Jack Lemmon

Versatile and beloved American actor Jack Lemmon (1925-2001) was a virtuoso in both comedy and drama. He initially acted on TV before moving to Hollywood, cultivating a career that would span decades. Lemmon starred in over 60 films, including Some Like It Hot (1959), The Apartment (1960), Irma la Douce (1963), The Odd Couple (1968), Save the Tiger (1973) and Grumpy Old Men (1993). Some of his most beloved performances stemmed from his collaborations with acclaimed director Billy Wilder and with his fellow friend and actor Walter Matthau.


Italian postcard by Rotalcolor /Rotalfoto, Milano, no. N. 177.


Czech postcard by Pressfoto, Praha (Prague). Photo: Jack Lemmon and Joe E. Brown in Some Like it Hot (Billy Wilder, 1959). Collection: Carla Bosch.


Big East-German card by VEB Progress Film-Verleih, Berlin, no. 1020. Jack Lemmon and Marcello Mastroianni in Maccheroni/Macaroni (Ettore Scola, 1985).

Some like it hot

Jack Lemmon was born John Uhler Lemmon III in 1925, in an elevator at Newton-Wellesley Hospital in Newton, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston. He was the only child of Mildred Lankford Noel and John Uhler Lemmon, Jr., the president of a doughnut company. He later described his flamboyant, authoritarian mother as 'Tallulah Bankhead on a roadshow.' He laughed about how she used to hang out with her girlfriends at the Ritz Bar in Boston and how she tried to have her cremation ashes placed on the bar (the management refused).

Jack attended Ward Elementary near his Newton, MA home. At age 9 he was sent to Rivers Country Day School, then located in nearby Brookline. After RCDS, he went to high school at Phillips Andover Academy. Lemmon attended Harvard, where he became president of the Hasty Pudding Club, the university's famous acting club. During WWII, he served in the Naval Reserve and was the communications officer aboard the aircraft carrier, USS Lake Champlain CV-39.

After serving as a Navy ensign, he worked in a beer hall playing the piano. Then, Lemmon followed his passion for theatre. His father didn't approve of his son taking up acting, but told him he should continue with it only as long as he felt passion for it. Soon, Jack landed small roles on radio, off-Broadway, TV and Broadway. In 1953, he was very successful on Broadway with 'Room Service', after which he went to Hollywood.

He signed a contract with Columbia Pictures. His film debut was opposite Judy Holliday in the romantic comedy It Should Happen to You (George Cukor, 1954). He was loaned to Warner Bros. in 1955 for his fourth film. There, he had his breakthrough as Ensign Pulver in the war drama Mister Roberts (John Ford, Mervyn LeRoy, 1955) starring Henry Fonda and James Cagney. His complex portrayal of this somewhat dishonest but sensitive character earned him the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Lemmon would go on to work on several films with comedian and close friend Ernie Kovacs, including Bell Book and Candle (Richard Quine, 1958), starring James Stewart and Kim Novak. In 1959, Lemmon gave one of the top comedic performances of his career when he starred alongside Tony Curtis and Marilyn Monroe in the romantic comedy Some Like It Hot (Billy Wilder, 1959). He received an Oscar nomination for his role, and he did the next year for The Apartment (Billy Wilder, 1960) in which he co-starred with Shirley MacLaine. This led to several more collaborations with director Billy Wilder and great success on the big screen throughout the 1960s and 1970s.


American card. Caption: Cordially Jack Lemmon.


Italian postcard by Rotalfoto, Milano, no. 1124. Photo: Warner Bros.


Vintage card. Photo: Warner Bros.

America's everyman

Jack Lemmon also excelled in drama. He received an Oscar nomination for his role as an alcoholic in Days of Wine and Roses (Blake Edwards, 1962) and later followed more nominations for the dramas The China Syndrome (James Bridges, 1979), Tribute (Bob Clark, 1980) and Missing (Costa-Gravas, 1982). Kyle Perez at IMDb: "Sometimes referred to as 'America's Everyman',  Lemmon's versatility as an actor helped the audience more closely identify and relate to him. He was always able to elicit a laugh or sympathy from his viewers and his charismatic presence always shined on the big screen. He often portrayed the quintessence of an aspiring man and established a lasting impression on the film industry."

Lemmon reunited with Shirley MacLaine in another Wilder film, Irma la Douce (Billy Wilder, 1963). It was one of the biggest commercial successes for the trio. The Fortune Cookie (Billy Wilder, 1966) served as the start of a comedic partnership between Lemmon and Walter Matthau, and the two would come together again two years later for The Odd Couple (Gene Saks, 1968), based on a play by Neil Simon. It is one of their most endearing films together.

As the 1970s came around, Lemmon began to undertake more dramatic roles and won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance as Harry Stoner in Save the Tiger (John G. Avildsen, 1973). Lemmon admitted to having had a serious drinking problem at one time, which is one reason he looked back on his Oscar-winning role as perhaps the most gratifying, emotionally fulfilling performance of his career. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Lemmon continued to excel in his character performances and earned the Cannes Best Actor award for The China Syndrome (James Bridges, 1979) and Missing (Costa-Gravas, 1982). As a director, he made his film debut with Kotch (Jack Lemmon, 1971) and his Broadway debut with Eugene O'Neill's 'Long Day's Journey into Night'.

In 1988, he received the Life Achievement Award from the American Film Institute. In the 1990s, he continued to have success with roles in films such as Glengarry Glen Ross (James Foley, 1992) and Short Cuts (Robert Altman, 1993). In the comedy Grumpy Old Men (Donald Petrie, 1993), he was reunited with Walter Matthau. The film was a huge success, and a sequel was even released in 1995. A sequel to The Odd Couple was also released in 1998. In 1997, he received a Golden Globe nomination for the television adaptation of 12 Angry Men (William Friedkin, 1997).

Jack Lemmon was married twice, first to actress Cynthia Stone (1950-1956), and his second marriage to actress Felicia Farr lasted from 1972 till his death. Jack Lemmon passed away in 2001 in Los Angeles at the age of 76. He had two children, Chris Lemmon (1954) and Courtney Lemmon (1966). Actress Sydney Lemmon is his granddaughter.


Czech postcard by Pressfoto, Praha (Prague). Photo: Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis in Some Like it Hot (Billy Wilder, 1959). Collection: Carla Bosch.


Big East-German card by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 65/72,1972. Jack Lemmon and Judi West in The Fortune Cookie (Billy Wilder, 1966).


American postcard by Fotofolio, New York, N.Y. no. F 323. Photo: Len Prince. Caption: Jack Lemmon, Hollywood, 1995.

Sources: Ed Stephan (IMDb), Kyle Perez (IMDb), Wikipedia (Dutch) and IMDb.

Directed by Billy Wilder

Billy Wilder (1906-2002) was an American filmmaker of Jewish descent. He was a multiple Oscar winner and is considered one of the most important directors in American film history. His oeuvre comprises more than 60 films made over a period of over 50 years. He was nominated for an Oscar 21 times as a writer, producer and director and won six awards. At the 1961 Oscars, he won three awards as producer, screenwriter and director for the film The Apartment, a feat that has only been achieved by a total of nine directors to date.


Austrian postcard by Mandelbaum / Österreichische Exilbibliothek im Literaturhaus, Wien/ Photo: Allisa Dauer. Caption: Billy Wilder, born in 1906 in Sucha, Galicia, director and screenwriter.


French postcard by Editions P.I., offered by Victoria S.A. (Biscuits, Chocolates and Patisserie), Brussels. Photo: Paramount Pictures 1950. Barbara Stanwyck in Double Indemnity (Billy Wilder, 1944).


Dutch postcard by Takken, Utrecht, no. 1530. Photo: Paramount. Audrey Hepburn in Sabrina (Billy Wilder, 1954). Costume: Hubert de Givenchy.


American postcard by Classico San Francisco, no. 105/001. Photo: Twentieth Century Fox / Charles K. Feldman Group Productions. Victor Moore and Marilyn Monroe in The Seven Year Itch (Billy Wilder, 1955).


Czech postcard by Pressfoto, Praha (Prague). Photo: Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis in Some Like it Hot (Billy Wilder, 1959). Collection: Carla Bosch.

The biggest media scandal of the First Republic in Austria

Samuel 'Billie' Wilder was born in 1906 in Sucha, Austria-Hungary often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Samuel was the son of Jewish parents, Max and Eugenia Wilder. His father ran the "City" hotel in Krakow as well as several railway station restaurants in the area.

His mother always called her son "Billie". Samuel, therefore, called himself Billie Wilder. Later in the USA, he changed the spelling to Billy. In 1916, during the First World War, the family moved to Vienna fearing the approaching Russian army. In the capital, Billie became close friends with the later Hollywood director Fred Zinnemann, and they kept in touch throughout his life.

Wilder began his career as a reporter for the Viennese tabloid Die Stunde (The Hour). When he interviewed the jazz musician Paul Whiteman in 1926, the latter was so enthusiastic about him that he invited him to come with him to Berlin to show him the city. A week later it turned out that Die Stunde was blackmailing Viennese businessmen and celebrities at the time with the threat of publishing unflattering articles about them. The affair became the biggest media scandal of the First Republic in Austria and Wilder decided to stay in Berlin and work for another newspaper, the city's largest tabloid.

There he came in contact with the film industry. German Wikipedia: "when the director of a film company, Maxim Galitzenstein, had to escape in his pants from the neighbour's bedroom to Wilder's room, he couldn't help but buy Wilder's first screenplay." Billie was hired as a ghostwriter for well-known screenwriters such as Robert Liebmann and Franz Schulz. It was an additional source of income alongside his work as a reporter. In 1929, he contributed with Curt Siodmak, Robert Siodmak, Fred Zinnemann and Edgar G. Ulmer to the classic film Menschen am Sonntag/People on Sunday (Robert Siodmak, Edgar G. Ulmer, 1930). The film follows a group of young residents of Berlin on a summer's day during the interwar period. Hailed as a work of genius, it is a pivotal film in the development of German cinema.

Together with Erich Kästner, Billie wrote the screenplay for Emil und die Detektive/Emil and the Detectives (Gerhard Lamprecht, 1931) the first film adaptation of Kästner's novel and generally considered to be the best film version. Wilder realised his Jewish ancestry would cause problems when the National Socialists would seize power. Immediately after Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933, Wilder moved to France. In Paris, Billie earned his living as a ghostwriter for French screenwriters. Here he also directed his first film, the crime drama Mauvaise graine/Bad Seed (Billie Wilder, Alexander Esway, 1934) with Danielle Darrieux.


Dutch postcard by Filmmuseum, Amsterdam. Photo: Filmmuseum. Poster for Menschen am Sonntag/People on Sunday (Robert Siodmak, Edgar G. Ulmer, 1930) for which Billy Wilder contributed to the story.


German collectors card in the series 'Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der Tonfilm', album no. 11, picture no. 58, group 44. Photo: Ufa / Ross Verlag. Fritz Rasp in Emil und die Detektive/Emil and the Detectives (Gerhard Lamprecht, 1931).


Italian postcard by B.F.F. Edit. (Casa Editr. Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze), no. 2178. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Greta Garbo in Ninotchka (Ernst Lubitsch, 1939).


Belgian collectors card by Kwatta, Bois - D'Haine, no. C 181. Photo: MGM. Greta Garbo and Melvyn Douglas in Ninotchka (Ernst Lubitsch, 1939).


French postcard by Edition P.I., Paris, no. 280, 1950. Photo: Paramount. Edward G. Robinson in Double Indemnity (Billy Wilder, 1944).


Dutch postcard by Takken, no. 3446. Photo: Paramount. Ray Milland.

The atrocities committed by the Nazi regime

In 1934 Billie Wilder was able to enter the United States, thanks to a visitor's visa granted by Joe May. Although he spoke no English when he arrived in Hollywood, Wilder was a fast learner. Thanks to contacts such as Peter Lorre, with whom he shared an apartment, he was signed by Paramount Pictures in 1936. After his emigration, he became a naturalised American named Billy.

His partnership with author Charles Brackett started in 1938 and the team was responsible for writing some of Hollywood's classic comedies, including Ninotchka (Ernst Lubitsch, 1939) starring Greta Garbo and Ball of Fire (Howard Hawks, 1941) with Barbara Stanwyck and Gary Cooper.

However, Wilder was dissatisfied with the constant changes to his scripts and wanted to take the reins himself. His partnership with Brackett expanded into a producer-director one in 1942. The comedy The Major and the Minor (1942) with Ginger Rogers and Ray Milland was the first film he directed. His second film, Five Graves to Cairo (1943) with Franchot Tone, served as a propaganda film against the Nazi regime during World War II.

Wilder quickly garnered success as a director. He had his breakthrough with the Film Noir Double Indemnity (1944), starring Fred MacMurray, Edward G. Robinson and Barbara Stanwyck as a femme fatale. The film received seven Oscar nominations, including two for Wilder in the categories of Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay.

In 1945, Wilder was commissioned by the U.S. Army Signal Corps to condense the extensive material available from the American and British military about, among other things, the liberation of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp into a short film, Death Mills/Die Todesmühlen (1945). The film was intended for German audiences to educate them about the atrocities committed by the Nazi regime. It became the only documentary film under his supervision. Not having seen his mother and stepfather since he went to Berlin in 1933 to make films, he joined American patrols through war-torn Europe during WWII. Through intense research, he learned they had been murdered in concentration camps and his grandmother had died in a Polish ghetto. Later, he usually declined to discuss this.


Belgian press photo by BRT Television. Jean Arthur, John Lund and Marlene Dietrich in A Foreign Affair (Billy Wilder, 1948).


French postcard by Editions du Globe, Paris, no. 384. Photo: Paramount / PPC, 1955. Audrey Hepburn in Sabrina (Billy Wilder, 1954). Costume: Hubert de Givenchy.


French postcard. Audrey Hepburn in Sabrina (Billy Wilder, 1954). Dress: Hubert de Givenchy.


French postcard, no. A030. Marilyn Monroe and Tom Ewell in The Seven Year Itch (Billy Wilder, 1955).


American postcard by Fotofolio, New York, no. MP65. Photo: Elliot Erwitt. Marilyn Monroe and Tom Ewell at the set of The Seven Year Itch (Billy Wilder, 1955).


American postcard by Classico San Francisco, no. 105/031. Marilyn Monroe in The Seven Year Itch (Billy Wilder, 1955).

Cynicism, humour and an original storyline

Billy Wilder received his first Oscar for the drama The Lost Weekend (1945), starring Ray Milland as an unsuccessful author with a drinking problem. The film dealt unusually realistically with the problems of an alcoholic.

Shortly afterwards, Wilder went to Germany on behalf of the American government with the rank of colonel and directed the film A Foreign Affair (1948), starring Jean Arthur and Marlene Dietrich, which dealt critically with the Nazi past in occupied Germany.

Among his other classics are the drama Sunset Boulevard (1950) starring William Holden and Gloria Swanson, the romance Sabrina (1954) starring Audrey Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart, and the comedies The Seven Years Itch (1955) and Some Like It Hot (1959), both starring Marilyn Monroe.

He had a long-standing partnership with screenwriter I.A.L. Diamond with whom he made such classic comedies as The Apartment (1961) and Irma La Douce (1963), both with Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine. His work is characterised by cynicism, humour and an original storyline. He was fascinated by a wide variety of subjects and he often used the same actors, such as Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau.

Wilder's later works were unable to match the success of his heyday. Although he lost some of his brilliance as a filmmaker later in his life, many of his films are still considered classics. From the mid-1980s, he limited himself to consulting work for United Artists. In 2002, Billy Wilder died of pneumonia in Los Angeles, California at the age of 95. He had been struggling with health problems for some time, but still gave interviews. His grave is in Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery. Wilder was married to Judith Coppicus-Iribe from 1936 to 1947. They had a daughter together, Victoria (1939). In 1949 Wilder married the actress and singer Audrey Young (1922-2012).


Dutch postcard by Filmmuseum, Amsterdam. Photo: Filmmuseum. Marlene Dietrich, Charles Laughton and Tyrone Power in Witness for the Prosecution (Billy Wilder, 1957). Caption: "I am constantly surprised that women's hats do not provoke more murders."


French postcard for the exhibition 'Figures de Facteur' (2004-2005) in Paris by Cartapub / Ministerie de la Culture et de la Communication. Photo: Raymond Voinquel. Gary Cooper and Lise Bourdin in Love in the Afternoon (Billy Wilder, 1956).


Dutch freecard by Boomerang, Amsterdam. Photo: Filmmuseum. Marilyn Monroe in Some Like It Hot (Billy Wilder, 1959). Caption: Filmmuseum Classics Tour 2002: Some Like It Hot and 26 other unforgettable classics.


Czech postcard by Pressfoto, Praha (Prague). Photo: Marilyn Monroe in Some Like it Hot (Billy Wilder, 1959). Collection: Carla Bosch.


Czech postcard by Pressfoto, Praha (Prague). Photo: Jack Lemmon and Joe E. Brown in Some Like it Hot (Billy Wilder, 1959). Collection: Carla Bosch.


Dutch postcard by Filmmuseum, Amsterdam. Photo: Filmmuseum. Jack Lemmon in The Apartment (Billy Wilder, 1960).


Big East-German card by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 65/72,1972. Jack Lemmon and Judi West in The Fortune Cookie (Billy Wilder, 1966).

Sources: Michael Brooke (IMDb), Wikipedia (Dutch and German) and IMDb.