154436322

First, I wanted to say that this is not Jerry Lewis, this is a fansite. With that in mind, please don't write me thinking that I'm Jerry Lewis. Because I'm not. But if you're still with me, here's some info:Jerry Lewis born on March 16, 1926 as Joseph Levitch in Newark, New Jersey. His father was a vaudeville performer. He began in burlesque in 1942 at age 16 (if the birth year of 1926 is correct) and married two years later in 1944 at age 18.He gained initial fame with singer Dean Martin, who served as a straight man to Lewis's manic, zany antics as the Martin and Lewis comedy team. They distinguished themselves from the majority of comedy acts of the 1940s by relying on the interaction of the two comics instead of pre-planned skits. In the late 1940s, they quickly rose to national prominence, first with their popular nightclub act and then as film stars. Critics often found it difficult to describe their chaotic act beyond the laconic "Martin sings and Lewis clowns". They continued to perform in film and on television until their partnership ended in 1956. Following their split, the two became involved in a well-publicized and long-running feud that never truly ended; the next time they were seen together in public would be a surprise appearance by Martin on Lewis's telethon in 1976, arranged by Frank Sinatra. Lewis wrote of his kinship with Martin in the 2005 book Dean and Me (A Love Story). When Sinatra tried to bring Lewis back to Martin, Lewis was quoted as saying, "I'll never work with that drunk ever again". Although the pair eventually reconciled in the late-1980s after Martin's son died, there was never any reunion.Lewis returned as a solo act with his debut film The Delicate Delinquent in 1957. Teaming with director Frank Tashlin, whose background as a Looney Tunes director suited Lewis's brand of humor, he starred in five more films, and even appeared uncredited as Itchy McRabbitt in Li'l Abner (1959) before he produced, directed, co-wrote with Bill Richmond, and starred in his own movie entitled The Bellboy in 1960. Using the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami as his setting, on a small budget, a very tight shooting schedule and no script, Lewis shot the film by day and performed at the hotel in the evenings. During production, Lewis developed the technique of using video cameras and multiple closed circuit monitors to allow him to view scenes at the same time as he was filming them. This allowed him to review his performance instantly. Later, he incorporated videotape, and as more portable and affordable equipment became available, this technique would become an industry standard known as video assist.Lewis directed several more films which he co-wrote with Richmond including The Ladies Man, The Errand Boy, and the iconic film, The Nutty Professor. During this period he was consistently praised by some highbrow French critics in the influential Cahiers du Cinéma for his absurd comedy, in part because he had gained respect as an auteur who had total control over all aspects of his films, comparable to Howard Hawks and Alfred Hitchcock. In March 2006 the French Minister of Culture awarded Lewis the 'Legion of Honor' calling him the 'French people's favorite clown.' [1] Liking Lewis has long been a common stereotype about the French in the minds of many Americans, and is often the object of jokes in U.S. pop culture.Lewis's box office appeal waned by the mid-1960s. In 1966, he began hosting an annual labor day telethon for the Muscular Dystrophy Association, a charity with which he had been publicly associated since 1950. He remained popular in Europe until the 1980s. Later, Lewis starred in and directed the unreleased The Day The Clown Cried in 1972. The film was a drama set in a Nazi concentration camp. Lewis has explained why the film has not been released by suggesting litigation over post-production financial difficulties. More importantly, however, he recently admitted during his book tour for Dean and Me that a major factor for the film's burial is that he is not proud of the effort. After an eight-year absence from movies, Lewis returned in the early 1980s with Hardly Working, a film he both directed and starred in. Despite being panned by the critics, the film did eventually earn $50 million. He followed this up with a critically acclaimed performance in Martin Scorsese's 1983 film The King of Comedy in which Lewis plays a late night TV host plagued by obsessive fans (played by Robert de Niro and Sandra Bernhard). Ironically, the role had been offered to, and turned down by, Dean Martin. Lewis continued doing interesting work in small films in the 1990s, most notably his supporting role in Arizona Dream (1994), and also in the dark comedy Funny Bones (1995).Lewis and his popular movie characters were animated in the cartoon series "Will the Real Jerry Lewis Please Sit Down" which premiered on ABC in 1970 and then ended in 1972. The show was produced at Filmation Studios, and starred David Lander (later of Laverne and Shirley fame) as the voice of the animated Jerry Lewis character. Lewis was the show's partner.Lewis suffered a minor heart attack on June 11, 2006 at the end of a cross-country commercial airline flight en route home from New York City. [2] It was later found that he also had pneumonia. Lewis had two stents inserted into an artery in his heart that was 90% blocked, and it restored full blood flow to his heart. This has allowed him to continue his rebound from the lung issues he suffered from 2001-2005 and his health is getting better all the time. While it meant cancelling several major events for Lewis, he recuperated in a matter of weeks. Lewis currently resides in Las Vegas, Nevada.