Jack Lemmon's father was the president of a doughnut company, and Jack attended prep schools before Harvard, where he was in the Dramatic Club. After service as a Navy ensign, he worked in a beer hall (playing piano), on radio, off Broadway, TV and Broadway. His movie debut was with Judy Holliday in It Should Happen to You. He won Best Supporting Actor as Ensign Pulver in Mister Roberts. He received nominations in comedy (Some Like It Hot, The Apartment) and drama (Days of Wine and Roses, The China Syndrome, Tribute and Missing). He won the Best Actor Oscar for Save the Tiger and the Cannes Best Actor award for "Syndrome" and "Missing". He made his debut as a director with Kotch and in 1985 on Broadway in "Long Day's Journey into Night". In 1988 he received the Life Achievement Award of the American Film Institute.


Save the Tiger (1973): Scale and % of profits.
The Odd Couple (1968): $1,000,000 + %
The Great Race (1965): $125,000
Irma la Douce (1963): $350,000 + 7.5% of the gross.
The Apartment (1960): $175,000
Some Like It Hot (1959): $100,000

An accomplished, self-taught pianist, he wrote the theme for the movie Tribute (1980) and played jazz in a Bobby Short TV special. His son, Chris Lemmon, appeared with him in Airport '77 (1977). Daughter, Courtney Lemmon (b. 1966), with Felicia Farr. Lemmon admitted to having had a serious drinking problem at one time, which is one reason he looked back on his Oscar-winning role as Harry Stoner in Save the Tiger (1973) as perhaps the most gratifying, emotionally fulfilling performance of his career. Described his flamboyant, authoritarian mother as "Tallulah Bankhead on a road show." Laughed about how she used to hang out with her girlfriends at the Ritz Bar in Boston and how she tried to have her cremation ashes placed on the bar (the management refused). In Harvard, he was in Navy ROTC and graduated with a degree in "War Service Sciences." Lemmon's dad, a bakery executive, didn't approve of his son taking up acting, but told him he should continue with it only as long as he felt passion for it, adding: "The day I don't find romance in a loaf of bread..." His dying words to Jack were: "Spread a little sunshine." 1947 graduate of Harvard University. Was president of the Harvard Hasty Pudding Club. During WW II, he served in the Naval Reserve and was the communications officer on the USS Lake Champlain. Is a recipient of the Connor Award, an award given to someone who displays an excellence in the communicative arts, handed out by the brothers of the fraternity Phi Alpha Tau from Emerson College in Boston. He was voted the 33rd Greatest Movie Star of all time by Entertainment Weekly. Appeared on an episode of "The Simpsons" (1989), in which he convinced Marge to get into the pretzel business. Shelley Levene, his character from Glengarry Glen Ross (1992), was the inspiration for another Simpsons character, the usually jobless Gil, who Marge first met while working at a real estate firm. Did all of his own stunts for My Fellow Americans (1996). He and Walter Matthau acted together in 10 movies: Buddy Buddy (1981), The Fortune Cookie (1966), The Front Page (1974), The Grass Harp (1995), Grumpier Old Men (1995), Grumpy Old Men (1993), JFK (1991), The Odd Couple II (1998), The Odd Couple (1968) and Out to Sea (1997). Lemmon also directed Matthau in Kotch (1971). He and The China Syndrome (1979) co-stars Michael Douglas and Jane Fonda have all won Oscars for Leading Roles. Lemmon won for Save the Tiger (1973), Fonda won for Klute (1971), and Douglas won for Wall Street (1987). Appears in Mister Roberts (1955) with Henry Fonda, in which he takes over Fonda's position of Cargo Officer when Fonda is transferred off the USS Reluctant. In 12 Angry Men (1997) (TV), Lemmon plays the same juror that Fonda played in the original. A passionate but unskilled golfer who tried for 33 years to make the cut at Pebble Beach but didn't. His performance as Jerry/Daphne in Some Like It Hot (1959) is ranked #29 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time. Owner of Jalem Productions, which co-produced many of his films as well as Cool Hand Luke (1967) starring Paul Newman. Holds the record for most Golden Globe nominations for acting, including both actors and actresses (22 total). During his early days as a contract player with Columbia Pictures, studio head Harry Cohn wanted Lemmon to change his screen name to "Jack Lennon." Cohn feared that critics would make use of Lemmon's last name (i.e., "Jack Lemmon's performance in the film is a lemon."). Lemmon convinced Conn if he changed his name to "Lennon," everyone would think that he was related to V.I. Lenin, the founder of Soviet Communism (this was the 1950s, the time of the McCarthy "Red Scare", and years before the appearance of John Lennon and The Beatles). Referring to Vladimir Lenin, Cohn told Lemmon, "No, that's wrong. They pronounce his name 'Len-IN." "No," Lemmon replied, firmly. "It's pronounced 'LEN-in." After making a phone call to a Russian associate, who confirmed that Lenin's name was pronounced "LEN-in",' Cohn agreed to let Lemmon keep his own name. Openly admitted on "Inside the Actors Studio" (1994) that he was an alcoholic.