Jack Lemmon

Jack Uhler Lemmon III (February 8, 1925 – June 27, 2001) was a consummate Hollywood actor.

Related Topics:
February 8 - 1925 - June 27 - 2001 - Hollywood - Actor

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Jack was born in Newton, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston. His father was a successful businessman in the Boston area. Lemmon attended Harvard, where he served as president of the Hasty Pudding Club. He joined the Navy, serving as an ensign, after which took up acting professionally, working on radio and early television and on Broadway.

Related Topics:
Newton, Massachusetts - Boston - Harvard - Hasty Pudding Club - Navy - Ensign - Broadway

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Lemmon's film debut was a bit part in the 1949 film The Lady Takes a Sailor, but got noticed in his official debut opposite Judy Holliday in It Should Happen to You (1954).

Related Topics:
1949 - The Lady Takes a Sailor - Judy Holliday - It Should Happen to You - 1954

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Lemmon was awarded two Academy Awards: Best Supporting Actor for Mister Roberts (1955), Best Actor for Save the Tiger (1973). He was also awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the American Film Institute in 1988.

Related Topics:
Academy Award - Best Supporting Actor - Mister Roberts - 1955 - Best Actor - Save the Tiger - 1973 - American Film Institute - 1988

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Lemmon was a favourite of director Billy Wilder, and did a series of films with Wilder, including Some Like It Hot, The Apartment, and Irma La Douce.

Related Topics:
Billy Wilder - Some Like It Hot - The Apartment - Irma La Douce

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Twice married, he was a devoted father, and one of the best-liked actors in Hollywood. Later in his career as an already legendary actor, he was performing onstage where one it's patrons was a teenaged Kevin Spacey, whom later met Lemmon backstage. In a tribute he wrote to Jack Lemmon, Spacey recalled that the actor personally took a few minutes of his time to speak to him about pursuing an acting career. Spacey later went onto work with Lemmon in Glengarry Glen Ross in one of the film's most electrifying scenes when Lemmon begs Spacey's character for another shot at making a sale.

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In June 2001, he died from cancer at the age of 76, and was interred in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Westwood, Los Angeles, California. Walter Matthau - his costar from several films - had also been buried at the cemetery.

Related Topics:
2001 - Cancer - Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery - Westwood, Los Angeles, California - Walter Matthau

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After Matthau's death, Lemmon as well as other other friends and relatives had appeared on Larry King Live in an hour of tribute and remembrance. Poignantly, many of those same people appeared on the show almost exactly one year later, this time reminiscing about Lemmon.

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