Over several decades, Jack Nicholson delivered one scene-stealing performance after another in some of cinema’s most important films. Nicholson entered Hollywood when the old studio system gave way to counterculture New Hollywood and became its biggest star.
From the late-1960 through the end of the next decade, Nicholson played his most iconic roles. His personal life was as colorful as the edgy men he portrayed on screen, which earned some bad press, though all he had to do was cock an eyebrow, flash a wide grin and just be Jack.
Nicholson’s Early Years:
Born on April 22, 1937 in New York, NY, Nicholson was raised believing his grandparents, Ethel and John, were his parents, while his real mother, June, was his sister – a fact that lay dormant until Time magazine dug into his past in 1974. It turned out that June was a showgirl who became pregnant out of wedlock and wanted to hide her shame.
He grew up in a solid middle class home in suburban New Jersey and attended Manasquan High School, where he was voted class clown. After graduation, he moved to Los Angeles and landed a gopher job at MGM. While taking acting classes, he met Robert Towne, future writer of Chinatown.
Road to Stardom:
Nicholson made his film debut in Roger Corman’s low budget crime thriller, Cry Baby Killer, and continued to work with him on The Little Shop of Horrors, The Raven and The Terror. He also wrote the screenplays for Thunder Island and Flight to Fury.
He next wrote Corman’s LSD-fueled cult flick, The Trip, before writing and producing Head, a satirical look at the music industry starring The Monkees.
‘Easy Rider’ and New Hollywood:
In 1969, he gained attention as a hard-drinking Southern lawyer in the famed counterculture road movie, Easy Rider. Replacing actor Rip Torn, who allegedly threatened Dennis Hopper with a knife, Nicholson rocketed to stardom with his Academy Award-nominated performance.
Nicholson entered his most fruitful decade with a nuanced turn in the moody drama, Five Easy Pieces, earning another Oscar nomination. He made his directing debut with the basketball-themed Drive, He Said, before delivering another Oscar-worthy turn as the foul-mouthed, cigar-chomping Navy man Billy ‘Badass’ Buddusky in The Last Detail.
Mainstream Success:
Nicholson entered the mainstream with 1974’s Chinatown, director Roman Polanski's ode to film noir. His Oscar-nominated portrayal of dogged private eye, Jake Gittes, became his first truly iconic role and launched him to the top of Hollywood’s food chain.
He finally won an Oscar for playing another definitive character, R.P. McMurphy, a rebellious prisoner whose spirit refuses to be crushed in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.
A Lull and Return to Form:
At the end of the 1970s, Nicholson suffered flops with The Missouri Breaks and Goin’ South, but was back on top in Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, chewing the scenery as the murder-minded Jack Torrence.
Nicholson entered the 1980s as an actor whose cocked eyebrows and mugging for the camera became a calling card. He was in top form as a rowdy ex-astronaut who pursues a widowed Shirley MacLaine in Terms of Endearment, which won him a second Oscar.
He was nominated again for his turn as Mafia hit man in John Huston's crime comedy Prizzi's Honor and was at his hammy best in The Witches of Eastwick as the mysterious Darrell Van Horn, who uses his strange allure to seduce Michelle Pfeiffer, Susan Sarandon and Cher.
Back on Top:
Nicholson pulled all the stops as The Joker in Tim Burton's blockbuster Batman, only to disappoint fans and critics by directing himself in the Chinatown follow-up, The Two Jakes, a messy production that reportedly caused irreparable harm between him and Robert Towne.
But Nicholson shined in Rob Reiner's acclaimed drama, A Few Good Men, in which his famed line, "You can't handle the truth!" helped secured another Academy Award nomination. He followed that sterling performance with the rather muddled biopic, Hoffa.
Press Troubles:
While making the disappointing Wolf, Nicholson was in the news for smashing a driver’s windshield with a golf club in a road rage incident, which ran counter to his subdued turn as a father who confronts his daughter’s killer in The Crossing Guard.
Nicholson disappointed again by reprising his Terms of Endearment role for the critically maligned drama The Evening Star. He had dual roles in Burton’s 1950s sci-fi spoof, Mars Attacks!, before playing a would-be jewel thief in the little-seen Blood and Wine.
New Heights:
For As Good As It Gets, Nicholson won a third Academy Award for playing an obsessive-compulsive author who falls for Helen Hunt’s single mother waitress. Aside from The Pledge, he remained inactive until he portrayed a retired salesman who goes on a journey of self-discovery in About Schmidt.
Nicholson turned in a tour-de-force performance as a deviant mob boss in Martin Scorsese’s crime saga, The Departed, only to follow with disappointments like The Bucket List and How Do You Know, perhaps setting himself up for one more iconic role.
Nicholson’s Private Life:
Nicholson had many romances throughout his career. He was with actress Susan Anspach during Five Easy Pieces, which resulted in son Caleb. Though he reportedly accepted Caleb in private, Nicholson refused to acknowledge him in public.
Prior to that, he fathered daughter Jennifer with wife Sandra Knight after marrying in 1961. He briefly dated Michelle Phillips and had his most lasting relationship with actress Anjelica Huston.
But Nicholson torpedoed that affair when he impregnated model Rebecca Broussard with his second daughter, Lorraine. He raised more eyebrows with his May-December romance with the younger Lara Flynn Boyle in the late 1990s.
The Bottom Line:
A legend of the screen, Jack Nicholson was one of the few New Hollywood stars to maintain his status as a top box office earner into the next millennium. Though he lapsed into theatrics later in his career, Nicholson was always capable of turning in refreshing performances. Along the way, he became one of the most decorated actors at the Academy Awards, earning to date 12 nominations and three wins.
