John Uhler "Jack" Lemmon III (February 8, 1925 – June 27, 2001) was an American actor known principally for his comedic roles, says Wikipedia. He starred in over 60 films including Some Like It Hot, The Apartment, Days of Wine and Roses, Irma La Douce, The Odd Couple, The Out-of-Towners, Glengarry Glen Ross, The China Syndrome and JFK.
He said that he knew he wanted to be an actor from the age of eight. Lemmon attended Phillips Academy (Class of 43) and Harvard University (Class of 47) where he was an active member of several Drama Clubs - becoming president of the Hasty Pudding Club.
Days of Wine and Roses (1962) was one of his favorite roles. He portrayed Joe Clay, a young, fun-loving alcoholic businessman. In that film, Lemmon delivered the line, "My name is Joe Clay ... I'm an alcoholic." Three and a half decades later, he admitted on the television program, Inside the Actors Studio, that he was not acting when he delivered that line, that he really was a recovering alcoholic at the end of his life.
Lemmon often appeared in films alongside actor Walter Matthau. They would go on to be one of the most beloved duos in cinema history. Among their pairings was as Felix Unger (Lemmon) and Oscar Madison (Matthau) in the 1968 film, The Odd Couple.
Personal quote: "It's hard enough to write a good drama, it's much harder to write a good comedy, and it's hardest of all to write a drama with comedy. Which is what life is."
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