Jack Lemmon
About
Biography
Filmography
Family & Companions
Notes
He was an honoree for the annual tribute from the Film Society of Lincoln Center in 1993.
Lemmon received the Spencer Tracy Award from UCLA in 2000.
Biography
One of the most consistently acclaimed actors in motion picture and television history, Jack Lemmon became the first man to win Academy Awards as both Best Supporting Actor for his role in "Mister Roberts" (1955) and Best Actor for "Save the Tiger" (1973). In between and after, Lemmon amassed a résumé of credits that included a wide range of both comedic and dramatic roles. But most importantly, he enjoyed long-running collaborations with director Billy Wilder and actor Walter Matthau, both of whom helped Lemmon produce some of his finest work. Lemmon first worked with Wilder on the iconic comedy "Some Like it Hot" (1959) before again turning in a high-quality performance in "The Apartment" (1960. He went on to establish his dramatic bona fides with "Days of Wine and Rose" (1962) before starring opposite Matthau in their first partnership "The Fortune Cookie" (1966). But it was their iconic clashing of personalities in Neil Simon's "The Odd Couple" (1968) that cemented their place as comedy partners in the public's mind. Lemmon went on to a string of critical hits that garnered a number of awards and nominations, including "The China Syndrome" (1979), "Tribute" (1980) and "Missing" (1982). He delivered fine turns in "JFK" (1991) and "Glengarry Glen Ross" (1992) before finding surprising commercial success alongside Matthau with "Grumpy Old Men" (1993) and "Grumpier Old Men" (1995). Though the pair faltered with "Out to Sea" (1997) and the ill-advised sequel "The Odd Couple II" (1998), Lemmon gave searing performances on the small screen in "12 Angry Men" (Showtime, 1997) and "Tuesdays with Morrie" (ABC, 1999), proving that his considerable gifts became more refined with age.
Filmography
Director (Feature Film)
Cast (Feature Film)
Writer (Feature Film)
Producer (Feature Film)
Music (Feature Film)
Special Thanks (Feature Film)
Misc. Crew (Feature Film)
Cast (Special)
Misc. Crew (Special)
Cast (Short)
Cast (TV Mini-Series)
Life Events
1929
Made stage debut at age four with his father in an amateur production of "Gold in Them Thar Hills" (date approximate)
1945
Served as communications officer (ensign) with the US Naval Reserve
1947
Played piano at Old Nick Saloon in New York City
1952
Founded Jalem Production Company
1953
Broadway debut as Leo Davis in "Room Service"
1954
Film acting debut in "It Should Happen to You", directed by George Cukor
1955
Won Oscar as Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Ensign Pulver in his fourth movie, "Mister Roberts"
1955
First of six films with director Richard Quine, "My Sister Eileen" (screenplay by Quine and Blake Edwards), had actually done a film with Quine ("Extra Dollars") the year before for the United States Treasury Department
1957
Acted in "Fire Down Below" and received credit as a song performer for the harmonica theme
1959
First film with director Billy Wilder, "Some Like It Hot"; received first Best Actor Academy Award nomination
1960
Attempted to climb corporate ladder by loaning his apartment key to various executives for their trysts in Wilder's "The Apartment"; earned a Best Actor Oscar nomination
1962
Appeared as Lee Remick's husband who pulls her into alcoholism in Blake Edwards' "Days of Wine and Roses", his first major dramatic film role; garnered another Best Actor Academy Award nomination
1964
Last film with Quine, "How to Murder Your Wife"
1965
Reteamed with Edwards for "The Great Race"
1966
First film opposite Walter Matthau, "The Fortune Cookie"
1967
Executive produced "Cool Hand Luke", starring Paul Newman
1968
Reteamed with Matthau for their definitive vehicle, Neil Simon's "The Odd Couple"
1970
Starred opposite Sandy Dennis in "The Out of Towners", scripted by Simon
1971
Directed feature film "Kotch", starring Matthau and Lemmon's second wife Felicia Farr
1972
Hosted the acclaimed NBC variety special "Jack Lemmon in 'S Wonderful, 'S Marvelous, 'S Gershwin"; received Emmy Award
1972
Received a Golden Globe Award for his comic performance in Wilder's underrated "Avanti!"
1973
Won second Oscar as Best Actor for his down and out salesman in "Save the Tiger"
1975
Played Archie Rice in NBC TV version of John Osborne's "The Entertainer" at the urging of Laurence Olivier, who had created the role on stage and film; received Emmy nomination
1978
Created the role of Scottie Templeton in Broadway production of Bernard Slade's "Tribute"; reprised part in 1980 film version for which he earned an Oscar nomination and also co-wrote the song "It's All for the Best" with Alan Jay Lerner; reteamed with Remick in film
1979
Starred as dedicated plant executive in "The China Syndrome", a heartpounding drama about an attempted cover-up of an accident at California nuclear plant; nominated for a Best Actor Academy Award
1981
Starred with Matthau in seventh and last film with Wilder, "Buddy Buddy"; also Wilder's last film
1981
Wrote screenplay for "Track Two", a documentary feature
1982
Portrayed stiff-backed Ed Horman searching for his missing son in Costa-Gavras' "Missing"; again garnered a Best Actor Oscar nomination
1986
Returned to Broadway as James Tyrone in revival of Eugene O'Neill's "Long Day's Journey Into Night"; reprised role for 1987 Showtime TV version; first association with actor Kevin Spacey and Peter Gallagher
1987
Inducted into Television Academy Hall of Fame
1988
Reunited with Spacey and Gallagher in the NBC miniseries "The Murder of Mary Phagan"
1989
Appeared in title role of "Dad", co-starring Spacey
1991
Delivered a nice turn as private investigator Jack Martin in Oliver Stone's "JFK"
1992
Offered totally credible turn as the loser in an office full of desperate real estate salesmen in "Glengarry Glen Ross"; Spacey also in cast
1993
Scored huge commercial success with Matthau in "Grumpy Old Men"
1995
Sequel "Grumpier Old Men" proved an even bigger hit than its precursor
1996
Directed by Matthau's son Charles in "The Grass Harp", adapted from the Truman Capote book
1997
Played Juror 8 in TV remake of "12 Angry Men" (Showtime), ensemble cast included Goerge C Scott
1997
Ninth feature with Matthau, "Out to Sea"
1998
Reteamed with Simon and Matthau for "The Odd Couple II"; tenth feature collaboration with Matthau
1999
Portrayed Henry Drummond to Scott's Matthew Harrison Brady in the Showtime remake of "Inherit the Wind"; Scott a few years prior had played Drummond to Charles Durning's Brady on Broadway
1999
Played Morrie Schwartz in "Tuesdays with Morrie", an ABC movie executive produced by Oprah Winfrey; garnered Emmy Award
2000
Appeared in cameo and served as narrator of "The Legend of Bagger Vance"
Photo Collections
Videos
Movie Clip
Trailer
Promo
Family
Companions
Bibliography
Notes
He was an honoree for the annual tribute from the Film Society of Lincoln Center in 1993.
Lemmon received the Spencer Tracy Award from UCLA in 2000.
"When I read a script, if I don't know how to play the part, I'll get excited and want to do it. Good writing is harder to play because there are depths, and it's delicious hell to decide which depths you're going to bring out. Eighty percent of acting is that delicious hell of finding out who the guy is. The rest is execution--letting somebody else know what you already know ... Usually it's two, three, four weeks into a movie before you find the guy. All of a sudden you come out of a scene and you say, 'I've got him.' You know him. Then you paint on the rest of the face and say, 'There he is.' But if I know how to play it, then it's very surface stuff, very simple. It's 3B, 4H; I've done it a dozen times." --Jack Lemmon quoted in "The Films of Jack Lemmon" by Joe Baltake (Citadel Press, 1977).
On his relationship with Walter Matthau: "Well, we're very, very close. We always have been from the first film we did together. Our wives immediately hit it off just as we did. The working relationship was heaven because we were always on the same wavelength and we never got off it. So, it's just sort of like sitting down and chatting with each other when we rehearse--there's nothing to it. We just run the lines a couple of times and say, 'Let's go.'" --Lemmon in Daily News, October 6, 1996.
During the 1998 telecast of the Golden Globe Awards, winner Ving Rhames (for HBO's "Don King: Only in America") called fellow nominee Lemmon (for Showtime's "12 Angry Men") onstage and in an expression of admiration for the actor presented him with the award. A flustered Lemmon didn't quite know what to make of the matter but accepted. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) later announced that Lemmon could retain the trophy although he would not be sent a plaque to attach, indicating he had won. The HFPA intended to send a trophy with plaque to Ving Rhames, the rightful recipient.
About those 1998 Golden Globes Awards: "The only thing I remember is, when I passed Jack Nicholson, he said, 'Give it to me! Give it to me!' I didn't know what in hell he was talking about." --Lemmon quoted in People, May 18, 1998.
