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On August 20, 2017, Jerry Lewis took a pratfall off this mortal coil, presumably knocking an unwitting dowager on her keister and sending a surprised cop into an open manhole on his way out. The durable enfant terrible was all of 91 years when he finally left the building though he had been making spirited public appearances as recently as January of this year.

For the inquisitive Jerry fan, Shawn Levy’s 1997 King of Comedy: The Life and Art of Jerry Lewis, remains the first and last stop for the straight scoop on America’s premiere nudnik. Levy, who endured the full fury of the comedian’s legendary wrath to get his story, is as admiring of his subject’s accomplishments as he was repelled by his whiplash mood swings. The hard knock apprenticeship in the Catskills, the Freudian-fueled soap opera of his partnership with Dean Martin, the boastful sex-capades, they’re all there and then some.

Hampton Fancher at the reflecting pool with Henry Moore's Reclining Figure (Lincoln Center) 1963–5 Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

Hampton Fancher, the beguiling subject of Michael Almereyda's Escapes and co-screenwriter of Ridley Scott's Blade Runner and Denis Villeneuve's upcoming Blade Runner 2049, shared some memories of Jerry Lewis, who died at the age of 91 this past Sunday, August 20, at his home in Las Vegas, Nevada.

We started out with Michael Pfleghar's film Romeo Und Julia 70 where Hampton interviewed Jerry Lewis, went onto the connection to Joan Blackman and Hal B Wallis for Norman Taurog's Visit To A Small Planet, Rainer Werner Fassbinder's In A Year With 13 Moons (In Einem Jahr Mit 13 Monden) and You're Never Too Young with Dean Martin and Lewis, a gurney in Frank Tashlin's The Disorderly Orderly and a rabbit in Geisha Boy, meeting Jack Benny and Buddy Hackett,...

The 2014 TCM Classic Film Festival will honor legendary actor, filmmaker and humanitarian Jerry Lewiswith a multi-tiered celebration of his remarkable career. Highlighting the tribute, Lewis will have his hand and footprints enshrined in concrete in front of the world-famous Tcl Chinese Theatre IMAX. In addition, Lewis will be on-hand for a screening of one of his most memorable films: The Nutty Professor (1963). Marking its fifth year, the TCM Classic Film Festival will take place April 10-13, 2014, in Hollywood. The gathering will coincide with TCM’s 20th anniversary as a leading authority in classic film.

“Jerry Lewis is a very important name whenever movie comedy is discussed and enjoyed,” said TCM host Robert Osborne, who also serves as the official host of the TCM Classic Film Festival. “Jerry has provided the world with great merriment and laughter, while also showing, in such films as Martin Scorsese’s The King of Comedy,...

Broadway producers have announced a tribute to the late Gore Vidal. The Myra Breckinridge author died at his Hollywood Hills home on Tuesday (July 31) due to complications from pneumonia. Vidal penned the noted Broadway plays Visit to a Small Planet and The Best Man, which was recently revived on the New York stage by Eric McCormack. The Broadway League has now confirmed that New York City theatres will dim their lights at 8pm Et on Friday (August 3) to honor Vidal. Charlotte St Martin of the Broadway League shared his thoughts on Vidal's legacy in a press release. (more)...

Novelist, playwright and essayist with a complete mastery of the scene he described

Gore Vidal, the American writer, controversialist and politician manqué, who has died aged 86, was celebrated both for his caustic wit and his mandarin's poise. His public career spanned seven decades and included 25 novels, numerous collections of essays on literature and politics, a volume of short stories, five Broadway plays, dozens of television plays and film scripts, and even three mystery novels written under the pseudonym Edgar Box. After 9/11 and the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, he returned to centre stage with a series of blistering pamphlets and public pronouncements that led many, including his former friend Christopher Hitchens, to pounce on him. But Vidal never looked back.

Despite his output as a novelist and playwright, many critics considered Vidal's witty and acerbic essays his best work. Often published first in such journals as the New York Review...

A brainy, provocative, clever, often cynical novelist, playwright, essayist and screenwriter, Gore Vidal had quite a few movie credits. His 1968 novel Myra Breckenridge was filmed in 1970 to universal condemnation but has aged into something of a cult classic. His play Visit To A Small Planet a satire on the post- WWII fear of Communism, was turned into a Jerry Lewis vehicle in 1960 and his screenplay credits included Ben Hur (uncredited), Suddenly Last Summer, and Caligula. He dabbled in acting with small roles in Bob Roberts and Gattaca but more often was happy to play himself. Gore Vidal died Tuesday at his home in the Hollywood Hills of complications of pneumonia at age 86.

From The Los Angeles Times:

Gore Vidal, the iconoclastic writer, savvy analyst and imperious gadfly on the national conscience, has died. He was 86.

Vidal died Tuesday at his home in the Hollywood Hills of complications of pneumonia, said nephew Burr Steers.