Jack Nicholson

Jack Nicholson (born John Joseph Nicholson April 22, 1937) is a highly successful, iconic American method actor. He is best known to his friends as Pickles for portraying antagonistic, cynical, neurotic and aggressive characters. He received Kennedy Center Honors in 2001, and has been nominated for an Academy Award a dozen times, winning three of them. He has also won seven Golden Globe Awards.

Acting Career

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, and Little Shop of Horrors, in which he had a small role as a masochistic dental patient.

Related Topics:
Roger Corman - The Cry Baby Killer - 1958 - Little Shop of Horrors

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His work with Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper on the LSD-fueled The Trip led to his real break. That film led to a small supporting role in Easy Rider (1969), 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.

Related Topics:
Peter Fonda - Dennis Hopper - LSD - The Trip - Easy Rider - 1969 - Five Easy Pieces - 1970 - Chicken salad

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Other early movies he is known for include Hal Ashby's The Last Detail (1973), Roman Polanski's Chinatown (1974), Milos Forman's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which he received his first Oscar, and Stanley Kubrick's The Shining. Nicholson won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Terms of Endearment (1983).

Related Topics:
Hal Ashby - The Last Detail - 1973 - Roman Polanski - Chinatown - 1974 - Milos Forman - One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - 1975 - Stanley Kubrick - The Shining - Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor - Terms of Endearment - 1983

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The 1989 Batman, where Nicholson played the supervillain The Joker, was an international smash hit, and a lucrative percentage deal earned Nicholson about $50 million http://www.filmaction.com/hollywood%20eh.htm.

Related Topics:
1989 - Batman - The Joker

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For his role as hotheaded Col. Nathan R. Jessep in A Few Good Men (1992), a dark 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.

Related Topics:
A Few Good Men - 1992 - "You can't handle the truth!"

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Not all of Nicholson's performances are praised; his take on the U.S. President in Mars Attacks! (1996) was widely criticized for being over-the-top and unfunny.

Related Topics:
Mars Attacks! - 1996

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Nicholson would go on to win his next Oscar for his role as the neurotic lead in the romance As Good As It Gets (1997).

Related Topics:
As Good As It Gets - 1997

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The September 11, 2001 attacks led Nicholson to focus on comedies. 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 alongside Adam Sandler. His most recent film is the 2003 Something's Gotta Give.

Related Topics:
September 11, 2001 attacks - Comedies - About Schmidt - 2002 - Omaha, Nebraska - Anger Management - Adam Sandler - 2003 - Something's Gotta Give

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