Jack Nicholson
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jack Nicholson |
Nicholson in a publicity photo, May 1981
|
Born |
John Joseph Nicholson
April 22, 1937 (age 77)
Neptune City, New Jersey, United States |
Residence |
Hollywood Hills, California |
Nationality |
American |
Alma mater |
Actors Studio |
Occupation |
Actor, director, producer, screenwriter |
Years active |
1958–present |
Home town |
Neptune City, New Jersey |
Spouse(s) |
Sandra Knight (1962–1968) |
Children |
5; Jennifer Nicholson (1963), Caleb James Goddard (1970), Honey Hillman (1981), Lorraine Nicholson (1990), Ray Nicholson (1992) |
Awards |
|
Academy Awards |
Best Actor
1975 One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
1997 As Good as It Gets
Best Supporting Actor
1983 Terms of Endearment |
Golden Globe Awards |
Best Actor - Drama
1974 Chinatown
1975 One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
2002 About Schmidt
Best Actor - Musical or Comedy
1985 Prizzi's Honor
1997 As Good as It Gets
Best Supporting Actor
1983 Terms of Endearment
Cecil B. DeMille Award
1999 |
BAFTA Awards |
Best Actor in a Leading Role
1974 The Last Detail / Chinatown
1976 One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Best Actor in a Supporting Role
1981 Reds |
Screen Actors Guild Awards |
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
1997 As Good as It Gets |
Critics' Choice Movie Awards |
Best Actor
1997 As Good as It Gets
2002 About Schmidt |
John Joseph "Jack" Nicholson (born April 22, 1937) is an
American actor, film director, producer, and writer. Throughout his
career, Nicholson has portrayed unique and challenging roles, many of
which include dark portrayals of neurotic and
psychopathic characters. Nicholson's 12 Oscar nominations make him the most nominated male actor in the history of the
Academy Awards.
Nicholson has won two
Academy Award for Best Actor; one for
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and the other for
As Good as It Gets. He also won the
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for
Terms of Endearment. Nicholson is tied with
Walter Brennan and
Daniel Day-Lewis as one of three male actors to win three Academy Awards. He is well known for playing Frank Costello in
The Departed,
Jack Torrance in
The Shining and
the Joker in 1989's
Batman.
Nicholson is one of only two actors to be nominated for an
Academy Award for acting in every decade from the 1960s to the 2000s; the other was
Michael Caine. He has won six
Golden Globe Awards, and received the
Kennedy Center Honor
in 2001. In 1994, he became one of the youngest actors to be awarded
the American Film Institute's Life Achievement Award. Notable films in
which he has starred include
Easy Rider,
Five Easy Pieces,
The Last Detail,
Chinatown,
The Passenger,
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest,
The Shining,
Reds,
Wolf,
A Few Good Men,
The Pledge,
About Schmidt,and
The Departed.
Early life
Nicholson was born in Neptune City, New Jersey,
[2] the son of a showgirl, June Frances Nicholson (stage name June Nilson).
[3][4] June had married
Italian American showman Donald Furcillo (stage name Donald Rose) six months earlier in
Elkton, Maryland, on October 16, 1936.
[5]
Furcillo was already married. Although he reportedly 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 and partly
because June was only 16 or 17 years old when she gave birth to Jack.
[6] Although Furcillo claimed to be Nicholson's biological father and to have committed
bigamy by marrying June, biographer Patrick McGilligan asserted in
Jack's Life that
Latvian-born Eddie King (originally Edgar A. Kirschfeld),
[7]
June's manager, may have been Nicholson's biological father. Other
sources suggest June Nicholson was unsure of who the father was.
[3] Nicholson's mother was of
Irish,
English, and
Pennsylvania Dutch (
German) descent,
[8][9] though he and his family reportedly self-identified as Irish.
[10][11]
Nicholson was brought up believing that his maternal grandparents, John Joseph Nicholson (a department store window dresser in
Manasquan, New Jersey)
and Ethel May (née Rhoads, a hairdresser, beautician and amateur artist
in Manasquan), were his parents. Nicholson only discovered that his
"parents" were actually his grandparents and his "sister" was his mother
in 1974, after a journalist for
TIME magazine who was doing a feature on Nicholson informed him of the fact.
[12] By this time, both his mother and grandmother had died (in 1963 and 1970, respectively).
Nicholson grew up in
Neptune City, New Jersey.
[13] He was raised in his mother's Roman Catholic religion.
[8][10] Before starting high school, his family moved to an apartment in
Spring Lake, New Jersey.
[14][15] "Nick", as he was known to his high school friends, attended nearby
Manasquan High School, where he was voted "class clown" by the Class of 1954. He was in detention every day for a whole school year.
[2] A theatre and a drama award at the school are named in his honor. In 2004, Nicholson attended his 50-year
high school reunion accompanied by his aunt Lorraine.
[7]
Career
Early work
When Nicholson first came to Hollywood, he worked as a
gofer for animation legends
William Hanna and
Joseph Barbera at the
MGM cartoon studio.
Seeing his talent as an artist, they offered Nicholson a starting level
position as an animation artist. However, citing his desire to become
an actor, he declined.
[16]
He made his film debut in a low-budget teen drama
The Cry Baby Killer, in 1958, playing the title role. For the following decade, Nicholson was a frequent collaborator with the film's producer,
Roger Corman. Corman directed Nicholson on several occasions, most notably in
The Little Shop of Horrors, as
masochistic dental patient and undertaker Wilbur Force, and also in
The Raven,
The Terror, and
The St. Valentine's Day Massacre. He worked frequently with director
Monte Hellman as well on low-budget westerns, though two in particular,
Ride in the Whirlwind and
The Shooting,
initially failed to find interest from any US film distributors but
gained cult success on the art house circuit in France and were later
sold to television. Nicholson also appeared in two episodes of
The Andy Griffith Show,
one as Mavin Jenkins, a townsman accused of stealing merchandise from a
local hardware store, originally aired in 1967. He also played a father
who, with his wife, left a baby on the courthouse steps in the episode
entitled, "Opie and the Baby".
Rise to fame
With his acting career heading nowhere, Nicholson seemed resigned to a
career behind the camera as a writer/director. His first real taste of
writing success was the screenplay for the 1967
counterculture film
The Trip (directed by Corman), which starred
Peter Fonda and
Dennis Hopper. Nicholson also co-wrote, with
Bob Rafelson, the movie
Head, which starred
The Monkees. In addition, he also arranged the movie's soundtrack. However, after a spot opened up in Fonda and Hopper's
Easy Rider,
it led to his first big acting break. Nicholson played hard-drinking
lawyer George Hanson, for which he received his first Oscar nomination.
The part of Hanson was a lucky break for Nicholson—the role had in fact
been written for actor
Rip Torn, who was a close friend of screen writer
Terry Southern, but Torn withdrew from the project after a bitter argument with the film's director and co-star
Dennis Hopper, during which the two men almost came to blows.
[17] In interview, Nicholson later acknowledged the importance of being cast in
Easy Rider: "All I could see in the early films, before
Easy Rider, was this desperate young actor trying to vault out of the screen and create a movie career."
[18]
A Best Actor nomination came the following year for his persona-defining role in
Five Easy Pieces (1970). Also that year, he appeared in the movie adaptation of
On A Clear Day You Can See Forever, although most of his performance was left on the
cutting room floor. He was the first choice to play the role of
Father Damien Karras in
The Exorcist, but the role was turned over to
Jason Miller.
Other Nicholson roles included
Hal Ashby's
The Last Detail (1973), for which he was awarded
Best Actor at the
Cannes Film Festival, and the
Roman Polanski noir thriller,
Chinatown (1974). Nicholson was nominated for the
Academy Award for Best Actor for both films. Nicholson was friends with the director long before the death of Polanski's wife,
Sharon Tate, at the hands of the
Manson Family, and supported him in the days following the deaths.
[19][20] After Tate's death, Nicholson began sleeping with a hammer under his pillow,
[20] and took breaks from work to attend the Manson trial.
[21] It was at Nicholson's home where the
rape for which Polanski was convicted occurred. Nicholson would go on to star in
The Who's
Tommy (1975), directed by
Ken Russell, and
Michelangelo Antonioni's
The Passenger (1975).
Nicholson earned his first
Best Actor Oscar for portraying
Randle P. McMurphy in the movie adaptation of
Ken Kesey's novel
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, directed by
Miloš Forman in 1975. His Oscar was matched when
Louise Fletcher received the
Best Actress Award for her portrayal of
Nurse Ratched. After this, he began to take more unusual roles. He took a small role in
The Last Tycoon, opposite
Robert De Niro. He took a less sympathetic role in
Arthur Penn's western
The Missouri Breaks, specifically to work with
Marlon Brando. He followed this by making his second directorial effort with the western comedy
Goin' South.
Although he garnered no
Academy Award for
Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of
Stephen King's
The Shining (1980), it remains one of his more significant roles. His second Oscar, the
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, came for his role of retired astronaut Garrett Breedlove in
Terms of Endearment (1983), directed by
James L. Brooks. Nicholson continued to work prolifically in the 1980s, starring in such films as
The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981),
Reds (1981),
Prizzi's Honor (1985),
The Witches of Eastwick (1987),
Broadcast News (1987), and
Ironweed (1987). Three Oscar nominations also followed (
Reds,
Prizzi's Honor, and
Ironweed).
Nicholson introduced several acts at
Live Aid at the
JFK Stadium in July 1985. He turned down the role of John Book in
Witness.
[22] The 1989
Batman movie, wherein Nicholson played the psychotic murderer and villain,
The Joker, was an international smash hit, and a lucrative percentage deal earned him a percentage of the
box office gross estimated at $60 million to $90 million.
[23] For his role as hot-headed Col. Nathan R. Jessup in
A Few Good Men (1992), a movie about a murder in a
U.S. Marine Corps unit, Nicholson received yet another Academy nomination.
In 1996, Nicholson collaborated once more with
Batman director
Tim Burton on
Mars Attacks!, pulling double duty as two contrasting characters, President James Dale and
Las Vegas
property developer Art Land. At first studio executives at Warner Bros.
disliked the idea of killing off Nicholson's character, so Burton
created two characters and killed them both off. 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). However, Nicholson's performance in
Hoffa also earned him a
Golden Globe nomination.
[24][25]
Nicholson went on to win his next
Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Melvin Udall, a mean-spirited, compulsive obsessive neurotic author in
As Good as It Gets (1997), again directed by Brooks. His Oscar was matched with the
Academy Award for Best Actress for
Helen Hunt
as a Manhattan waitress drawn into a love/hate friendship with Udall, a
frequent diner in the restaurant in which she worked. In 2001,
Nicholson was the first actor to receive the
Stanislavsky Award at the
23rd Moscow International Film Festival for "conquering the heights of acting and faithfulness".
[26]
2002–present
In
About Schmidt (2002), Nicholson portrayed a retired
Omaha,
Nebraska actuary
who questions his own life following his wife's death. His quietly
restrained performance earned him an Academy Award Nomination for Best
Actor. In
Anger Management (2003), he played an aggressive therapist assigned to help an overly pacifist man (
Adam Sandler). In 2003, Nicholson also starred in
Something's Gotta Give, as an aging playboy who falls for the mother (
Diane Keaton) of his young girlfriend. In late 2006, Nicholson marked his return to the dark side as
Frank Costello, a sadistic
Boston Irish Mob boss presiding over
Matt Damon and
Leonardo DiCaprio in
Martin Scorsese's Oscar-winning
The Departed, a remake of
Andrew Lau's
Infernal Affairs. The role earned Nicholson world-wide critical praise along with various award wins and nominations including a
Golden Globe nomination for supporting actor.
In November 2006, Nicholson began filming his next project,
Rob Reiner's
The Bucket List, a role for which he shaved his head. The film starred Nicholson and
Morgan Freeman
as dying men who fulfill their list of goals. The film was released on
December 25, 2007 (limited), and January 11, 2008 (wide). In researching
the role, Nicholson visited a
Los Angeles hospital to see how cancer patients coped with their illnesses. His last film role to date saw him reunite with
Terms of Endearment and
As Good as It Gets director
James L. Brooks for a small supporting role as
Paul Rudd's father in
How Do You Know.
On September 4, 2013, reports spread around the internet from various
sources claiming that Nicholson was retiring from acting due to memory
loss, unable to remember the lines for his scripts. Hours later, an
unidentified source informed
NBC News that the rumors were false and that Nicholson was actively reading scripts and is looking forward to his next project.
[27]
Personal life
Relationships
Nicholson's only marriage was to Sandra Knight from 1962 to 1968. They had one daughter together, Jennifer (born 1963). Actress
Susan Anspach contends that her son, Caleb Goddard (born 1970), was fathered by Nicholson, though he is not convinced he is the father.
[28][29] He dated
Michelle Phillips in the early 1970s. Between 1973 and 1990, Nicholson had a high-profile but intermittent relationship with actress
Anjelica Huston
that included periods of overlap with other women, including Danish
model Winnie Hollman, by whom he fathered a daughter, Honey Hollmann
(born 1981). From 1989 to 1994 Nicholson had a relationship with actress
Rebecca Broussard; they had two children together: daughter Lorraine (born 1990) and son Raymond (born 1992).
Vandalism charge
In a criminal lawsuit filed on February 8, 1994, Robert Blank stated
that Nicholson, then 56, approached Blank's Mercedes-Benz while he was
stopped at a red light in North Hollywood. After accusing the other man
of cutting him off in traffic, Nicholson used a golf club to bash the
roof and windshield of Blank's car. A witness confirmed Blank's account
of the incident, and misdemeanor charges of assault and vandalism were
filed against Nicholson. Charges were dropped after Nicholson apologized
to Blank and the two reached an undisclosed settlement, which included a
reported $500,000 check from Nicholson.
[30]
Nicholson later expressed regret about the incident in an interview
with Us Magazine, calling it "a shameful incident in my life." He
explained that a close friend had recently died, and that he had also
been under a good deal of stress during the shooting of his most recent
movie,
The Crossing Guard.
According to Nicholson, he went "out of [his] mind" after being cut off
and snatched one of his golf clubs from the trunk of his car. Though
press reports of the incident variously reported that the club in
question had been a three- or a five-iron, Nicholson (who started
golfing seriously after learning the game for the filming of 1990's
The Two Jakes) cleared up the issue in a 2007 interview with
Golf Digest.
"I was on my way to the course, and in the midst of this madness I
somehow knew what I was doing," he says, "because I reached into my
trunk and specifically selected a club I never used on the course: my
two-iron."
[31]
The road rage incident was not the last time Nicholson's volatile
temper made news. A legendary fan of the Los Angeles Lakers professional
basketball team, Nicholson has more than once been threatened with
ejection from his courtside seats because he argued with or shouted at
the game's referees. As BBC News reported, Nicholson was almost ejected
from a Lakers playoff game against the San Antonio Spurs in May 2003
after he yelled at the game's referee
[32] for calling a third foul on Lakers star
Shaquille O'Neal. The incident occurred shortly after the release of his latest movie at the time,
Anger Management, where he played the role of a therapist.
[33]
Celebrity friendships
Nicholson lived next door to
Marlon Brando for a number of years on
Mulholland Drive in
Beverly Hills.
Warren Beatty
also lived nearby, earning the road the nickname "Bad Boy Drive." After
Brando's death in 2004, Nicholson purchased his bungalow for $6.1
million, with the purpose of having it demolished. Nicholson stated that
it was done out of respect to Brando's legacy, as it had become too
expensive to renovate the "derelict" building which was plagued by mold.
[34]
Nicholson's friendship with author-journalist
Hunter S. Thompson is described in Thompson's autobiography
Kingdom of Fear.
According to Thompson, they would exchange "bizarre" presents which
resulted in a perceived assassination attempt against the actor.
Thompson appeared outside Nicholson's home on the night of Nicholson's
birthday, having set off a high-powered spotlight and gunfire, playing a
tape of animal cries through an amplifier to awaken him. Thompson then
left a freshly cut-out elk's heart on Nicholson's door as a joke before
leaving when it appeared that nobody would exit the house.
[citation needed] Following the death of Thompson in 2005, Nicholson and fellow actors
Johnny Depp,
John Cusack, and
Sean Penn attended the private memorial service in Colorado.
[35]
Nicholson was also a close friend of
Robert Evans, the producer of
Chinatown
in which Nicholson was one of the stars, and after Evans lost his home,
Woodland, as the result of a 1980s drug bust, Nicholson and other
friends of the producer purchased Woodland to give it back to Evans.
[36][37]
Hobbies
Nicholson in his courtside seat at the Staples Center
Nicholson is a fan of the
New York Yankees and
Los Angeles Lakers.
He has been a Laker season ticket holder since 1970 and has held
courtside season tickets for the past 25 years next to the opponent's
benches at both
The Forum and the
Staples Center,
missing very few games. In a few instances, Nicholson has engaged in
arguments with game officials and opposing players, and even walked onto
the court.
[38] Studios were rumored to schedule filming around the Lakers home schedule
[38][39] although he disputed this claim in an interview with
BBC radio in 2008.
[40] Traditionally, television shots of the various celebrities at Lakers games conclude with a shot of Nicholson.
In addition to being an avid basketball fan, Nicholson also enjoys
boxing, and is frequently seen at ringside for major fights in the
United States.
Nicholson is a collector of 20th century and contemporary art, including the work of
Henri Matisse,
Tamara de Lempicka,
[citation needed] Andy Warhol, and
Jack Vettriano.
[41] In 1995, artist
Ed Ruscha was quoted saying that "Jack Nicholson has one of the best collections out here".
[42]
Honors
Former California Governor
Arnold Schwarzenegger and First Lady
Maria Shriver announced on May 28, 2008, that Nicholson would be inducted into the
California Hall of Fame, located at
The California Museum for History, Women and the Arts. The induction ceremony took place on December 15, 2008, where he was inducted alongside 11 other legendary Californians.
[43][44]
In 2010, Nicholson was inducted into the
New Jersey Hall of Fame.
[45]
In 2011, Nicholson received an honorary
Doctor of Fine Arts degree from
Brown University at its two hundred and forty-third commencement. At the ceremony
Ruth Simmons, Brown University's president, called him, "the most skilled actor of our lifetime".
[46]
Awards and nominations
With twelve
Academy Award
nominations (eight for Best Actor and four for Best Supporting Actor),
Nicholson is the most nominated male actor in Academy Awards history.
Only Nicholson,
Michael Caine, and
Laurence Olivier
(1930s–1970s) have been nominated for an acting (lead or supporting)
Academy Award in five different decades: the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s,
and the 2000s.
With three Oscar wins, he also ties with
Walter Brennan,
Daniel Day-Lewis,
Ingrid Bergman, and
Meryl Streep (who has the most acting nominations of anyone) for the second-most Oscar wins in acting categories. Only
Katharine Hepburn, with four Oscars, has won more.
At the
79th Academy Awards, Nicholson had fully shaved his head for his role in
The Bucket List. In 2013, Nicholson co-presented the
Academy Award for Best Picture with first lady
Michelle Obama.
This ceremony marked the eighth time he has presented the Academy Award
for Best Picture (1972, 1977, 1978, 1990, 1993, 2006, 2007, and 2013).
Nicholson is an active and voting member of the Academy.