Rise to fame
With his acting career heading nowhere, Nicholson seemed resigned to a career behind the camera as a writer/director. His first real taste of writing success was the LSD-fueled screenplay for 1967's The Trip, which starred Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper. However, after a spot opened up in Fonda and Hopper's Easy Rider, it led to his first big acting break. Nicholson played hard-drinking lawyer George Hanson, for which he received his first Oscar nomination. The part of Hanson was a lucky break for Nicholson -- the role had in fact been written for actor Rip Torn, who was a close friend of screen writer Terry Southern, but Torn withdrew from the project after a bitter argument with the film's director Dennis Hopper, during which the two men almost came to blows.
A Best Actor nomination came the following year for his persona-defining role in Five Easy Pieces (1970), which includes his famous chicken salad dialogue about getting what you want. Also that year, he appeared in the m
More about Jack Nicholson (From Wikipedia)
Early Life
Nicholson was born in Manhattan, New York City, the son of a showgirl, June Frances Nicholson (stage name June Nilson). June had married Italian American showman Donald Furcillo read more...
Early Acting Career
When Nicholson first came to Hollywood, he worked as a go-fer for animation legends Hanna-Barbera. Seeing his talent as an artist, they offered Nicholson a starting level position read more...
Rise To Fame
With his acting career heading nowhere, Nicholson seemed resigned to a career behind the camera as a writer/director. His first real taste of writing success was the LSD-fueled screenplay read more...
An American Icon
Nicholson earned his first Best Actor Oscar for portraying Randle P. McMurphy in the movie adaptation of Ken Kesey's novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, directed by Miloš Forman read more...
Recent Years
In About Schmidt (2002), Nicholson portrayed a retired Omaha, Nebraska actuary who questions his own life and the death of his wife shortly afterward. His quiet, restrained performance read more...
Personal Life
Jack Nicholson is an atheist.In his adult personal life, Nicholson has been notorious for his inability to "settle down", with a place on Maxim's "Top 10 Living Legends of Sex." read more...
Academy Awards History
Nicholson has been nominated for an acting (lead or supporting) Academy Award in five different decades: 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s. The only other actors who can say read more...
John Joseph "Jack" Nicholson (born April 22, 1937) is an American actor, internationally renowned for his often dark-themed portrayals of neurotic characters.
Nicholson has read more...