Jack Lemmon, a true Trouper

Jack Lemmon was born into a well-to-do New England family of Irish extraction. A lonely child he sort of liberated himself by acting in school productions and decided at the age of eight that he wanted to become an actor.

In 1959 Billy Wilder cast him as Daphne in Some Like it Hot. Lemmon shows the rare gift of provoking laughter when living through tragic of difficult moments. The collaboration with Wilder stretches over 9 films including The Apartment and Irma La Douce. When filming The Fortune Cookie with Wilder he acts for the first time with Walter Matthau. These two go down in film history as the comic couple par excellence with films like Grumpy Old Men and The Odd Couple. With Blake Edwards’ Days of Wine and Roses Jack Lemmon shows his true acting power in a non-comic part. During the 70s Lemmon Save the Tiger earns him his second Oscar, this time for Best Actor. He was a modern actor being able two break the Hollywood mould of type casting before the Al Pacinos turned up.

Directors : Clara Kuperberg & Julia Kuperberg
Production : Wichita Films
Producers : Clara Kuperberg & Julia Kuperberg
Networks : OCS
Year : 2021
Running time : 53 minutes

Casting

Jack Lemmon (footage)
Actor

Tony Maietta
Film Historian

Marc Wanamaker
Film Historian

🎬 Selected at the Lumiere Film Festival 2020