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Jerry Lewis, one of Hollywood’s greatest slapstick comedians, a filmmaker of exceptional popularity and novelty, and a philanthropist who popularized the use of telethons as a tool against disease, has died. He was 91 and died at 9:15 a.m. this morning at his home, surrounded by family, according to a family statement and his publicist.
Candi Cazau, his publicist, confirmed on CNN that Lewis passed away peacefully at home. “He had been slightly ill and spent some time in local hospitals, but came home and was planning on making stage appearances” in New York and Las Vegas.”
Lewis, whose partnership with crooner Dean Martin in the 1950s was one of Hollywood’s most beloved teams, also conquered the casino entertainment culture of Las Vegas and built an international audience that, as so many punchlines would have it, made him a critical favorite in France long before he earned the well-deserved respect of American cineastes.
Lewis had been in ill health in recent years and suffered a heart attack in 2006. He also had a long bout with pulmonary fibrosis, which caused his face and body to swell. But he continued to make public appearances, continuing to perform in Las Vegas as late as last year. His final film, Max Rose, was screened at the Cannes Film Festival in 2013.
Lewis was one of the dominant figures in show business during the 1960s and 1970s His comedy act with Dean Martin is considered one of the most successful teams of all time, and his films following that break-up made him one of the top movie draws of the era. Such comedy classics as The Bellboy (1960) and The Nutty Professor (1963) were huge successes. That led up to his biggest film, The Nutty Professor (1963), which grossed $19 million, a huge sum for the era.
But many remember Lewis for his Herculean efforts as the national chairman of the Muscular Dystrophy Association. For years, his Labor Day telethon marked the end of summer for many, and it helped raise close to $2.5 billion for research into the disease. He was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1977 for those efforts. Lewis left the telethon in 2011, but his annual closing song, You’ll Never Walk Alone, became one of the indelible moments of those efforts.
“Labor Day is not the same,” said publicist Cazau on CNN. “Without Jerry Lewis, Labor Day Weekend just comes and goes.”
His international success, particularly in France, where he was revered as a comedy genius, was no less impressive. Lewis won eight “best director” awards in Europe, and was presented with the French Legion of Honor award in 1984.
With Martin, Lewis appeared in such films as The Caddy, The Stooge, Artists and Models and Pardners, all of them earning decently at the box office. Their last film, Hollywood or Bust, came in 1956. Shortly thereafter, following an appearance at the Copacabana nightclub, the team split.
Lewis went on to develop a slick solo nightclub act, and made a million-selling single, Rock-a-Bye Your Baby. He later released several record albums.
His biggest film success was on the horizon. In 1961, The Ladies Man and 1962’s The Errand Boy were hits, followed by Cinderfella and The Disorderly Orderly.
Lewis was born Joseph Levitch on March 16, 1926 in Newark, N.J. The son of professional entertainers, he made his own debut at age 5 by singing “Brother, Can You Spare A Dime?” at a Borscht Belt hotel in upstate New York. He later dropped out of high school to work on a comedy routine, working as a soda jerky and theater usher to support his career development.
In 1946, he was working an Atlantic City nightclub when he made the acquaintance of an Ohio-born crooner named Dean Martin. The two had an instant rapport, and teamed up to conquer nightclubs, then film and TV. But the magic didn’t last, and in-fighting led the team to break up near the height of their popularity in 1956. Frank Sinatra was a key to bringing them together for a surprise appearance on the 1976 Lewis telethon, the only public reunion before Martin’s death in 1995. Lewis later wrote about their relationship in the 2005 book Dean & Me (A Love Story). “Other comedy teams never generated anything like the hysteria that Dean and I did, and that was because we had that X factor – the powerful feeling between us,” Lewis wrote. “And it really was an X factor, a kind of mystery.”
Lewis did no films for a decade following 1970’s Which Way to the Front? But he returned in 1983 in Martin Scorsese’s The King of Comedy, winning kudos for his portrayal of a talk-show host kidnapped by two crazed fans, played by Robert DeNiro and Sandra Bernhard. That same year, he married Sandra Pitnick, with their daughter, Dani, born in March, 1992.
He was earlier married to Patti Palmer, a union which ended in 1982 and produced five sons: Gary, Ron, Scott, Chris and Anthony.
