photo:
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Biography
Career
Lewis was born in Newark, New Jersey to a Jewish American family, the son of a vaudeville performer named Danny Lewis, He began in burlesque in 1942 at age 16 (if the birth year of 1926 is correct) and married two years later in 1944 at age 18. He gained initial fame with singer Dean Martin, who served as a straight man to Lewis' manic, zany antics as the Martin and Lewis comedy team. They distinguished themselves from the majority of comedy acts of the 1940s by relying on the interaction of the two comics instead of pre-planned skits. In the late forties, they quickly rose to national prominence, first with their popular nightclub act and then as film stars. Critics often found it difficult to describe their chaotic act beyond the laconic "Martin sings and Lewis clowns". They continued to perform in film and on television until their partnership ended in 1956. Following their split, the two became involved in a well-publicized and long-running feud that never truly ended; the next time they were seen together in public would be a surprise appearance by Martin on Lewis's telethon in 1976, arranged by Frank Sinatra. Lewis wrote of his kinship with Martin in the 2005 book Dean and Me (A Love Story). When Frank tried to bring Lewis back to Martin, Jerry was quoted as saying "I'll never work with that drunk ever again". Dean died and unfortunately to Martin-Lewis fans, there was never any reunion.
Lewis returned as a solo act with his debut film The Delicate Delinquent in 1957. Teaming with director Frank Tashlin, whose background as a cartoonist suited Lewis's brand of humor, he starred in five more films before he produced, directed, co-wrote with Bill Richmond, and starred in his own movie entitled The Bellboy in 1960. Using the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami as his setting, on a small budget, a very tight shooting schedule and no script, Lewis shot the film by day and performed at the hotel in the evenings. During production, Lewis developed the technique of using video cameras and multiple closed circuit monitors to allow him to view scenes at the same time as he was filming them. This allowed him to review his performance instantly. Later, he incorporated video tape, and as more portable and affordable equipment became available, this technique would become an industry standard known as video assist.
Lewis directed several more films which he co-wrote with Richmond including The Ladies Man, The Errand Boy, and the iconic film, The Nutty Professor. During this period he was consistently praised by some highbrow French critics in the influential Cahiers du Cinéma for his absurd comedy, in part because he had gained respect as an auteur who had total control over all aspects of his films, comparable to Howard Hawks and Alfred Hitchcock. This is the likely origin of the common but inaccurate belief in the United States that Lewis is a superstar in France.
Lewis' box office appeal waned by the mid 1960s. In 1966, he began hosting an annual Labor Day Telethon for the Muscular Dystrophy Association, a charity with which he had been publicly associated since 1950.
Later, Lewis starred in and directed the unreleased The Day The Clown Cried in 1972. The film was a comedy set in a Nazi concentration camp. Lewis has explained why the film hasn't been released by suggesting litigation over post-production financial difficulties. It has been seen by very few select individuals, but those who see it either praise it for comedic genius or decry it as the utmost in bad taste (as Spy Magazine did in 1992).
After an eight year absence from movies, Lewis returned in the early 1980s with Hardly Working, a film he both directed and starred in. He followed this up with a critically acclaimed performance in Martin Scorsese's 1983 film The King of Comedy in which Lewis plays a late night TV host plagued by an obsessive fan. Ironically, the role had been offered to, and turned down by, Dean Martin. Lewis continued doing interesting work in small films in the 1990s, most notably his supporting role in the underappreciated dark comedy, Funny Bones (1996), and also in Arizona Dream (1993).
Jerry and his popular movie characters were animated in the cartoon series Will The Real Jerry Lewis Please Sit Down? which premiered on ABC and lasted two seasons from 1970 to 1972. The show was produced at Filmation Studios, and starred David Lander (later of Laverne and Shirley fame) as the voice of Jerry Lewis. Only 17 episodes were created. Jerry Lewis was the show's partner.
In March of 2006 the French Minister of Culture Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres awarded Lewis the 'Legion of Honor' calling him the 'French people's favorite clown.'
Lewis currently resides in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Charitable work
Jerry Lewis opens the 2005 MDA telethon.
Lewis has organized a Labor Day telethon to help raise money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) since 1966. His efforts have helped raise more than 2,000,000,000 (USD). In 1977, he was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize and in 1985, he received a US Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service. In September, 2005 Lewis is slated to receive the Governor's Award from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, honoring his long-running telethons.
The telethons are typically star-studded: among Lewis's co-hosts through the years were Ed McMahon and Casey Kasem. A frequent performer in the 1970s and 1980s was the late Frank Sinatra, who reunited Lewis with Dean Martin on the telethon in 1976.
On his 40th Labor Day telethon in 2005, Lewis added Salvation Army fundraising (for Hurricane Katrina) to his usual MDA fundraising, though he also encouraged viewers to give to the American Red Cross.
Criticisms
The MDA and Jerry Lewis have been criticized by some disability rights activists for their tendency to paint disabled people as "pitiable victims who want and need nothing more than a big charity to take care of or cure them."[2] Critics argue that focusing the public's attention on medical cures to "normalize" disabled people fails to address issues like providing accessible buildings, transportation, employment opportunities and other civil rights for the disabled.
Jerry Lewis has also made some remarks that have been regarded as insensitive towards the disabled:
In 1990, he wrote a first-person essay entitled "If I Had Muscular Dystrophy" for PARADE magazine, in which he characterized those with muscular dystrophy as "being half a person."[3] Many in the disabled community viewed his remarks as prejudicial, contributing to the idea that disabled people are "childlike, helpless, hopeless, nonfunctioning and noncontributing members of society."[4]
On May 20, 2001, he responded to his critics in an interview on CBS News Sunday Morning: "If you don't want to be pitied for being a cripple in a wheelchair, don't come out of the house." Again, disability rights activists blasted him for characterizing disabled people as helpless and homebound.
Trivia
Jerry Lewis has won many prestigious Lifetime Achievement Awards from The American Comedy Awards, The Golden Camera, Los Angeles Film Critics Association, The Venice Film Festival and he has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame; but he has never won an Oscar. Currently there is a campaign underway to award him an Honorary Lifetime Achievement Academy Award. To support this, everyone is eligible to cast a supporting vote (one time only) at: [5]
Lewis has battled prostate cancer, diabetes and pulmonary fibrosis. Medical treatment for the fibrosis in the early 2000s caused the comedian to experience weight gain and bloating that noticably changed his appearance.
Lewis has suffered years of back pain due to a failed slapstick stunt that almost left him paralyzed. An electronic device developed by Medtronic recently implanted in his back has helped reduce the discomfort. He is now one of Medtronic's leading spokesmen.
Lewis tried his hand at singing in the 1950s, having a chart hit with the song "Rock-A-Bye Your Baby with a Dixie Melody", a song originated by Al Jolson and popularized by Judy Garland.
The Simpsons' voice actor Hank Azaria based the voice of Professor Frink on Lewis' Nutty Professor character Julius Kelp. Lewis was eventually invited to guest as Frink's father.
He is a supporter of the Brisbane Lions Football Club in the Australian Football League.
In 1983, he was nominated for the Golden Raspberry for Worst Actor for his role in Slapstick of Another Kind.
Lewis changes white sweatsocks several times a day, always putting on a brand-new pair, and he gives the used ones to charity.
Lewis is the father of 1960's pop musician Gary Lewis, who had several hits during the mid-1960's with his group Gary Lewis and the Playboys.
Filmography
How to Smuggle a Hernia Across the Border (1949) (Home-Made Jerry Lewis short. Never theatrically released)
My Friend Irma (1949)
My Friend Irma Goes West (1950)
Screen Snapshots: Thirtieth Anniversary Special (1950) (short subject)
The Milkman (1950) (cameo)
At War with the Army (1950)
That's My Boy (1951)
Sailor Beware (1952)
Jumping Jacks (1952)
Road to Bali (1952) (cameo)
The Stooge (1953)
Scared Stiff (1953)
The Caddy (1953)
Money from Home (1953)
Living It Up (1954)
3 Ring Circus (1954)
You're Never Too Young (1955)
Artists and Models (1955)
Pardners (1956)
Hollywood or Bust (1956)
The Delicate Deliquent (1957)
The Sad Sack (1957)
Rock-a-Bye Baby (1958)
The Geisha Boy (1958)
Don't Give Up the Ship (1959)
Li'l Abner (1959) (cameo)
Visit to a Small Planet (1960)
The Bellboy (1960)
Cinderfella (1960)
The Ladies Man (1961)
The Errand Boy (1961)
It's Only Money (1962)
The Nutty Professor (1963)
It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963) (cameo)
Who's Minding the Store? (1963)
The Patsy (1964)
The Disorderly Orderly (1964)
The Family Jewels (1965)
Boeing Boeing (1965)
Three on a Couch (1966)
Way... Way, Out (1966)
Don't Raise the Bridge, Lower the River (1967)
The Big Mouth (1967)
Silent Treatment (1968) (unfinished)
Hook, Line & Sinker (1969)
One More Time (1970) (director only & voice of the bandleader)
Which Way to the Front? (1970)
The Day the Clown Cried (1972) (unfinished)
Rascal Dazzle (1980) (documentary on the Little Rascals; narrator only)
Hardly Working (1980)
Slapstick (Of Another Kind) (1982)
The King of Comedy (1983)
Cracking Up (1983)
How Did You Get In? We Didn't See You Leave (1984) (French release)
Hold Me Back, or I'll Have an Accident (1984) (French release)
Fight For Life (1987) (TV movie)
Cookie (1989)
Mr. Saturday Night (1992)
Arizona Dream (1993)
Funny Bones (1995)
Books
The Total Film-Maker. New York: Random House, 1971, ISBN 0394467574
Jerry Lewis: In Person with Herb Gluck. New York: Atheneum, 1982, ISBN 0689112904
Dean & Me (A Love Story) with James Kaplan. New York: Doubleday, 2005, ISBN 0767920864
