)
  • Alex & the Gypsy (1976)
  • Airport '77
    Airport '77

    Airport '77 is a 1977 in film disaster film and second sequel in the Airport franchise.The film starred a number of veteran actors, including Jack Lemmon, James Stewart , Joseph Cotten, Christopher Lee and Olivia de Havilland....
     (1977)
  • The China Syndrome
    The China Syndrome

    The China Syndrome is a 1979 in film thriller film which tells the story of a reporter and cameraman who discover safety coverups at a nuclear power plant....
     (1979)
  • Portrait of a 60% Perfect Man (1980)
  • Tribute
    Tribute (film)

    Tribute is a play by Bernard Slade.The plot focuses on Scottie Templeton, a popular actor who has spent his life shirking responsibility....
     (1980)
  • Buddy Buddy
    Buddy Buddy

    Buddy Buddy is a 1981 in film dark comedy based on the play by Francis Veber. It stars Jack Lemmon as a man on the verge of suicide, Walter Matthau as a hitman for the mob, Paula Prentiss as Lemmon's wife, and Klaus Kinski as the director of a sex clinic....
     (1981)
  • Missing
    Missing (film)

    Missing is a 1982 in film film directed by Costa Gavras, starring Jack Lemmon, Sissy Spacek, Melanie Mayron, John Shea and Charles Cioffi. It is based on the true story of American journalist Charles Horman, who disappeared in the bloody aftermath of the US-backed Chilean coup of 1973 that deposed President Salvador Allende....
     (1982)
  • Mass Appeal
    Mass Appeal (film)

    Mass Appeal is a 1984 in film Cinema of the United States Comedy-drama directed by Glenn Jordan. The screenplay by Bill C. Davis is based on his 1980 Mass Appeal....
     (1984)
  • Macaroni
    Macaroni

    Macaroni is a kind of moderately extended, machine-made dry pasta. Much shorter than spaghetti, and hollow, macaroni does not contain eggs. Though home machines exist that can make macaroni noodles, macaroni is usually commercially made....
     (1985)
  • That's Life!
    That's Life! (film)

    That's Life! is a 1986 in film film by Blake Edwards.The film was made independently by Edwards using largely his own finances and was distributed by Columbia Pictures....
     (1986)
  • Dad
    Dad (film)

    Dad is an 1989 comedy-drama based on William Wharton 's novel of the same name. The movie stars Jack Lemmon, Ted Danson, Olympia Dukakis, Kevin Spacey and Ethan Hawke, and was written and directed by Gary David Goldberg....
     (1989)
  • JFK
    JFK (film)

    JFK is an Cinema of the United States directed by Oliver Stone and released on December 20, 1991 in film. It examines the events leading to the John F....
     (1991)
  • Beyond 'JFK': The Question of Conspiracy (1992)
  • The Player
    The Player

    The Player is a satire film directed by Robert Altman from a screenplay by Michael Tolkin based on his own novel of the same name. It is the story of Griffin Mill , a Hollywood Movie studio executive who gets away with murdering a wannabe screenwriter who Mill believes is sending him death threats....
     (1992)
  • Glengarry Glen Ross
    Glengarry Glen Ross (film)

    Glengarry Glen Ross is a 1992 independent film, adapted by David Mamet from his acclaimed 1984 Pulitzer Prize for Drama- and Tony award-winning Glengarry Glen Ross....
     (1992)
  • Luck, Trust & Ketchup: Robert Altman In Carver County (1993)
  • Short Cuts
    Short Cuts

    Short Cuts is a 1993 in film drama film directed by Robert Altman. Filmed from a screenplay by Robert Altman and Frank Barhydt, it is inspired by nine short stories and a poem by Raymond Carver....
     (1993)
  • Grumpy Old Men
    Grumpy Old Men (film)

    Grumpy Old Men is a 1993 in film Warner Bros. romantic comedy film starring Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau, and Ann-Margret, with Burgess Meredith, Daryl Hannah, Kevin Pollak, Katie Sagona, Ossie Davis, and Buck Henry....
     (1993)
  • The Grass Harp (1995)
  • Grumpier Old Men
    Grumpier Old Men

    Grumpier Old Men is a 1995 in film Warner Bros. romantic comedy film starring Walter Matthau, Jack Lemmon, Ann-Margret, and Sophia Loren, with Burgess Meredith, Daryl Hannah, Kevin Pollak, Katie Sagona, Ann Morgan Guilbert....
     (1995)
  • Getting Away with Murder
    Getting Away with Murder (1996 film)

    Getting Away with Murder is a 1996 in film comedy film written and directed by Harvey Miller. The film stars Dan Aykroyd, Jack Lemmon, Lily Tomlin and Bonnie Hunt....
     (1996)
  • My Fellow Americans
    My Fellow Americans

    My Fellow Americans is a 1996 comedy film starring Jack Lemmon and James Garner as feuding ex-presidents. Dan Aykroyd, Lauren Bacall, John Heard , Wilford Brimley, Bradley Whitford and Jeff Yagher also appear....
     (1996)
  • Hamlet (1996)
  • Out to Sea
    Out to Sea

    Out to Sea is a 1997 in film romantic comedy film starring Walter Matthau, Jack Lemmon, Rue McClanahan, Dyan Cannon & Brent Spiner. The film was directed by Martha Coolidge....
     (1997)
  • Off the Menu: The Last Days of Chasen's (1997)
  • Puppies for Sale (1998)
  • The Odd Couple II
    The Odd Couple II

    The Odd Couple II is the 1998 in film sequel to 1968's The Odd Couple . It reunites Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon in their last film together....
     (1998)
  • The Legend of Bagger Vance
    The Legend of Bagger Vance

    The Legend of Bagger Vance is a 2000 in film film directed by Robert Redford, based on the same-titled 1995 Novel by Steven Pressfield. The story takes place in the US state of Georgia in 1931....
     (2000)


Television

  • That Wonderful Guy (1949-1950)
  • Toni Twin Time (1950) (canceled after 6 months)
  • The Ad-Libbers (1951) (canceled after 5 episodes)
  • The Frances Langford-Don Ameche Show (1951-1952)
  • Heaven for Betsy (1952) (canceled after a few weeks)
  • The Road of Life (1954) (canceled after a few weeks)
  • What's My Line?
    What's My Line?

    What's My Line? is a weekly panel game show which was produced by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman for CBS television. When first sold to CBS, the proposed title was Occupation Unknown....
     (11/3/1957) (Episode # 388, Season 9, Ep 10) Mystery Guest.
  • Alcoa theatre
    Alcoa Theatre

    Alcoa Theatre is a half-hour Anthology series telecast on NBC at 9:30pm on alternate Monday nights from September 30, 1957 to 1960 in television....
     (1959), one of five rotating stars for a full season
  • The Dinah Shore Show
    The Dinah Shore Show

    The Dinah Shore Show was a 15-minute long television series which was broadcast in the United States by NBC from 1951 to 1957. For most of the program's run, it aired from 7:30 to 7:45 Eastern time on Tuesday and Thursday nights, rounding out the time slot which featured the network's regular evening newscast, which, like all such progra...
     (1962), a guest appearance
  • The Entertainer
    The Entertainer (film)

    The Entertainer is a 1960 in film film adaptation of The Entertainer by John Osbourne, which told the story of a failing third-rate music hall stage performer who tried to keep his career going even as his personal life fell apart....
     (1976)
  • Long Day's Journey Into Night
    Long Day's Journey Into Night

    Long Day's Journey into Night is a 1956 drama in four acts written by American playwright Eugene O'Neill. The play is widely considered to be his masterwork....
     (1987)
  • The Murder of Mary Phagan
    The Murder of Mary Phagan

    The Murder of Mary Phagan, a 1988 two-part TV miniseries made by Orion Pictures Corporation and distributed by National Broadcasting Company , tells the true story of Leo Frank, a factory manager unjustly convicted of murdering a little girl in Georgia in 1913....
     (1988)
  • For Richer, for Poorer (1992)
  • A Life in the Theater (1993)
  • The Simpsons
    The Simpsons

    The Simpsons is an Television in the United States animated cartoon Situation comedy created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company....
     (1997) (voice)
  • 12 Angry Men
    12 Angry Men (1997 film)

    12 Angry Men is a 1997 teleplay adapted from the Reginald Rose 12 Angry Men....
     (1997)
  • The Long Way Home (1998)
  • Inherit the Wind
    Inherit the Wind

    Inherit the Wind is a Play by Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee, which opened on Broadway theatre in January 1955; a 1960 in film Hollywood, Los Angeles, California film based on the play; and three television remakes....
     (1999)
  • Tuesdays with Morrie
    Tuesdays With Morrie

    Tuesdays with Morrie is a 1997 biographical novel by United States writer Mitch Albom. The story was later adaptedp by Thomas Rickman into a television movie , which aired on 5 December 1999 and starred Hank Azaria....
     (1999)


Discography

  • A Twist of Lemmon/Some Like It Hot (1959)
  • Piano Selections from Irma La Douce (1963)
  • Piano and Vocals (1990)
  • Peter and the Wolf
    Peter and the Wolf

    Peter and the Wolf is a composition by Sergei Prokofiev written in 1936 after his return to the Soviet Union. It is a children's story , spoken by a narrator accompanied by the orchestra....
     (1991)
  • Songs and music from Some Like It Hot (2001)


Personal quotes

  • Death ends a life, not a relationship. (Tuesdays with Morrie
    Tuesdays With Morrie

    Tuesdays with Morrie is a 1997 biographical novel by United States writer Mitch Albom. The story was later adaptedp by Thomas Rickman into a television movie , which aired on 5 December 1999 and starred Hank Azaria....
    )
  • I won't quit until I get run over by a truck, a producer or a critic.
  • Failure seldom stops you. What stops you is the fear of failure.
  • If you think it's hard to meet new people, try picking up the wrong golf ball.
  • It's hard enough to write a good drama, it's much harder to write a good comedy, and it's hardest of all to write a drama with comedy. Which is what life is.
  • Nobody deserves this much money - certainly not an actor.
  • Stay humble. Always answer your phone - no matter who else is in the car.
  • [on Marilyn Monroe] Difficult? Yes. But she was a wonderful comedienne and she had a charisma like no one before or since.
  • [on Judy Holliday
    Judy Holliday

    File:Judy Holliday.jpgJudy Holliday was an United States Academy Awards- and Tony Award-winning actress....
    ] She was intelligent and not at all like the dumb blonds she so often depicted. She didn't give a damn where the camera was placed, how she was made to look, or about being a star. She just played the scene -- acted with, not at. She was also one of the nicest people I ever met.
  • [on Billy Wilder] I've had directors who were marvelous at breaking scenes down and handling people. But when you would string all the pearls together, they wouldn't make a beautiful necklace. But Billy is the kind of picture-maker who can make a beautiful string of pearls. He makes the kind of movies that are classics and last forever.
  • [on Walter Matthau] Walter is a helluva actor. The best I've ever worked with.


Bibliography


External links