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Also Known As: | John Uhler Lemmon Iii | Died: | June 27, 2001 |
Born: | February 8, 1925 | Cause of Death: | complications from cancer |
Birth Place: | Boston, Massachusetts, USA | Profession: | actor, director, screenwriter, producer, piano player |
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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...
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.
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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.
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