Jack Nicholson
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Jack Nicholson at Cannes, (2001). |
John Joseph "Jack" Nicholson (born
April 22,
1937) is a highly successful,
iconic American method actor known for his often dark-themed portrayals of
neurotic characters.
He has been nominated for an
Academy Award twelve times (winning 3 of them), more than any other male actor, and second only to
Meryl Streep (who has 13 nominations and 2 wins) in total nominations. He is tied with
Walter Brennan for most wins by a male actor, and second to
Katharine Hepburn for most acting wins overall (Hepburn had 4).
He has also won seven
Golden Globe Awards and he received a
Kennedy Center Honors in 2001.
Nicholson was born at
Bellevue Hospital Center in
New York City to June Frances Nicholson (alias June Nilson), a showgirl of
English and
Irish descent who had previously married an
Italian-American showman Donald Furcillo (stage name Donald Rose) six months earlier in
Elkton, Maryland, on
October 16,
1936. Elkton was a town known for its "quickie" marriages. However, Furcillo was already married, and, although he offered to take care of the child, June's mother Ethel insisted that she bring up the baby, partly so that June could pursue her dancing career.
Jack was brought up believing his grandparents Joseph (a department store window dresser in
Asbury Park, New Jersey) and Ethel May Nicholson (a hairdresser and beautician and amateur artist in
Neptune, New Jersey) were his parents. He attended
high school at nearby Manasquan High School, where a drama award was ultimately named in his honor. Nicholson only discovered that his parents were actually his grandparents and his sister was in fact his mother in 1974 after being informed by a
Time Magazine journalist who was doing a feature on him, while he was filming
The Fortune with
Stockard Channing.
By this time both his mother and grandmother had died (in 1963 and 1970, respectively), Nicholson has stated he does not know who his father is, saying "Only Ethel and June knew and they never told anybody". Although Donald Furcillo claimed to be Nicholson's father and to have committed
bigamy by marrying June, biographer Patrick McGilligan, who wrote
Jack's Life (published in December 1995) asserted that Eddie King, June's manager, may be the father and other (see [
1]) sources have suggested that June Nicholson was unsure of who the father was. Jack Nicholson has chosen not to have a
DNA test or to pursue the matter. Although Nicholson is personally against
abortion, he is
pro-choice.[
2] Nicholson told
Vanity Fair in 1992 that he did not believe in
God.[
3]
In his adult personal life, Nicholson has been notorious for his inability to "settle down". He has four children by three different women despite only being married once (
Jennifer Nicholson with former wife
Sandra Knight, Caleb Goddard with
Susan Anspach, his
Five Easy Pieces co-star, and Lorraine and Raymond Nicholson with
Rebecca Broussard). He has been romantically linked to numerous actresses and models for decades. Nicholson's longest relationship was for 17 years to actress
Anjelica Huston, the daughter of the legendary director
John Huston. However, the relationship ended when the news reported that Rebecca Broussard had become pregnant with his child.
Nicholson started his career as an actor, writer, and producer, working for and with
Roger Corman. This included his screen debut in
The Cry Baby Killer (1958), where he played a juvenile delinquent who panics after shooting two other teenagers,
The Little Shop of Horrors (1960), in which he had a small role as a masochistic dental patient, another small role in
The Raven (1963) and
The Terror (1963), co-starring then-wife
Sandra Knight.
His work on the
LSD-fueled screenplay for 1967's
The Trip, which starred
Peter Fonda and
Dennis Hopper, led to his first big break in
Easy Rider (1969). Nicholson played hard-drinking
lawyer George Hanson, for which he received his first Oscar nomination.
A Best Actor nomination came the following year for his persona-defining role in
Five Easy Pieces (1970), which includes his famous
chicken salad dialogue about getting what you want. Also that year, he appeared in the movie adaptation of
On a Clear Day You Can See Forever as Daisy Gamble (
Barbra Streisand)'s stepbrother.
More of his earlier film roles include
Hal Ashby's
The Last Detail (1973),
Roman Polanski's
Chinatown (1974), and
Stanley Kubrick's
The Shining (1980).
Nicholson earned his first
Academy Award for Best Actor for portraying Randall P. McMurphy in
Miloš Forman's
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975). His Academy Award for Best Actor was matched with the
Academy Award for Best Actress given to
Louise Fletcher for her portrayal of Nurse Ratched. His next Oscar, the
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, came for his role in
Terms of Endearment (1983).
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The famous scene in 1974's Chinatown where Nicholson's character has his nostril slit by a thug (played by director Roman Polanski) |
The 1989
Batman movie, where Nicholson played
The Joker, was an international smash hit, and a lucrative percentage deal earned Nicholson about $50 million.
For his role as hotheaded Col. Nathan R. Jessep in
A Few Good Men (1992), a movie about a murder in a US Marine Corps unit, he received yet another nomination by the Academy. This film contains Nicholson's
"You can't handle the truth!" scene, which has since become widely known and imitated.
Nicholson would go on to win his next Best Actor Oscar for his role as Melvin Udall, the neurotic author, in the romance
As Good as It Gets (1997). Nicholson's Oscar was matched with the
Academy Award for Best Actress honor for
Helen Hunt as a Manhattan waitress drawn into a love/hate friendship with Udall, a frequent diner.
In
About Schmidt (2002), Nicholson portrayed a retired
Omaha, Nebraska insurance man who questions his own life and the death of his wife shortly afterward. The deeply emotional, slow film stands in sharp contrast to many of his previous roles.
In the comedy
Anger Management, he plays an aggressive therapist assigned to help overly pacifist
Adam Sandler.
His most recent film is the 2003
Something's Gotta Give as an aging playboy who falls for the mother (
Diane Keaton) of his young girlfriend.
Not all of Nicholson's performances have been well-received. He was nominated for
Razzie Awards as worst actor for
Man Trouble (1992) and
Hoffa (1992).
Nicholson will return to villainous form as a tough
Boston Irish Mob boss presiding over
Matt Damon and
Leonardo DiCaprio in
Martin Scorsese's
The Departed (2006).
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DVD cover of The Shining showing Nicholson as the psychotic caretaker Jack Daniel Torrance. |
*
1969 - Nominated -
Best Actor in a Supporting Role -
Easy Rider*
1970 - Nominated -
Best Actor in a Leading Role -
Five Easy Pieces*
1973 - Nominated - Best Actor in a Leading Role -
The Last Detail*
1974 - Nominated - Best Actor in a Leading Role -
Chinatown*
1975 - Won - Best Actor in a Leading Role -
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest*
1981 - Nominated - Best Actor in a Supporting Role -
Reds*
1983 - Won - Best Actor in a Supporting Role -
Terms of Endearment*
1985 - Nominated - Best Actor in a Leading Role -
Prizzi's Honor*
1987 - Nominated - Best Actor in a Leading Role -
Ironweed*
1992 - Nominated - Best Actor in a Supporting Role -
A Few Good Men*
1997 - Won - Best Actor in a Leading Role -
As Good As It Gets*
2002 - Nominated - Best Actor in a Leading Role -
About Schmidt*
Ancestry of Jack Nicholson*
Jack Nicholson forums*
Jack Nicholson Unofficial fansite
