He is, at once, one of the most reviled and revered film comedy stars in the world. Looked down upon in America as a hopelessly juvenile and uninspired comedian, he is exalted in Europe (particularly France), where he is seen as a modern-day Chaplin. His place in the Hollywood canon falls somewhere between the two extremes. A comic actor, director, writer, and producer, Jerry Lewis's film persona of the childlike goofball has sustained him through more than 40 movies. His film career can be divided neatly into three periods: the amusing Martin and Jerry Lewis movies, the brilliant solo years, and the startlingly rapid decline.
Born Joseph Levitch to a show-business family, Jerry Lewis joined his parents' act, singing with them on stage when he was five years old. But his real training came from performing in the Catskill Mountains resort area north of New York City known as the Borscht Belt, where he honed his stand-up comedy routine. Jerry Lewis didn't have much success as a solo performer, but in 1946 he joined with another young alsoran, Dean Martin, to form a team in Atlantic City; they became an overnight sensation.
Jerry Lewis was the comic to Martin's crooning straight man, and the team's nightclub success led with surprising speed to a supporting role in their first film, My Friend Irma (1949). The movie was mediocre, but it was a big money-maker, thanks to the popularity of Martin and Jerry Lewis, who were a zanier version of Abbott and Costello. They were quickly rushed into a starring vehicle of their own, My Friend Irma Goes West (1950), and continued making films together until 1956. There were 16 Martin and Jerry Lewis films altogether, every one of which was a commercial hit. Among the better efforts were Living It Up (1954), Artists and Models (1955), and Pardners (1956).
When Martin quit the team, Jerry Lewis began to take greater control of his solo career. He had a hit record (Rockabye Your Baby - later the title of one of his films) and soon began to produce, write, and direct his own movies. His first solo effort was The Delicate Delinquent (1957), a movie not unlike his films with Dean Martin. But Jerry Lewis began to experiment and grow as a filmmaker, learning from director Frank Tashlin, and in the early 1960s he wrote, directed, and produced a handful of excellent comedies, including two masterpieces, The Ladies' Man (1961) and The Nutty Professor (1963). His other fine films of that era were The Bellboy (1960), The Errand Boy (1961), and The Patsy (1964).
After The Family Jewels (1965), an overripe film in which Jerry Lewis played seven roles, the quality of his movies dropped precipitously. Nonetheless, his comedies continued to be profitable for a short while longer, adding to a remarkable record of more than 37 straight hits (a streak that includes his Martin and Jerry Lewis movies). His later films, such as Hook, Line and Sinker (1969) and Which Way to the Front? (1970), were pale imitations of his early 1960s works, and they were part of a series of commercial flops that made it difficult for him to find financing.
One reason commonly given for Jerry Lewis's demise as a comic film star is that he played a character who had to be young. Playing his sincere idiot as a middle-aged man became embarrassing rather than amusing. There was, therefore, something infinitely sad about Jerry Lewis's return to film comedy in the same old role in Hardly Working (1979). Afterward, however, Jerry Lewis began to play dramatic parts to great effect. His portrayal of a Johnny Carson–like talk show host in MARTIN SCORSESE's The King of Comedy (1983) and a dramatic TV movie role as the father of a dying child, finally brought him good reviews from American critics. "Le Roi de Crazy," as Jerry Lewis is known to his French fans, received the French Legion of Honor award in 1984, the same year he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Jerry Lewis later made his first live appearance on France's Comédie channel in September 1995. In 1998 Jerry Lewis received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the American Comedy Awards ceremony.
During the 1990s, Jerry Lewis appeared with JOHNNY DEPP and FAYE DUNAWAY in Arizona Dreams (1991) and in the Peter Chelsom film Funnybones (1995), in which he played a comic whose achievements overwhelm his son, who subsequently discovers that his father has stolen most of his routines. Jerry Lewis wrote and directed "Boy," a critically acclaimed segment for a UNICEF film. In 1995 Jerry Lewis appeared on Broadway as the Devil in Damn Yankees and then toured with this production nationally and internationally until 1997.
In addition to his film work, Jerry Lewis has three times tried and failed as the host of a television series. He has also consistently worked in nightclubs. Though his film career has faded, he is universally known in America as the host and driving force of the Jerry Jerry Lewis Telethon, which raises money to fight muscular dystrophy. Jerry Lewis and his telethon have become a television institution. Broadcast every Labor Day weekend, the show has been on the air since 1965.
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1. Robert Aldrich produced many social and political movies
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