Background

Ethnicity: Nicholson's mother was of Irish, English, and German descent.

Nicholson was born on April 22, 1937, in Neptune City, New Jersey, the son of a showgirl, June Frances Nicholson (stage name June Nilson). She married Italian-American showman Donald Furcillo (stage name Donald Rose) in 1936, before realizing that he was already married. Biographer Patrick McGilligan stated in his book Jack's Life that Latvian-born Eddie King (originally Edgar A. Kirschfeld), June's manager, may have been Nicholson's biological father, rather than Furcillo. Other sources suggest June Nicholson was unsure of who the father was. As June was only 18 years old and unmarried, her parents agreed to raise Nicholson as their own child without revealing his true parentage, and June would act as his sister.

In 1974, Time magazine researchers learned, and informed Nicholson, that his "sister", June, was actually his mother, and his other "sister", Lorraine, was really his aunt. By this time, both his mother and grandmother had died (in 1963 and 1970, respectively). On finding out, Nicholson said it was "a pretty dramatic event, but it wasn't what I'd call traumatizing... I was pretty well psychologically formed".

Education

Jack Nicholson was enrolled in the local school ‘Manasquan High School’. Nicholson was often in trouble during his school time and in fact his school mates voted him the ‘Class Clown’ for their class which graduated in 1954.

In 2011, Nicholson received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from Brown University at its 243rd commencement. At the ceremony, Ruth Simmons, Brown University's president, called him, "the most skilled actor of our lifetime".

Career

After graduating from high school, Jack Nicholson moved to California, where he took an office job in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s animation department. During the years 1957–58 he performed on stage with the Players Ring Theater in Los Angeles and landed some small roles on television. About this time he met B-film king Roger Corman, who offered him the leading role in his low-budget film The Cry Baby Killer (1958). Nicholson spent the next decade playing major roles in B-films (including several more for Corman), occasional supporting roles in A-films (such as Ensign Pulver, 1964), and guest roles on such television series as The Andy Griffith Show. He also dabbled in screenwriting, with his best-known credits being Corman’s LSD-hallucination film The Trip (1967) and the surrealistic romp Head (1968), a box-office failure starring the Monkees that has since attracted a cult following.

Nicholson’s big break finally came with Easy Rider (1969), a seminal counterculture film starring Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper as drifting, drug-dealing bikers and Nicholson in a scene-stealing, Oscar-nominated supporting performance as an alcoholic lawyer. Nicholson’s newfound stardom was secured with his leading role in Five Easy Pieces (1970), an episodic, existentialist drama and a major entry in Hollywood’s “art film” movement of the early 1970s. Nicholson’s portrayal of a man alienated from his family, friends, career, and lovers garnered him an Oscar nomination for best actor. His next successful film, director Mike Nichols’s Carnal Knowledge (1971), was a darkly humorous condemnation of male sexual mores; it was perhaps mainstream Hollywood’s most sexually explicit film to date. Nicholson’s performance as an emotionally empty, predatory chauvinist showcased his talent for interjecting humour into serious situations as a means to underscore inherent irony—typically, his darkest characters are wickedly funny.

Nicholson earned another Oscar nomination for The Last Detail (1973), in which he portrayed a rowdy military police officer who reluctantly escorts a young sailor to military prison. He next starred in Roman Polanski’s Chinatown (1974), an homage to the film noir detective films of the 1940s and a widely acknowledged cinematic masterpiece. Nicholson’s brilliant performance as stylish private eye Jake Gittes, who realizes too late his impotence in the face of wealth and corruption, earned him a fourth Oscar nomination. The actor capped this highly successful period with his first Oscar win, for One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975), in which his iconoclastic, free-spirited characterization of mental institution inmate R.P. McMurphy serves as a metaphor for the hopelessness of rebellion against established authority. Other notable Nicholson films from this period include Michelangelo Antonioni’s Professione: reporter (1975; The Passenger), in which Nicholson portrays a depressed reporter who assumes a dead man’s identity, and Tommy (1975), director Ken Russell’s garish production of the Who’s rock opera, featuring Nicholson in a supporting singing role as the title character’s doctor.

His stardom assured, Nicholson worked sporadically during the next few years. He co-starred with Marlon Brando in the Arthur Penn western The Missouri Breaks (1976), an uneven yet compellingly quirky film; and he directed and starred in another revisionist western, Goin’ South (1978). His next notable role was in director Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining (1980); an adaptation of the Stephen King novel, it is a film over which critical opinion remains divided but the one with Nicholson’s ax-wielding rampage—culminating in his demonic cry of “Heeeere’s Johnny!”—that became one of the indelible cinematic images of the era. Nicholson appeared in several quality films during the 1980s, garnering further Academy Award nominations for Reds (1981), Prizzi’s Honor (1985), and Ironweed (1987) and winning a best supporting actor Oscar for his role as a drunken-but-decent ex-astronaut in Terms of Endearment (1983). Two of his most popular performances of the decade came in The Witches of Eastwick (1987) and Batman (1989), which featured Nicholson’s over-the-top comic turns as the Devil and the Joker, respectively.

By the 1990s Nicholson was regarded as a screen icon. He began the decade by directing and starring in The Two Jakes (1990), a sequel to Chinatown that generated lukewarm reviews. Better-received were Hoffa (1992), in which he portrayed the controversial Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa, and A Few Good Men (1992), in which his supporting performance as a dyspeptic marine colonel earned him his 10th Oscar nomination, an all-time record for a male actor. His 11th nomination, for his portrayal of a misanthropic writer in As Good as It Gets (1997), resulted in Nicholson’s third Oscar (his second for best actor).

At the beginning of the 21st century, Nicholson continued to star in dramatic roles. After playing a world-weary former cop in Sean Penn’s The Pledge (2001), he scored another personal triumph with his much-lauded performance as the title character in About Schmidt (2002), a movie about a retired widower seeking to mend his relationship with his daughter. Nicholson’s understated acting in the melancholic comedy earned him a 12th Academy Award nomination. In 2006, he appeared as Irish mobster Frank Costello in Martin Scorsese’s The Departed. Nicholson continued his success in comedic roles when he starred as an over-the-top psychiatrist in Anger Management (2003) and as an aging playboy who falls in love with a playwright (played by Diane Keaton) in Something’s Gotta Give (2004). In The Bucket List (2007) Nicholson and Morgan Freeman portray two terminally ill men who escape a hospital ward so they can accomplish everything they want to do before dying. He later appeared as an irascible father in the romantic comedy How Do You Know (2010), his fourth collaboration with director James L. Brooks.

On February 15, 2015, Nicholson made a special appearance as a presenter on SNL 40, the 40th anniversary special of Saturday Night Live. After the death of boxer Muhammad Ali on June 3, 2016, Nicholson appeared on HBO's The Fight Game with Jim Lampley for an exclusive interview about his friendship with Ali.

In February 2017, it was reported that Nicholson would be starring in an English-language remake of Toni Erdmann opposite Kristen Wiig.

Achievements

• 

  Jack Nicholson is a legendary American actor who has been one of the biggest stalwarts of Hollywood for close to 6 decades and within that period he has delivered some of the most iconic performances that the world of cinema has ever seen. Nicholson's 12 Academy Award nominations make him the most nominated male actor in the Academy's history. Nicholson has won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice - one for the drama One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), and the other for the romantic comedy As Good as It Gets (1997). He also won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for the comedy-drama Terms of Endearment (1983). Nicholson is one of three male actors to win three Academy Awards. Nicholson is one of only two actors to be nominated for an Academy Award for acting in every decade from the 1960s to the 2000s; the other is Michael Caine. He has won six Golden Globe Awards, and received the Kennedy Center Honor in 2001. In 1994, at 57, he became one of the youngest actors to be awarded the American Film Institute's Life Achievement Award.
  
  In May 2008, then-California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver announced that Nicholson would be inducted into the California Hall of Fame, located at The California Museum for History, Women and the Arts. The induction ceremony took place on December 15, 2008, where he was inducted alongside 11 other Californians. In 2010, Nicholson was inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame.

Works

More photos

• movie

  • As Good As It Gets 1997
  • Chinatown 1974
  • Heartburn 1986
  • One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest 1975
  • The Two Jakes 1990
  • The Shining 1980
  • Mars Attacks! 1996
  • Goin' South 1978
  • A Few Good Men 1992
  • The Pledge 2001
  • Wolf 1994
  • Something's Gotta Give 2003
  • The Postman Always Rings Twice 1981
  • The Crossing Guard 1995
  • The Last Detail 1973
  • Anger Management 2003
  • The Departed 2006
  • About Schmidt 2002
  • How Do You Know 2010
  • The Witches of Eastwick 1987
  • The Bucket List 2007
  • Batman 1989

Religion

Nicholson was raised in his mother's Roman Catholic religion. During a 1992 Vanity Fair interview, Nicholson stated, "I don't believe in God now. I can still work up an envy for someone who has a faith. I can see how that could be a deeply soothing experience."

Politics

Nicholson described himself as a "life-long Irish Democrat".

Views

Although Nicholson is personally against abortion, he is pro-choice. He has said, "I'm pro-choice, but against abortion because I'm an illegitimate child myself, and it would be hypocritical to take any other position. I'd be dead. I wouldn't exist." He has also said that he has "nothing but total admiration, gratitude, and respect for the strength of the women who made the decision they made in my individual case".

Quotations: "My mother never saw the irony in calling me a son-of-a-bitch."

"Beer, it's the best damn drink in the world."

"The minute that you're not learning I believe you're dead."

"Early on, if I was alone two three nights in a row, I'd start writing poems about suicide."

"There's only two people in your life you should lie to... the police and your girlfriend."

"I don't want people to know what I'm actually like. It's not good for an actor."

"Well, a girlfriend once told me never to fight with anybody you don't love."

"Acting is everybody's favorite second job."

"I'll tell you one thing: Don't ever give anybody your best advice, because they're not going to follow it."

"I'm Irish. I think about death all the time."

Personality

Exceptionally creative and original, Jack possesses a touch of the unusual. His approach to problems is unique and he has the courage to wander from the traditional templates of thoughts and deeds.

Nicholson is a fan of the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Lakers. He has been a Laker season ticket holder since 1970, and has held courtside season tickets for the past 25 years next to the opponent's benches both at The Forum and Staples Center, missing very few games. In a few instances, Nicholson has engaged in arguments with game officials and opposing players, and even walked onto the court. He was almost ejected from a Lakers playoff game in May 2003 after he yelled at the game's referee.

Nicholson is a collector of 20th century and contemporary art, including the work of Henri Matisse, Tamara de Lempicka, Andy Warhol and Jack Vettriano. In 1995, artist Ed Ruscha was quoted saying that Nicholson has "one of the best collections out here".

Physical Characteristics: Jack is 177 cm (5 ft 9.5 inch) high. He has hazel eyes and gray hair.

Quotes from others about the person

• "Nicholson is everywhere; his energy propels the ward of loonies and makes of them an ensemble, a chorus of people caught in a bummer with nowhere else to go, but still fighting for some frail sense of themselves... There are scenes in Cuckoo's Nest that are as intimate - and in their language, twice as rough - as the best moments in The Godfather... (and) far above the general run of Hollywood performances." - Marie Brenner
  
  "Nicholson is the Hollywood celebrity who is most like a character in some ongoing novel of our times. He is also the most beloved of stars—not even his huge wealth, his reckless aging, and the public disasters of his private life can detract from this... For he is still a touchstone, someone we value for the way he helps us see ourselves." - David Thomson, film critic.
  
  "There is James Cagney, Spencer Tracy, Humphrey Bogart, and Henry Fonda. After that, who is there but Jack Nicholson?" - Mike Nichols, director.

Interests

• Artists

  Henri Matisse, Tamara de Lempicka, Andy Warhol, Jack Vettriano

• Sport & Clubs

  New York Yankees, Los Angeles Lakers

Connections

Nicholson's only marriage was to Sandra Knight from June 17, 1962, to August 8, 1968; they had been separated for two years prior to the divorce. They had one daughter together, Jennifer.

Actress Susan Anspach contended that her son, Caleb Goddard, was fathered by Nicholson. In 1984, Nicholson stated that he was not convinced he is Caleb's father; however, in 1996, Caleb stated that Nicholson had acknowledged him as his son. At some point between 1988 and 1994, Nicholson provided financial assistance to put Caleb through college, and Anspach's New York Times obituary referred to Caleb as "her son, whose father is Jack Nicholson".

Between April 1973 and January 1990, Nicholson had an on-again, off-again relationship with actress Anjelica Huston that included periods of overlap with other women, including Danish model Winnie Hollman, by whom he fathered a daughter, Honey Hollman (born 1981).

From 1989 to 1994, Nicholson had a relationship with actress Rebecca Broussard. They had two children together: daughter Lorraine (born April 16, 1990), and son Raymond (born February 20, 1992).

For over a year, from 1999 to 2000, Nicholson dated actress Lara Flynn Boyle; they later reunited, before splitting permanently in 2004.

Father:

Donald Furcillo

(May 23, 1909, Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States - July 27, 1997)

Mother:

June Frances Nicholson

(b. November 5, 1918, Pittsfield, Massachusetts, United States - July 31, 1963)

Grandfather:

John Joseph Nicholson

grandmother:

Ethel May Nicholson

(d. 1970)

ex-spouse:

Sandra Knight

(b. January 1, 1940)

Sandra Knight is an American actress, painter and writer. She is best known for her work as an actor in low-budget films of the 1950s and 1960s, such as Frankenstein's Daughter, The Terror where she plays an evil spirit, and Tower of London. Knight was married to Jack Nicholson from 1962 until 1968. They are the parents of one child together, Jennifer Nicholson. Knight later married John Stephenson.

Daughter:

Lorraine Broussard Nicholson

(b. April 16, 1990)

Lorraine Broussard Nicholson is an American actress and director. Besides being known for being the daughter of Jack Nicholson, she is known for playing Alana Blanchard in the biographical film Soul Surfer (2011).

Son:

Ray Nicholson

(b. February 20, 1992, Los Angeles, California, United States)

Son:

Caleb James Goddard

(b. September 26, 1970)

Daughter:

Jennifer Nicholson

(b. September 13, 1963, Los Angeles, California, United States)

Daughter:

Honey Hollman

(b. 1981, Denmark)

Partner:

Lara Flynn Boyle

(b. March 24, 1970)

Lara Flynn Boyle is an American actress and producer. She is best known for her role as Donna Hayward in the ABC cult television series Twin Peaks (1990–1991).

Partner:

Anjelica Huston

(b. July 8, 1951)

Anjelica Huston is an American actress, director, and former fashion model.

Partner:

Rebecca Broussard

(b. January 3, 1963)

Rebecca Broussard is an American actress and model.

Collegue :

Marlon Brando

Nicholson lived next door to Marlon Brando for a number of years on Mulholland Drive in Beverly Hills. Warren Beatty also lived nearby, earning the road the nickname "Bad Boy Drive". After Brando's death in 2004, Nicholson purchased his bungalow for $6.1 million, with the purpose of having it demolished. Nicholson stated that it was done out of respect to Brando's legacy, as it had become too expensive to renovate the "derelict" building which was plagued by mold.

Friend:

Sean Penn

(b. August 17, 1960)

Sean Penn is an American actor and filmmaker. He has won two Academy Awards, for his roles in the mystery drama Mystic River (2003) and the biopic Milk (2008).

Collegue :

Morgan Freeman

(b. June 1, 1937)

Morgan Freeman is an American actor, producer, and narrator.

Friend:

Hunter Stockton Thompson

(July 18, 1937 – February 20, 2005)

Hunter Stockton Thompson was an American journalist and author, and the founder of the gonzo journalism movement. Nicholson's friendship with author-journalist Hunter S. Thompson is described in Thompson's autobiography Kingdom of Fear. Following Thompson's death in 2005, Nicholson and fellow actors Johnny Depp, John Cusack, and Sean Penn attended the private memorial service in Colorado.

References

• Jack's Life: A Biography of Jack Nicholson
  1994
• Nicholson: A Biography
  2013
• American Legends: The Life of Jack Nicholson
  2018
• Jack Nicholson: The Early Years
  2012