Jerry Lewis, born Joseph Levich on March 16, 1926, is a prominent American actor, comedian, producer, writer and singer. He's well known for his specific humor on comedian appearances on television, radio and stage; Lewis's career was a hit right off the bat, starting from his first appearance in Martin and Lewis, and remained persistent up until his later charity appearances in the 2000s. Lewis's ancestry is Russian-Jewish and he was born in Newark, New Jersey; he is well-known in his native area, and was included in the New Jersey Hall of Fame in 2009.
Lewis's parents were both on stage from their early days, his father being an entertainer, a huge influence on him, but his mother played piano at a radio station. At the age of 18, after finishing High School, he got married to his first wife Patti Palmer, with whom he had six children. He then went on to have a successful entertainment career after he met Dean Martin in 1945. The pair had a lot of similar interests, and shared a friendship which carried on stage.
The two first performed in 1946 in the front of a large audience in the Glass Hat Club in New York. At first, their performance was shabby, as they used scripts that weren't effective at all; the audience was disappointed, and they improvised in their next act the same evening, but this time, the audience burst up in laughter and they became a hugely demanded duo. The two quit performing together in 1956, as Martin was all but happy about the fact that Lewis was obviously a lot important on stage, and had a much bigger air time than him.
After parting ways with Martin, Lewis had a successful solo career. Notable films of his solo career include The Nutty Professor (1963), Who's Minding The Store (1963), and others. He also appeared on television in three shows, all titled The Jerry Lewis Show. The first version was broadcast at in 1963 ABC, but was canceled after four months, unable to reach the viewers they wanted. The second version at
NBC was a little more successful, lasting for two years, but the second try with ABC in 1984 was a major fiasco that lasted for a month and a week. Seeing that private television shows weren't really for him, he performed on the big screen, for example, in the 1983 film The King of Comedy. He also starred in numerous smaller roles, such as those in 1994s Arizona Dream and 1995s Funny Bones.
Health concerns are a part of Jerry's life, as he has had two strokes, prostate cancer an pulmonary fibrosis; the remedy for the latter caused Jerry to gain a lot of weight in the 2000s. He is the spokesman and front man of the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon, a charity organization which has raised over a billion dollars for people with disabilities. He remains a prominent charity spokesman and received the prestigious Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 2009. Jerry has recently gained some notoriety, most notably for his sexist remarks on women comedians, and letting the word "fag" slip out on the camera.
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