Jack died 10 years ago today

I know. I'm a huge Jack Lemmon fan, have loads of films on DVD and read a few books. Although I obviously didn't know him personally (I was nine when he died), I feel I do, which might sound confusing but it is upsetting, knowing it's been a decade now. I remember saying when it was six years that Jack died. Now it's ten.

One of my earliest memories as a very young child was watching Jack on TV in The Odd Couple and just thinking that he was someone I wanted to be like when I grew up. I can't say that I have ever felt that way about any other celebrity. He was quite unique.

That is so sweet!

Unlike so many of his peers, he was confident enough to try virtually every type of role and succeed: musicals (My Sister Eileen), comedies (Some Like It Hot, The Odd Couple etc.), disaster movies (Airport 77), controversial political roles (Missing, JFK)... and of course those unforgettable straight dramatic roles (Save The Tiger, Prisoner on 2nd Avenue, Days of Wine and Roses etc.).

When you put like that, it just goes to prove his amazing versatility and his talent for being successful and good in just about everything. Even in his "famously weakest" films like Under the Yum Yum Tree (1963), which I loved by the way, he was still his likeable and wonderful self. That was how amazing he was. He was simply brilliant and entertaining in everything he turned his hand to.

Served his country in WWII.

Well, sort of! He was only at sea for about a fortnight and then had to pull out for personal reasons. One being that he had to be discharged from the Navy because he felt he didn't belong there. However he always looked back on this time with affection whenever someone talked to him about his contributions to the then-silent war effort but yes, he was indeed Ensign Lemmon before he was Ensign Pulver!

Greatly missed by all.

I don't know anybody who doesn't like Jack Lemmon. RIP Jack xxxxxxx


Marilyn Monroe: I don't want to be rich. I just want to be wonderful.

Thanks for replying Miss Sugar Kane.

You've obviously done a lot more research than me, particularly on his wartime service- that was news to me!

I have a 2-disc special edition DVD of Glengarry Glen Ross which was released in 2002 and it contains a 30-minute video documentary short called Magic Time: A Tribute to Jack Lemmon (link below):

http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0407968/combined

The production standards seem a bit amateurish but there are a lot of good anecdotes of Jack, particularly from his son Chris (who looks so much like him when he smiles- the facial grin is uncanny) and actor Peter Gallagher (worked with Jack on Long Day's Journey into Night- stage and TV movie, I believe). Peter does a funny impression of Jack and an even better one of Walter Matthau.

Chris recalls "the first thing I remember" of visiting his dad on the set of The Great Race when he was just 8 or 9 years old, watching Jack, Tony Curtis and director Blake Edwards racing their golf carts through the Universal lot whilst 'in character' and thinking to himself "my dad does that for a living-cool!"

The last 5 minutes of the video are very poignant as Chris recalls being "lucky enough to be holding pop in my arms when he passed" and it is obvious that the memories are still so recent and raw- the same for Peter Gallagher.

The video ends with a clip from Jack's 1998 appearance on Inside The Actors Studio (link below):

http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0611264/combined

His answers included "passion" (to what is your favourite word?), "the sound of children laughing" (when asked what turns you on/ excites you/inspires you?) and "selling anything- any form of being a salesman" (when asked what profession would you not like to participate in?).

I can only speculate that playing the part of Shelley Levene in Glengarry Glen Ross inspired his answer to that last question!

And just quickly changing the subject: I notice you are also a Marilyn fan. I am lucky that, being resident on the island of Jersey, I got to see the collection of Marilyn memorabilia owned by Jersey resident David Gainsborough-Roberts when it was on display at the Jersey Museum all last year. Once or twice in the past I've spoken to David too. He's very well-known here- a larger than life personality. He used to give talks at the Jersey Museum and he would hand out items he owned to the audience and tell them the story behind them. I recall holding a sketch made by a young Herr Hitler when he still aspired to be an artist! Anyway, it seems that David's Marilyn collection has now moved to the American Museum in Bath for 2011. Has anyone mentioned this on the Marilyn boards? Well here is one link I quickly found in case you want to post something about it on the MM board:

http://visitbath.co.uk/site/whats-on/marilyn-hollywood-icon-p517983

All best wishes!


"After all, what is time? A mere tyranny"

Has it really been 10 years? This past decade is a bit of a blur to me. He died a few months before the Sept. 11 attacks, so I guess we should be grateful he didn't live to experience that horror.

Jack was the finest actor ever to grace the silver screen, and a fine singer as well. I continue to stumble upon his films I haven't seen, and his tremendous range of characters is a delight to behold. Of course, I always watch his films, even the comedies, with a touch of sadness knowing the talent we've lost.

There has never been an actor of his grace and range, and I don't expect there ever will again. It's always magic time when Jack is on the screen.

WarpedRecord,

Thanks for that eloquent tribute to Jack. The same thought had also occurred to me- about how horrified Jack would surely have been had he lived to see 9/11.

Of course Jack died just a few days before the first anniversary of the death of his great friend, Walter Matthau, with whom he made about 10 films, so today we have another sad anniversary- 11 years since Walter died. Here is the link to his IMDb page:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000527/

In the video tribute I mentioned in my previous post yesterday - Magic Time: A Tribute to Jack Lemmon - Jack's manager, David Seltzer, recalls a simple gesture that, for him, summed up the closeness between Jack and Walter. David was visiting them on location when they were shooting The Grass Harp (directed by Walter's son Charles) in a freezing house. He noticed Jack was sitting shivering. He then watched as Walter went over to Jack and put a blanket around his shoulders to try to keep him warm.

Jack's son Chris described the reason for their friendship as "a classic example of oil and water mixing" because they were so un-alike.

"After all, what is time? A mere tyranny"

Thanks very much for the kind words, Conductor71!

That anecdote on the set of "The Grass Harp" is very telling of Walter Matthau's kindness. Both Walter and Jack were classic gentlemen from a better era for Hollywood. I miss them both greatly. I'm actually surprised they didn't make more films together because to me they were the ideal comedy team — even better than Martin and Lewis, whose were perfectly in sync for a few films then seemed to drift apart.

I had forgotten that Walter Matthau passed away just a year before Jack did. Honestly, I was thinking they both died in the '90s. Matthau's last film, "Hanging Up," was a sad sendoff, in my view.

How fortunate for us (and them, of course) that both men continued to have major roles until well into their 70s. I don't see that much now, except for a handful of actors such as Jack Nicholson, Anthony Hopkins, Clint Eastwood and Michael Caine. With women, the field is even narrower.

i remember feeling uneasy when i heard the news report of jack lemmon's death
ive never figured out why
it just didnt seem right to me that he was gone

i knew he was older by then but not 'old' somehow
as if he'd somehow defy what none of us can
and when i heard that he hadnt that he was gone
it sorta shook me up

it wasnt as if i ever really thought of him
just that watching him act was and will be im sure always
such a pleasure

i cant watch days of wine and roses anymore
but the great race of course i know that one's one of his
'lesser' roles but to me lemmon in that is just hilarious

and mister roberts i mean cagney fonda and lemmon
fergit it there just aint ever gonna be a cast that tops those three
three absolute giants

"Day of Wine and Roses" is indeed difficult viewing, especially because in many ways it was very true to life for Jack.

His death still resonates with me, more than practically any celebrity. It's even sadder when you look at some of his later roles, where his characters were dealing with mortality: "Dad," "Short Cuts," "Glengarry Glen Ross" and even comedies like "Out to Sea" and "Grumpier Old Men."

I'll always love his work with Walter Matthau the most, but Jack's entire filmography traced the course of what it meant to live through various eras.

I remember thinking, upon hearing of Jack Lemmon's death, "I can't imagine a world without Jack Lemmon." Heck, just knowing Jack Lemmon was around made Life a brighter existence! Twelve years later--an entire TWELVE years later? My gosh!--I see him as still being with us. His work in movies is indelible, and every time I give a public speech or presentation, I say to myself "magic time!"

Not too long ago I was shopping at Trader Joe's when I heard an employee talking with another employee about the many wonderful movies Jack Lemmon made. I stopped and joined the discussion. Within minutes another shopper had done the same. We all mentioned our favorite Jack Lemmon film and why we liked it so much, then the other shopper said, "Oops, I'm due somewhere" and I realized that I, too, was on a schedule. So our informal group had to break up, but--as wonderful as so many actors and actresses are--I'm trying to think of another person who would have inspired such a magically impromptu celebration as Jack Lemmon did!