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Jack Nicholson
Jack Nicholson (right) and Dennis Hopper at the 62nd Academy Awards, March 26, 1990
Born	John Joseph Nicholson
Other names	Mulholland Man
Height	5 ft 9¾ in (1.77 m)
Spouse	Sandra Knight (June 17 1962 - August 8 1968) (divorced) 1 child

John Joseph Nicholson, better known as Jack Nicholson (born April 22, 1937 in Neptune, New Jersey) is an iconic, three-time Academy Award and seven time Golden Globe winning American method actor known for his often dark-themed portrayals of neurotic characters. He is considered to be one of the world's greatest living actors.

He has been nominated for an Academy Award 12 times (winning 3 of them), more than any other male actor, and second only to Meryl Streep (who has 14 nominations and 2 wins) in total nominations. He is tied with Walter Brennan for most wins by a male actor, and second to Katharine Hepburn for most acting wins overall (Hepburn had 4).

He has also won seven Golden Globe Awards and he received a Kennedy Center Honors in 2001.

Biography and personal life

Nicholson was born at Jersey Shore Medical Center in Neptune, New Jersey to a showgirl, June Frances Nicholson (stage name June Nilson). June had married showman Donald Furcillo (stage name Donald Rose) 6 months earlier in Elkton, Maryland, on October 16, 1936. Elkton was a town known for its "quickie" marriages. Furcillo however, was already married, and, although he offered to take care of the child, June's mother Ethel insisted that she bring up the baby, partly so that June could pursue her dancing career. Furcillo's parents were Italian Americans, while June Nicholson was of Irish/American descent on her father's side. His surname comes from his English descent on his mother's side .

Nicholson was brought up believing his grandparents John J. Nicholson (a department store window dresser in Asbury Park, New Jersey) and Ethel May Rhoads (a hairdresser and beautician and amateur artist in Neptune, New Jersey) were his parents. He attended high school at nearby Manasquan High School, where a drama award was later named in his honour. Nicholson only discovered that his parents were actually his grandparents and his sister was in fact his mother in 1974 after being informed by a Time Magazine journalist who was doing a feature on him . By this time both his mother and grandmother had died (in 1963 and 1970, respectively). Nicholson has stated he does not know who his father is, saying "Only Ethel and June knew and they never told anybody" .

Although Donald Furcillo claimed to be Nicholson's father and to have committed bigamy by marrying June, biographer Patrick McGilligan, who wrote Jack's Life (published in December 1995) asserted that Eddie King, June's manager, may be the father and other sources have suggested that June Nicholson was unsure of who the father was. Jack Nicholson has chosen not to have a DNA test or to pursue the matter.

In his adult personal life, Nicholson has been notorious for his inability to "settle down". He has five children by four different women despite only being married once.

• Jennifer Nicholson with former wife Sandra Knight
• Caleb Goddard with Susan Anspach, his Five Easy Pieces co-star
• Honey Hollman with Danish model Winnie Hollman
• Lorraine Nicholson and Raymond Nicholson with Rebecca Broussard.

He has been romantically linked to numerous actresses and models for decades. Nicholson's longest relationship was for 17 years to actress Anjelica Huston, the daughter of film director John Huston. However, the relationship ended when the news reported that Rebecca Broussard had become pregnant with his child.

Although he was brought up as a Roman Catholic, Nicholson told Vanity Fair in 1992 that he did not believe in God. Although Nicholson is personally against abortion, he is pro-choice.

Early acting career

Nicholson started his career as an actor, writer, and producer, working for and with Roger Corman, among others. This included his screen debut in The Cry Baby Killer (1958), where he played a juvenile delinquent who panics after shooting two other teenagers, The Little Shop of Horrors (1960), in which he had a small role as a masochistic dental patient, and roles in two other Roger Corman films The Raven (1963) and The Terror (his first directing role for one day)(1963), co-starring then-wife Sandra Knight.

As the 60's progressed, and with acting jobs still not easy to find, Nicholson began writing more often. The result of this included Thunder Island (1963), Flight to Fury (1964), Ride in the Whirlwind (1965), and The Monkees' vehicle Head (1968). These films enjoyed little if any success, but the young Nicholson was finally working more steadily. In the TV sitcom world, he also made appearances in two episodes of The Andy Griffith Show as Marvin Jenkins in 1966-1967.

Rise to fame

With his acting career heading nowhere, Nicholson seemed resigned to a career behind the camera as a writer/director. His first real taste of writing success was the LSD-fueled screenplay for 1967's The Trip, which starred Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper. However, after a spot opened up in Fonda and Hopper's Easy Rider, it led to his first big acting break. Nicholson played hard-drinking lawyer George Hanson, 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. Also that year, he appeared in the movie adaptation of On a Clear Day You Can See Forever as Daisy Gamble (Barbra Streisand)'s stepbrother.

More of his earlier and notable film roles: Hal Ashby's The Last Detail (1973) and the classic Roman Polanski noir thriller, Chinatown (1974). Nicholson was nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role for both films. Nicholson also starred in The Who's Tommy (1975), directed by Ken Russell, and Michelangelo Antonioni's The Passenger (1975).

An American icon

Nicholson earned his first Academy Award for Best Actor for portraying Randall P. McMurphy in the movie adaptation of Ken Kesey's novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, directed by Miloš Forman in 1975. His Academy Award for Best Actor was matched with the Academy Award for Best Actress given to Louise Fletcher for her portrayal of Nurse Ratched.

Although he didn't garner any Oscar attention for Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of Stephen King's The Shining (1980), it remains one of Nicholson's most significant roles.

His next Oscar, the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, came for his role of Garrett Breedlove, retired astronaut, in Terms of Endearment (1983).

Nicholson continued to work prolifically in the 80's, starring in such films as The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981), Reds (1981), Prizzi's Honor (1985), The Witches of Eastwick (1987), and Ironweed (1987). Three Academy Award nominations also followed (Reds, Prizzi's Honor, and Ironweed).

The 1989 Batman movie, where Nicholson played The Joker, was an international smash hit, and a lucrative percentage deal earned Nicholson about $60 million. Nicholson was to reprise his role as The Joker in the fifth installment in the franchise Batman Triumphant in 1999, however Warner Bros. Pictures cancelled the project.

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

Not all of Nicholson's performances have been well-received. He was nominated for Razzie Awards as worst actor for Man Trouble (1992) and Hoffa (1992). However, the latter is a bit odd, as Nicholson's performance in Hoffa also earned a Golden Globe nomination.

Nicholson would go on to win his next Best Actor Oscar for his role as Melvin Udall, a neurotic author with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), in the romance As Good as It Gets (1997). Nicholson's Oscar was matched with the Academy Award for Best Actress honor for Helen Hunt as a Manhattan waitress drawn into a love/hate friendship with Udall, a frequent diner.

Recent years

In About Schmidt (2002), Nicholson portrayed a retired Omaha, Nebraska actuary who questions his own life and the death of his wife shortly afterward. His quiet, restrained performance stood in sharp contrast to many of his previous roles, and earned him an Academy Award Nomination for Best Actor.

In the comedy Anger Management, he plays an aggressive therapist assigned to help overly pacifist Adam Sandler.

In 2003, Nicholson starred in Something's Gotta Give as an aging playboy who falls for the mother (Diane Keaton) of his young girlfriend.

In late 2006, Nicholson marked his return to the "dark side" as Frank Costello, a sadistic Boston Irish Mob boss presiding over Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio in Martin Scorsese's The Departed, a remake of Andrew Lau's Infernal Affairs.

Current and future projects

In November 2006, Nicholson began filming his next project, Rob Reiner's The Bucket List. The film will star him and Morgan Freeman as dying men who must fulfill their list of goals. The film is tentatively scheduled to be released in late 2007.

Academy Awards and nominations

With 12 nominations thus far (8 for Best Actor and 4 for Best Supporting Actor), Jack Nicholson is the most nominated male actor in Academy Awards history:

• Best Actor in a Leading Role
  • 1970 - Nominated - Five Easy Pieces
  • 1973 - Nominated - The Last Detail
  • 1974 - Nominated - Chinatown
  • 1975 - Won - One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
  • 1985 - Nominated - Prizzi's Honor
  • 1987 - Nominated - Ironweed
  • 1997 - Won - As Good As It Gets
  • 2002 - Nominated - About Schmidt

• Best Actor in a Supporting Role
  • 1969 - Nominated - Easy Rider
  • 1981 - Nominated - Reds
  • 1983 - Won - Terms of Endearment
  • 1992 - Nominated - A Few Good Men

Trivia

• As first seen at the 2007 Academy Awards, Jack has fully shaved his hair.
• He has been nominated for an acting (lead or supporting) Academy Award in five different decades: 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s. The only other actor who can say the same is Michael Caine.
• He was known to his high school friends as "Nick", and was voted "class clown" by the Class of 1954 at Manasquan High School. In 2004, Nicholson attended his 50 year high school reunion, much to the surprise and delight of his fellow classmates. A theatre at the school is named in his honor .

• When he first came to Hollywood, Nicholson worked as a go-fer for animation legends, Hanna-Barbera. Seeing his talent as an artist, they offered Nicholson a starting level position as an animation artist. However, citing his desire to become an actor, he declined.
• He is a fan of the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Lakers. His attendance at Lakers games is almost legendary, as he has been spotted sitting courtside for the past 25 years at both The Forum and the Staples Center. In a few instances, Nicholson has engaged in arguments with game officials and opposing players, and has even walked onto the court . Those working on his films must sometimes work around his affection for the Lakers .
• In addition to his walking on the court, Nicholson was arguing with officials so much during a 2001 Lakers playoff game that he was assessed a technical foul.
• Nicholson lived next door to Marlon Brando for a number of years on Mulholland Drive in Beverly Hills. Warren Beatty also lived nearby, earning the road the nickname "Bad Boy Drive". After Brando's death in 2004, Nicholson purchased his neighbor's bungalow for $6.1 million, with the purpose of having it demolished. Nicholson stated that it was done out of respect to Brando's legacy, as the house had become derelict .
• Actor Harry Dean Stanton served as the best man at Nicholson's wedding, and the two have appeared in six films together. He is also a close friend of film director Roman Polanski, whom he has supported through many personal crises including the death of his wife, Sharon Tate, at the hands of the Manson Family. He also supported Polanski through his conviction for statutory rape, a crime which allegedly took place on the Nicholson estate on Mulholland Drive.
• Nicholson is on Maxim's "Top 10 Living Legends of Sex" with an alleged 2,000 women that he has slept with.

Filmography

Awards

References

1. Young Jack Nicholson: Auspicious Beginnings, Eve Berliner, 2001
2. Marriage certificate of June Nilson and Donald Furcillo, Young Jack Nicholson: Auspicious Beginnings, Eve Berliner, 2001
3. http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=tdowling&id=I61227
4. http://www.jacknicholson.org/Time.html
5. http://www.jacknicholson.org/1984RollingStone.html
6. http://www.cigaraficionado.com/Cigar/CA_Profiles/People_Profile/0,2540,21,00.html
7. http://www.ronaldbrucemeyer.com/rants/0422b-almanac.htm
8. http://www.adherents.com/people/pn/Jack_Nicholson.html
9. http://www.notstarring.com/movies/batman-triumphant
10. http://www.thecoaststar.com/weekly/2004/10.14.04/jack.html
11. McGilligan, P.: Jack's Life. W.W. Norton & Company, 1994
12. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3018487.stm
13. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/news/comments/?entryid=222453
14. http://www.imdb.com/news/wenn/2006-08-09#celeb10
15. http://www.nydailynews.com/05-18-2006/news/story/418764p-353685c.html

External links

• Jack Nicholson at IMDb
• Template:Ymovies name
• Rolling Stone Interview with Jack Nicholson
• Jack Nicholson Fansite

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