Best Known As: Host of the annual Jerry Lewis telethon
Name at birth: Joseph Levitch
Slapstick specialist Jerry Lewis was one of the top movie comedians of the 1950s and 1960s. Lewis and Dean Martin were a hugely successful comedy team of stage, screen and radio. They made a string of popular movies from 1949 to 1956, with Martin as the straight man and Lewis as the zany cut-up. After they ended their partnership, Lewis went on to produce, direct and star in comedies such as The Bellboy and The Nutty Professor. Lewis is widely known for his annual Labor Day telethon, a charitable event raising money to fight muscular dystrophy.
Prednisone treatments for a lung ailment caused Lewis to gain a great deal of weight before the 2002 MDA telethon. For more details, see this 2002 BBC report... In the 1990s Lewis was a hit playing the Devil in the revival of the stage play Damn Yankees... Lewis received the French Legion of Honor in 1984; his extreme popularity in France has become a running gag with some American comedians... Lewis's regular co-host on his annual telethon is Ed McMahon.
Born Joseph Levitch in Newark, NJ, Lewis was best known as a movie comedian/writer/director/producer; he did try his hand at serious singing, however, recording several singles and one charted album in the late '50s. His other charted single was "It All Depends on You" (#68, 1957), originally a Paul Whiteman #2 hit in 1927. ~ Larry Lapka, All Music Guide
Representative Songs:
"That Certain Party" "Rock-A-Bye False Starts"
Representative Albums:
Just Sings, Phoney Phone Calls: 1959-1972, Jerry Lewis on Comedy
Career Highlights: The Nutty Professor, Living It Up, The Patsy
First Major Screen Credit: At War With the Army (1950)
Biography
Perhaps no popular film artist in history inspired quite so many conflicting opinions and emotions as actor/comedian Jerry Lewis. Often reviled in his native United States but worshipped as a genius throughout much of Europe and especially France, Lewis took slapstick comedy to new realms of absurdity and outrageousness, his anarchic vision dividing audiences who found him infantile and witless from those who applauded the ambitions of his sight gags, his subversions of standard comedic patterns, and his films' acute criticisms of American values. Regardless of opinion, he was not only one of the biggest stars of the postwar era but also one of the most powerful, and as the writer, director, and producer of many of his features, he qualified as a comic auteur firmly in the tradition of Chaplin and Keaton.
Born Joseph Levitch in Newark, NJ, on March 16, 1926, he was the son of borscht-belt comics, spending the majority of his childhood living with relatives but joining his parents each summer as they performed in the Catskills. From the age of five on, Lewis occasionally performed in his parents' act, and later quit high school in order to travel with his own comedy routine, which consisted primarily of mocking famous entertainers while their records were played off-stage. His early years as a performer were lean, and he often resorted to work as a soda jerk, a theater usher, an office clerk, or any one of a number of short-lived jobs. During the summers, he too made the rounds of the Catskills' borscht circuit, but otherwise enjoyed little success.
In 1946, Lewis met another struggling performer, a handsome singer named Dean Martin. Later that year, while playing Atlantic City's 500 Club, another act abruptly quit the show, and Lewis suggested Martin to fill the void. Initially the two performed separately, but one night they threw out their routines and teamed on-stage, a Mutt-and-Jeff combo whose wildly improvisational comedy quickly made them a star attraction along the Boardwalk. Within months, Martin and Lewis' salaries rocketed from 350 to 5,000 dollars a week, and by the end of the 1940s, they were the most popular comedy duo in the nation. In 1949, they made their film debut in George Marshall's My Friend Irma, and their supporting work proved so popular with audiences that their roles were significantly expanded for the sequel, the following year's My Friend Irma Goes West. With 1951's At War With the Army, Martin and Lewis earned their first star billing. The picture established the basic formula of all of their subsequent movie work, with Martin the suave straight man forced to suffer the bizarre antics of the manic fool Lewis. Critics often loathed the duo, but audiences couldn't get enough. In all, they made 13 comedies for Paramount, among them 1952's Jumping Jacks, 1953's Scared Stiff, and 1955's Artists and Models, a superior effort directed by Frank Tashlin. For 1956's Hollywood or Bust, Tashlin was again in the director's seat, but the movie was the team's last; after Martin and Lewis' relationship soured to the point where they were no longer even speaking to one another, they announced their breakup following the conclusion of their July 25, 1956, performance at the Copacabana, which celebrated to the day the tenth anniversary of their first show.
Working again as a solo performer, Lewis also served as producer on his first post-Martin star vehicle, 1957's The Delicate Delinquent. Reviews were good, and later that same year he starred in The Sad Sack. With 1958's Rock-a-Bye Baby, he teamed again with Tashlin, the first of six Lewis comedies the director helmed; they next united for The Geisha Boy. Under Norman Taurog, Lewis returned in 1959 with Don't Give up the Ship. At the time of its release, he signed an exclusive contract with Paramount for ten million dollars and 60 percent of his box-office profits, the biggest payday of its kind in Hollywood history; at its peak, his popularity was so great that he even starred in a DC Comics book. Lewis celebrated his success by making another feature for Taurog, 1960's Visit to a Small Planet, before returning to work under Tashlin for Cinderfella.
With 1960's The Bellboy, Lewis made his directorial debut. Here his comic vision began to truly take flight, with only a bare-bones plot and virtually no dialogue to best serve his ambitious gags. He also directed and produced 1961's The Ladies' Man, a lavishly filmed, vicious satire on American femininity, followed by The Errand Boy, another collection of sight gags which earned favorable comparison to the work of Jacques Tati. Under Tashlin, Lewis next starred in 1962's It's Only Money. Returning to the director's chair, he filmed his masterpiece, The Nutty Professor, a comic retelling of the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde tale which, while dismissed by American critics, solidified his following among European filmgoers, especially the staff of the influential Cahiers du Cinema.
In between 1963's Who's Minding the Store? and 1964's The Disorderly Orderly, both written and directed by Tashlin, Lewis also helmed The Patsy, his most ambitious work to date. In 1965's The Family Jewels, he not only wrote and directed, but also played seven different roles. The picture was among his first not to become a major box-office success. He subsequently traveled to France to star in John Rich's Boeing Boeing. There "Le Roi du Crazy" (as he was dubbed) was met by adoring fans and critics with a three-week film festival, as well as a complete retrospective at the Cinematheque Francais. However, the feature was Lewis' last for Paramount, who found his insistence upon complete artistic control to be at odds with the increasingly disappointing box-office showings of his films.
In 1966, after landing at Columbia to direct and star in Three on a Couch, Lewis hosted his first Labor Day telethon to raise funds in support of the Muscular Dystrophy Association. The star-studded event quickly became an institution, annually bringing in millions upon millions in charitable contributions. Lewis next starred in the Gordon Douglas space comedy Way, Way Out, followed by 1967's The Big Mouth, which he directed and co-wrote. He next appeared in Jerry Paris' Don't Raise the Bridge, Lower the River and George Marshall's Hook, Line and Sinker, subsequently directing (but, for the first and only time, not starring) in 1969's One More Time. None of the movies found favor with audiences or critics, however, and after the failure of 1970's Which Way to the Front?, Lewis' career in Hollywood was in grave condition. While seeking funding for his next project, in 1971 he wrote a book, The Total Filmmaker. With financing from the Swedish-based Cinema and Film Enterprises, in 1972 Lewis mounted The Day the Clown Cried, a disturbing tale focusing on a famous clown forced by the Nazis to lead children to their deaths in the gas chambers. Widely speculated to be either a transcendent masterpiece or an obscene failure, the radical feature was never released, remaining trapped in legal limbo. Lewis spent the remainder of the decade out of film, appearing instead in the disastrous Broadway production Helzapoppin' as well as in concert and on the lecture circuit. Finally, in 1979 he wrote, directed, and starred in Hardly Working; though not released until two years later because of financial entanglements, the movie proved to be a major success, grossing over 50 million dollars in North America alone.
In late 1982, Lewis was declared clinically dead after suffering a massive heart attack. He was miraculously revived, and the excessive lifestyle that led to his near-death experience became the subject of his 1983 feature Smorgasbord, which later premiered on HBO as Cracking Up before finally bowing in theaters in 1985. In the meantime, Lewis garnered some of the best reviews of his career for his work in Martin Scorsese's The King of Comedy, but his performance did not lead to work in other major Hollywood productions. As a result, he traveled to France, appearing in the 1984 comedies To Catch a Cop and Par Ou T'es Rentre? on T'a Pas Vue Sortir. The dismal Slapstick of Another Kind also arrived in 1984, with only small roles in the 1987 telefilm Fight for Life and Susan Seidelman's 1989 effort Cookie, as well as an extended supporting turn in the television series Wiseguy. By the 1990s, Lewis experienced something of a resurgence. Although he remained unable to secure directorial work, he did appear in the major studio films Mr. Saturday Night and Funny Bones. Additionally, he starred on Broadway in a successful revival of Damn Yankees and in 1996, The Nutty Professor was remade by Eddie Murphy. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
(born March 16, 1926, Newark, N.J., U.S.) U.S. actor, director, and producer. In 1946 he developed a nightclub comedy routine with Dean Martin (1917 – 95), who played the suave crooner to Lewis's zany clown, and they appeared together in 16 movies, including My Friend Irma (1949) and Pardners (1956), before ending their partnership in 1956. Lewis then directed, produced, and acted in movies such as The Bellboy (1960) and The Nutty Professor (1963). These films, along with his collaborations with director Frank Tashlin, led many critics (especially in Europe) to regard Lewis as the comic heir to Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. Since 1966 Lewis has hosted the U.S. annual Muscular Dystrophy Telethon.
1926–, American comedian, b. Newark, N.J. as Joseph Levitch. Known for his slapstick portrayals replete with facial mugging and sight gags, Lewis teamed (1946–56) with singer Dean Martin for a series of nightclub appearances and films. Among the films Lewis has starred in and directed are The Bell Boy (1960), The Ladies' Man (1961), and The Nutty Professor (1963). Enormously popular in France, he left film work in 1970 and concentrated his energies on his activities as chairman of the Muscular Dystrophy foundation. He made an unsuccessful comeback as director in the early 1980s, but won acclaim for his dramatic performance in Scorsese's The King of Comedy (1983).
Bibliography
See his memoir Dean and Me (with J. Kaplan, 2005).
Comedian, actor, film producer, writer and director known for his slapstick humor and his charity fund-raising telethons for
the Muscular Dystrophy Association.
Jerry Lewis (born on March 16, 1926, according to most
sources), is a comedian, actor, film producer, writer and film director known for his slapstick humor and his charity fund-raising telethons for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. 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. Lewis currently resides in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Lewis was originally paired up in 1946 with Dean Martin, and formed the comedy team of
Martin and Lewis. In addition to the team's popular nightclub work, they starred in a
successful series of comedy films for Paramount Pictures. The act broke up ten years
later.
Career
Lewis was born in Newark, New Jersey, to a Jewish
family. His birth name was Joseph Levitch, though Shawn Levy's biography, "King of Comedy," claims this is untrue and that
Lewis' name at birth was Jerome Levitch. His father was a vaudeville performer. He started performing at the age of five
and by the age of fifteen developed his Record Act, in which he mimed lyrics of operatic and popular songs to a phonograph.
Lewis gained initial fame with singer Dean Martin, who served as a straight man to
Lewis's 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 1940s, they quickly rose to national prominence, first with their popular nightclub act and then as film stars
in a string of movies for Paramount Pictures . They also appeared on live television, particularly The Colgate Comedy Hour.
The partnership strained as Martin's roles in their films became less important. Martin's diminished participation became an
embarrassment in 1954, when Look magazine used a publicity photo of the
team for the magazine cover, but cropped Martin out of the photo. The partnership finally ended in 1956.
Both Martin and Lewis went on to successful solo careers, but for years neither would comment on the split, nor consider a
reunion. The next time they were seen together in public was a surprise appearance by Martin on Lewis's telethon in 1976,
arranged by Frank Sinatra. Lewis wrote of his kinship with Martin (who died in 1995) in
the 2005 book Dean and Me (A Love Story). Although the pair eventually reconciled in the late-1980s after the death of
Martin's son, the two men never held another public reunion.
Jerry Lewis, comedy star
After the split, Lewis remained at Paramount and became a major comedy star with his debut film The Delicate Delinquent in 1957. Teaming with director Frank
Tashlin, whose background as a Looney Tunes director suited Lewis's brand of humor, he starred in five more films, and
even appeared uncredited as Itchy McRabbitt in Li'l Abner (1959).
In 1960 Paramount needed a quickie feature film to fill its release schedule, and asked Lewis to produce it. Lewis came up
with The Bellboy. 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. Bill Richmond collaborated with him on the many sight gags. During production,
Lewis developed the technique of using video cameras and multiple closed circuit monitors, allowing him to view scenes while he
was filming them. This allowed him to review his performance instantly. Later, he incorporated videotape, and as more portable
and affordable equipment became available, this technique would become an industry standard known as video assist.
By 1966 Lewis, now 40, was no longer an angular juvenile and his routines seemed slower and more labored. His box office
appeal waned, to the point where Paramount Pictures' new executive suite felt no further need for the Lewis comedies. Undaunted,
Lewis simply packed up and went to Columbia Pictures, where he made several more comedies.
Later, Lewis pursued several personal movie projects. He starred in and directed the unreleased The Day The Clown Cried in 1972. The film was a drama set in a Nazi concentration camp.
Lewis has explained why the film has not been released by suggesting litigation over post-production financial difficulties. More
importantly, however, he recently admitted during his book tour for Dean and Me that a major factor for the film's burial
is that he is not proud of the effort.
Lewis returned to the screen in 1981 with Hardly Working, a film he both
directed and starred in. Despite being panned by the critics, the film did eventually earn $50 million. 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 obsessive
fans (played by Robert De Niro and Sandra
Bernhard). The role had been based on and originally offered to Johnny Carson. Lewis continued doing work in small films
in the 1990s, most notably his supporting role in Arizona Dream (1994), and his
last picture Funny Bones (1995).
Lewis and his popular movie characters were animated in the cartoon series Will the Real Jerry Lewis Please Sit Down which premiered on
ABC in 1970 and then ended in 1972. The show was produced at Filmation
Studios in partnership with Lewis, and starred David Lander (later of Laverne and
Shirley fame) as the voice of the animated Jerry Lewis character.
Lewis remained popular in Europe: 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. In March 2006 the French Minister of Culture awarded Lewis the 'Legion of Honor' calling him the 'French
people's favorite clown.' [1] Liking Lewis has long been a common stereotype about the French in the minds of many Americans, and is often the object of jokes in U.S. pop
culture.
Charitable work
Lewis helped establish the Muscular Dystrophy Association in 1952, and has organized a Labor Day telethon to help raise money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) since 1966. His efforts have helped raise
approximately US$2 billion for neuromuscular patient care and research. In the early years it was Martin and Lewis raising money
for MDA, and then Lewis continued on when he went solo. The International Association of Fire Fighters is the largest single
sponsor of the Muscular Dystrophy Association, starting in 1954, and has donated over $250 million dollars to date. Lewis has
served as National Chairman of the association since 1952.[2]
Lewis is one of few fundraisers who brings in more than is actually pledged. This is because many donors as they write a check
add extra money to help "Jerry's Kids" given his generosity and no-pressure appeal. [citation needed] In 1985, he received a US Department
of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service. In September 2005 Lewis was slated to receive the Governor's Award from the
Academy of Television Arts & 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 Frank
Sinatra, who surprised Lewis by reuniting him 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. He has also hosted the 1987 and 1991 editions of the French Muscular Dystrophy Téléthon, where he is known for his work
against this disease.
Lewis has suffered years of back pain due to a failed slapstick stunt on an Andy
Williams television special in 1966 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 has battled prostate cancer, diabetes, pulmonary fibrosis, and has had two heart attacks. Medical
treatment for the fibrosis in the early 2000s caused the comedian to experience weight gain and bloating that noticeably changed
his appearance. Lewis suffered a serious heart attack in the 1980s, and second minor heart attack on June 11, 2006 at the end of
a cross-country commercial airline flight en route home from New York City. [3] It was later found
that he had pneumonia. Lewis had two stents inserted into an artery in his heart that was 90% blocked, and it restored full blood
flow to his heart. This has allowed him to continue his rebound from the lung issues he suffered from 2001-2005 and his health
has improved. While it meant cancelling several major events for Lewis, he recuperated in a matter of weeks.
Controversy
Jerry Lewis has been criticized by members of the disability rights
community. 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."[4] Many in the
disabled community viewed his remarks as prejudicial, contributing to the idea that disabled people are "childlike, helpless,
hopeless, non functioning and noncontributing members of society."[5]
In February of 2000, Jerry Lewis stunned an audience gathered to honor his work at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival by saying he
doesn't like female comics. Lewis said, "I don't like any female comedians. A woman doing comedy doesn't offend me, but sets me
back a bit. I, as a viewer, have trouble with it. I think of her as a producing machine that brings babies in the world."
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. As recently as 2006, he has
continued to ignore the criticism, characterizing them as "inconsequential troublemakers" whose numbers are tiny in comparison to
the millions of people his charity has supported.[6]
During the 2007 Labor Day Telethon, Lewis used an offensive slur for LBGT people live on air.
While talking to a cameraman, he joked: "Oh, your family has come to see you. You remember Bart, your oldest son, Jesse, the
illiterate fag--no..." He apparently caught himself and ceased the gag in mid-sentence, turning on his heel away from the
camera.[7][8] He later
apologized.[9].
Family
Lewis is the father of 1960s pop musician Gary Lewis, who had several hits
during the mid-1960s with his group Gary Lewis and the Playboys. He has
five other sons: Joseph, Ronald, Scott, Christopher and Anthony and an adopted daughter Danielle (b. Mar-1992).
