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01
In 1998, Golden Globe winner Ving Rhames surprised Lemmon by calling him to the stage and handing him the award for Best Actor in a TV Movie, which Rhames had just won, as a tribute to the veteran actor.
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02
Lemmon’s father, a bakery executive, initially disapproved of his son’s acting career but advised him to continue only as long as he felt passion, adding ‘The day I don’t find romance in a loaf of bread… His dying words to Jack were Spread a little sunshine.
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03
Lemmon would say ‘It’s magic time’ before every take.
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04
He is one of only six actors to win both a leading and supporting Oscar, alongside Gene Hackman, Kevin Spacey, Robert De Niro, Jack Nicholson, and Denzel Washington. He was the first to achieve this.
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05
Lemmon admitted to a serious drinking problem, which made his Oscar-winning role as Harry Stoner in Save the Tiger 1973 one of the most personally gratifying performances of his career.
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06
He was the only actor offered the role of George in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? 1966 before Richard Burton was cast; he accepted but changed his mind the next day without explanation.
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07
Kevin Spacey dedicated his Oscar for American Beauty 1999 to Lemmon.
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08
Lemmon holds the record for most Golden Globe nominations for acting 22 total.
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09
His headstone reads Jack Lemmon in.
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10
He appeared on The Simpsons 1989, convincing Marge to enter the pretzel business. His Glengarry Glen Ross character Shelley Levene inspired the Simpsons character Gil.
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11
Lemmon was born on February 8, 1925, in an elevator at Newton-Wellesley Hospital in Newton, Massachusetts.
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12
During World War II, he served as a communications officer aboard the aircraft carrier USS Lake Champlain CV-39.
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13
He described his flamboyant mother as Tallulah Bankhead on a road show and joked that she tried to have her ashes placed on the bar at the Ritz in Boston, which management refused.
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14
Kevin Spacey has said that working with Lemmon on stage in Long Day’s Journey into Night 1987 was transformative; Lemmon’s kindness convinced Spacey that being a great actor and a good person were not mutually exclusive.
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15
Lemmon died just four days shy of one year after his frequent co-star Walter Matthau.
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16
An accomplished self-taught pianist, he wrote the theme for the movie Tribute 1980 and played jazz in a Bobby Short TV special.
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17
He directed one Oscar-nominated performance: Walter Matthau in Kotch 1971.
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18
A passionate but unskilled golfer, he tried for 33 years to make the cut at Pebble Beach but never succeeded.
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19
His performance as Jerry/Daphne in Some Like It Hot 1959 is ranked #29 on Premiere Magazine’s 100 Greatest Movie Characters.
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20
He was just 17 years younger than Burgess Meredith, who played his father in Grumpy Old Men 1993 and Grumpier Old Men 1995.
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21
He is one of four people to win acting prizes at the three major film festivals: Venice, Cannes, and Berlin. The others are Julianne Moore, Sean Penn, and Juliette Binoche, all of whom also won Oscars. Lemmon was the first.
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22
Billy Wilder directed Lemmon in seven movies: The Apartment 1960, Avanti! 1972, Buddy Buddy 1981, The Fortune Cookie 1966, The Front Page 1974, Irma la Douce 1963, and Some Like It Hot 1959.
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23
He appeared in four Best Picture Oscar nominees: Mister Roberts 1955, The Apartment 1960, Missing 1982, and JFK 1991. The Apartment won.
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24
He openly admitted on Inside the Actors Studio 1994 that he was an alcoholic.
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25
Lemmon and Walter Matthau acted together in ten movies: The Fortune Cookie 1966, The Odd Couple 1968, The Front Page 1974, Buddy Buddy 1981, JFK 1991, Grumpy Old Men 1993, Grumpier Old Men 1995, The Grass Harp 1995, Out to Sea 1997, and The Odd Couple II 1998. Lemmon also directed Matthau in Kotch 1971.
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26
He turned down the lead in Cool Hand Luke 1967, feeling Paul Newman was better suited, though his production company made the film.
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27
He is best remembered for playing the average Joe and for his many roles opposite Walter Matthau.
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28
He was voted the 45th Greatest Movie Star of all time by Premiere Magazine.
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29
He did all his own stunts for My Fellow Americans 1996.
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30
He was the first actor to win two Best Actor awards at the Cannes Film Festival Dean Stockwell had won twice but shared both awards with co-stars.
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31
Lemmon was the top male Box Office Star of 1964 per Quigley Publications and ranked in the Top 10 eight times between 1960 and 1970.
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32
The Simpsons character Gil is based on Lemmon’s Shelley Levene from Glengarry Glen Ross 1992.
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33
During his early days at Columbia Pictures, studio head Harry Cohn wanted him to change his name to Jack Lennon, fearing critics would say ‘Jack Lemmon’s performance is a lemon. Lemmon convinced Cohn that Lennon would evoke Vladimir Lenin, which in the McCarthy era was unacceptable, so he kept his name.
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34
To golfers, Lemmon was known as the star of the celebrity-packed third round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. His gallery was large, and the amateur who helps his team most receives the Jack Lemmon Award.
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35
Paul Newman offered him a role in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid 1969, but he was busy with The Odd Couple 1968 and disliked horse riding.
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36
He was a 1947 graduate of Harvard University.
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37
Baskin-Robbins once had an ice cream flavor named Jack Lemmon, which was produced into the early 1980s but has since been discontinued.
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38
He appeared in three films selected for the National Film Registry: Some Like It Hot 1959, The Apartment 1960, and Days of Wine and Roses 1962.
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39
As a child, kids taunted him with Jack, u lemon because his middle initial was U.
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40
He was good friends with Walter Matthau and Biff Elliot.
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41
The China Syndrome 1979 was the only film where his character died.
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42
His son Chris Lemmon appeared with him in Airport ’77 1977.
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43
He turned down the role of Walt Whitaker in The Russians Are Coming the Russians Are Coming 1966, which went to Carl Reiner.
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44
He was a Harvard graduate with five years of experience in radio, television, and summer stock.
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45
His father, John Uhler Lemmon II, had an uncredited role in The Notorious Landlady 1962.
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46
He was president of the Harvard Hasty Pudding Club.
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47
He starred opposite Henry Fonda in Mister Roberts 1955 and opposite Henry’s daughter Jane Fonda in The China Syndrome 1979.
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48
He lobbied for the role of Captain John Yossarian in Catch-22 1970.
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49
Producer Howard Koch originally wanted Art Carney for the role of Felix in The Odd Couple 1968, but Paramount production chief Robert Evans wanted Lemmon, who was a superstar. Carney later won the Best Actor Oscar for Harry and Tonto 1974.
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50
He was considered for the role of Colorado Ryan in Rio Bravo 1959, which went to Ricky Nelson.
