Photo Flash: Remembering Jerry Lewis

By: Walter McBride Aug. 23, 2017

As BroadwayWorld sadly reported earlier this week, comic legend Jerry Lewis died at 91 years old at his home in Las Vegas.

The star appeared on Broadway as a replacement in the 1994 revival of Damn Yankees, where he replaced Victor Garber as 'Applegate'. In recent years, he served as director of the musical adaptation of his film The Nutty Professor, which featured music by Marvin Hamlisch and a book and lyrics by Tony winner Rupert Holmes. The show played Nashville in 2012.

Lewis appeared in a revival of Hellzapoppin' with Lynn Redgrave in 1976, but it closed on the road before reaching Broadway. In addition, numerous Broadway stars and casts appeared on his Muscular Dystrophy Association telethons for which he hosted the live Labor Day broadcast of the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon for 44 years.

Jerry Lewis (born March 16, 1926) is an American comedian, actor, singer, film producer, screenwriter and film director. He is known for his slapstick humor in film, television, stage and radio. He was originally paired up with Dean Martin, forming the famed comedy team of Martin and Lewis. In addition to the duo's popular nightclub work, they starred in a successful series of comedy films for Paramount Pictures.

His many films included My Friend Irma, My Friend Irma Goes West, At War with the Army, That's My Boy, Sailor Beware, Jumping Jacks, Road to Bali, The Stooge, Scared Stiff, The Caddy, Money from Home, Living It Up, 3 Ring Circus, You're Never Too Young, Artists and Models, Pardners, Hollywood or Bust, The Delicate Delinquent, The Sad Sack, Rock-A-Bye Baby, The Geisha Boy, Don't Give Up the Ship, Li'l Abner, Visit to a Small Planet, The Bellboy, Cinderfella, The Ladies Man, The Errand Boy, It's Only Money, The Nutty Professor, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, Who's Minding the Store?, The Patsy, The Disorderly Orderly, The Family Jewels, Boeing Boeing, Three on a Couch, Way...Way Out, The Big Mouth, Don't Raise the Bridge, Lower the River, Hook, Line & Sinker, One More Time, Which Way to the Front?, The Day the Clown Cried, Hardly Working, Slapstick of Another Kind, The King of Comedy, Cracking Up, Retenez Moi...Ou Je Fais Un Malheur, Par où t'es rentré ? On t'a pas vu sortir, Fight For Life, Cookie, Mr. Saturday Night, Arizona Dream, Funny Bones, The Nutty Professor, Curious George 2: Follow That Monkey!, Method to the Madness of Jerry Lewis, Até que a Sorte nos Separe 2, The Trust and Max Rose.

Lewis has won several awards for lifetime achievements from The American Comedy Awards, Los Angeles Film Critics Association, and Venice Film Festival, and he has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2005, he received the Governors Award of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Board of Governors, which is the highest Emmy Award presented. On February 22, 2009, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awarded Lewis the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride

Photo Flash: Remembering Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis - Abbott of the Friars Club - receives a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Friars Club Comedy Film Festival in New York City. September 29, 2010

Photo Flash: Remembering Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis Theatre Marquee starring in the Broadway Musical Revival of DAMN YANKEES on March 3, 1984 at the Marquis Theatre, Times Square, New York City.

Photo Flash: Remembering Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis attends the 61st Annual Drama League Awards on May 5, 1995 at the Plaza Hotel, New York City.

Photo Flash: Remembering Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis and wife SanDee Pitnick attend the 61st Annual Drama League Awards on May 5, 1995 at the Plaza Hotel, New York City.

Photo Flash: Remembering Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis attends the 61st Annual Drama League Awards on May 5, 1995 at the Plaza Hotel, New York City.

Photo Flash: Remembering Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis - Abbott of the Friars Club - receives a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Friars Club Comedy Film Festival in New York City. September 29, 2010

Photo Flash: Remembering Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis - Abbott of the Friars Club - as he receives a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Friars Club Comedy Film Festival in New York City. September 29, 2010

Photo Flash: Remembering Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis - Abbott of the Friars Club - receives a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Friars Club Comedy Film Festival in New York City. September 29, 2010

Photo Flash: Remembering Jerry Lewis
Quentin Tarantino with Jerry Lewis - Abbott of the Friars Club - as he receives a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Friars Club Comedy Film Festival in New York City. September 29, 2010

Photo Flash: Remembering Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis - Abbott of the Friars Club - receives a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Friars Club Comedy Film Festival in New York City. September 29, 2010

Photo Flash: Remembering Jerry Lewis
Quentin Tarantino salutes Jerry Lewis - Abbott of the Friars Club - receives a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Friars Club Comedy Film Festival in New York City. September 29, 2010

Photo Flash: Remembering Jerry Lewis
Freddy Roman, Quentin Tarantino, Richard Belzer with Jerry Lewis - Abbott of the Friars Club - as he receives a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Friars Club Comedy Film Festival in New York City. September 29, 2010

Photo Flash: Remembering Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis - Abbott of the Friars Club - receives a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Friars Club Comedy Film Festival in New York City. September 29, 2010

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