Jack Lemmon

Actor

"Truthfully, you can't be remembered as the best actor. Because you never are going to be the best, there is also no such thing as the best. What there is, is a lot of very good actors, which I hope to be one of, that at the right time in their life, with the right part, can give a performance that nobody else can give. There's a lot of them. And it happens."

About This Interview

Jack Lemmon was interviewed for two hours in Beverly Hills, CA. Lemmon discussed his early television appearances on sitcoms, anthology teleplays, and guest appearances in variety shows. In 1960's, Lemmon became an established motion picture star, most notably in Billy Wilder's film Some Like It Hot, which he discussed. He talked about his return to television in 1972, in the special (one of his favorites) Jack Lemmon in ' S Wonderful, 'S Marvelous, 'S Gershwin. He talked about some of the television movies he appeared in, starting from the late 1980s, which included The Murder of Mary Phagan, A Long Day's Journey Into Night, and 12 Angry Men. The interview was conducted by Morrie Gelman on November 4, 1998.

Highlights

Chapters

Shows

Topics

TV’s Golden Age (1940s & ‘50s) > Drama
- Jack Lemmon on working on early Studio One series with Worthington Minor; the early days of live television
- Jack Lemmon on some techniques of working in live television; "hitting your marks"

Genres

TV Movies/Miniseries/Dramatic Specials
- Jack Lemmon on appearing in the special The Entertainer; working with Laurence Olivier

Submitted by 2emeraldeyes on Fri, 2011-06-24 11:18.

His favorite role of mine is in "Some Like it Hot." Jack Lemmon is awesome!! LOVE HIM!!

Submitted by Ehsan1Danish on Sun, 2011-06-19 19:40.

Jack Lemmon is an acting institute!!! anyone interested in acting should study this legend....

Submitted by kevinquevem on Mon, 2011-06-13 23:43.

What a beautiful man! So often you get disappointed when you see interviews of actor you like.

Submitted by Lurexqueen on Sat, 2011-06-04 13:28.

i'm from a country far far far from the states but i love him

Submitted by Piff671 on Fri, 2011-05-27 20:45.

I loved Jack Lemmon as an actor, as a comdien, and also asa great human being

Submitted by BARNEYFATSWALT on Mon, 2011-03-28 21:08.

Ii loved jack in the "out of towners" with sandy dennis!

Submitted by emoviebuff87 on Wed, 2011-02-16 20:21.

such a great man. hard to believe that he used to be an alcoholic.

Submitted by cosmicrider287 on Mon, 2011-02-07 17:38.

jack lemmon was a total class one off actor.

Submitted by cosmicrider287 on Mon, 2011-02-07 10:16.

terrific document,thanks tvlegends!

Submitted by mwtriggs on Wed, 2011-01-19 10:02.

@FireBallFalcon , you are entitled to your OPINION. Thank you for your POST.

Submitted by umavunga on Thu, 2010-12-23 20:22.

Not going to talk about Billy Wilder? What about whether "Days of Wine and Roses" made any money. How did HE feel about playing that part?

C'mon, let's ask more about how he felt about the characters he played, things like that. Not just the charming stories and little things.

Submitted by bigallan121 on Sat, 2010-11-13 04:25.

@FireBallFalcon Mine too. The Apartment is a wonderful film !!!

Submitted by JM4EDR on Sat, 2010-11-06 11:24.

@ChevelleSSGuy, oh man, that film is tough but brilliant.

Submitted by JM4EDR on Sat, 2010-11-06 10:50.

I was in tears of laughter at that Sidney Lumet shooing story.

Hilarious.

Submitted by JM4EDR on Sat, 2010-11-06 10:19.

This is sooo interesting to hear how it was done years ago.

And what a lovely, lovely man.

God bless him xx

Submitted by dortmundking1 on Thu, 2010-11-04 02:02.

He and Walter Matthau was and are one most famous Duo
in lot of Comedy Movies.

Submitted by rltuthill on Mon, 2010-10-25 17:23.

A great interview with Jack Lemmon, I just wish the interviewer would have asked him more about some of the wonderful movies he was in like Mister Roberts, Some Like It Hot, The Apartment, The Odd Couple, Save The Tiger, China Syndrome, etc. They mainly talked about his early days in television which was interesting but Jack Lemmon had a very successful film career that was barely mentioned. Otherwise it was a great interview and Jack Lemmon was a wonderful actor and wonderful man!

Submitted by msstabby on Sat, 2010-08-14 02:08.

His discussion of the Red Scare in Hollywood is fascinating.

Submitted by ChevelleSSGuy on Thu, 2010-08-12 12:52.

Jack was a wonderful man and actor. I think the greatest part that he played was in Days of Wine and Roses. He and Lee Remick were absolutely fabulous in that film.
Thank you for sharing this presentation with us.

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