LEMMON, JACK

born Feb. 8, 1925, Boston in full John Uhler Lemmon Iii American screen and stage actor noted for his character portrayals in American films from the 1950s onward. Lemmon graduated from Harvard University in 1947 and then went to New York City to work as an actor. He worked as a piano player, acted in radio and television dramas, and began acting on Broadway in 1953. His first film appearance was in It Should Happen to You (1954), and his performance as Ensign Pulver in Mister Roberts (1955) established his career in Hollywood. His performances in leading roles in Some Like It Hot (1959) and The Apartment (1960) reinforced the character type he played, that of a tense, excitable, and baffled individual who painfully progresses to a deeper understanding of the world. His major films of the 1960s were Days of Wine and Roses (1962), The Fortune Cookie (1966), and The Odd Couple (1968). In the 1970s he starred in The Out-of-Towners (1970), Save the Tiger (1973), The Front Page (1974), and The China Syndrome (1979), and in the 1980s his most notable performance was in Missing (1982). He won Academy Awards as best supporting actor in Mister Roberts and for best actor in Save the Tiger.