Jack was born on 22. 4. 1937 in New Jersey. His mother was a hair dresser having her own saloon in their house which meant it was always full of female customers and their kids so Jack preferred wandering around, reading comics magazines and dreaming about his heroes. He often got angry in order to get any attention and he had feelings he is an unwanted kid. Every Saturday afternoon he spent in local cinema Palace and watched cartoons and episodes of series. His mother was the first one in the street who owned a TV in 1950. So, their living room was always crammed with neighbours. He never had an interest in TV and even later, when he was a famous star, he refused all offers from TV.

He was smart student and only subject he wasn´t well in was sport since he didn´t have physical strength and was fighting with overweight. Moreover, he started smoking two packs a day at the age of 16 and it stayed with him for entire life. Since he wasn´t tall, he couldn´t play his favourite game- basketball- so rather devoted his time to playing in school performances.

The very first one was called Out of the Frying Panand not only he was good but he liked it very much. In spare time he worked in local cinema and ticket boy and learnt from real actors on the screen. He also worked as a life guard since he enjoyed watching girls basking in the sun. In last grade he started to wear filthy jeans and biker´s jacket being inspired by Marlon Brando in movie The Wild One. He graduated in 1954, bought his first car and when he applied for driving licence he found out there is no birth certificate, no evidence of his birth. Much later he found out truth about his family, about is real father and about fact that his much older sister was in fact his mother and his believed grandmother was in fact his mother.

His sister June moved to Los Angeles and invited him there after his graduation in 1954. For time being he lived with her but after securing regular job he moved away. When he run out of money, he used to go to Hollywood by bus and wandered around. Since 1935 till 1948 local studios were limited and controlled in what they could film, what they could screen in their own cinemas. Now, in 50´s came new independently filmed movies that were much more realistic and interesting and the lead figure was Marlon Brando. Jack couldn´t know that he will play together with him within 22 years, they will be neighbours but never will become friends.

After spending a year hanging around Hollywood skint and hungry he got a tip for a job in MGM. He was signed on 5. 5. 1955 and for 30 dollars a week he was sorting out the fan mail for Tom and Jerry. In studio he was meeting real film stars and once, he met a producer Joe Pasternak in the lift. He invited Jack for camera tests which ended up badly. They appreciated his good look, smile and figure but he was lacking acting experience. Bill Hanna one of the creators of Tom and Jerry sent him to Joe Flynn Acting School and gave him one precious advice: ,,In Hollywood never say NO to anyone whatever he offers you.” MGM studio financed small theatre company Players´ Ring in Santa Monica Boulevard and Joe Flynn wrote him a recommendation which helped him to be accepted. Jack got a role in play Tea and Sympathy. In the company he met not only Roger Vaughn but also Dennis Hopper. Thanks to his performance in aforementioned play, he got a small part in TV series Matinee Theatre. Thanks to that he became a member of AFTRA and was placed in actors´ catalogue. It came in handy since by that time MGM dissolved the division of animated film and Jack was jobless again. Thanks to hanging around in local bars he found out about empty space in Jeff Corey Acting Class. It was here where me met certain Roger Corman who changed his life.

In Hollywood never say NO to anybody whatever he offers you

Corman entered the course as observer who wants to learn something about acting, and soon he noticed Jack and offered him a lead in planned movie The Cry Baby Killer. Corman later admitted that from word go he knew that in Jack he found someone exceptional, star- in–the making. Film with 7 000 dollars´ budget and Jack getting 1400 was finished in 10 days and it took further 2 years before it found a distributor before it vanished without trace. During those 2 years Jack didn´t make any further film and since he was jobless, he applied for National Air Guard where he underwent a boot camp. After coming back, he moved with other two would-be-actors into a flat in West Hollywood and thanks to never ending parties full of booze, drugs and sex with hot girls, it became one of the wildest houses in Hollywood. It was here where he met and befriended Harry Dean Stanton. In the bar he met Monte Hellman who asked him to help him finish a script for movie for which he raised 25 000 dollars. Corman liked the script but instead of this film he offered Monte directing of Beast from Haunted Cave and Nicholson a part in biker´s film The Wild Ride.

Next offer was for The Little Shop of Horrors. In order to save money, Roger let crew and actor to climb over the fence and use Charlie Chaplin´s studios without permission. Film was finished in two days. In June 1962 Jack married Sandra Knight with who he started using LSD.

Once, during shooting, Corman run out of money and had to stop the work before raising more money. Expensive scene in gothic style was still standing, so Jack asked Roger if he could use them over weekend for free and film few pages of his script. Film was called The Terror and ask Jack later admitted it was the worst movie of his career. He was hired by Roger as script writer and he came with story called Thunder Island about political conspiracy with assassination. It came to cinemas month before JFK assassination and soon it was dropped. At that time Jack became a father of daughter Jennifer and they met and befriended Larry Hagman who threw out wild parties where cream of Hollywood got together. When they got tired of that they handed the relay to jane Fonda and Roger Vadim and they passed it to John and Michelle Phillips from Mamas and Papas. Jack was entering all of them and relished all joys offered.

In 1964 Jack and Monte Hellman flew to Philippines to shoot here two films, Back Door Hell Flight to Fury. They worked non-stop for three weeks on one, had a short break and followed with 3 weeks work on second one. Jack played and wrote, Monte filmed and wrote.

The same formula was used on further two films, first of them was western The Shooting and second was called Ride in the Whirlwind. It was ordered by Corman and he gave 75 000 dollars for each movie. During filming The Shooting, all bar Corman were using drugs and both films were made back- to-back in same decorations and while the first was made script for second one was written. Duo Hellman-Nicholson slightly run over by budget and Corman deducted it from their salaries, as was the norm. Jack went to Cannes Film Festival to promote The Shooting and during first day he met Jean-Luc Godard and became member of Cahiers du Cinema delegation, where he met Francois Truffaut, Eric Rohmer and Claude Chabrol, prime members of French New Wave. Unlike Americans, French fans respected Corman and he rented a cinema in Paris where his new film was screened for entire year, while it flopped in America as well as Ride in the Whirlwind. It was the end of Hellman-Nicholson cooperation, since Hellman considered the success of film according to aesthetic values, Nicholson saw the success by box office figures and wanted to go towards mainstream which Monte was refusing whole of his life and avoided that.

Jack had talent, personality and he was aware of that. After return from Cannes Film Festival Corman called him and offered him a part in his movie The St. Valentine´s day Massacre which he shot for big studio 20th Century Fox. He had only one line which he made on first take and both audience and Corman liked it so much that it brought him more attention than all of the films he has made up until this time. After this film, Corman returned back to independent movies and renewed interest in biker´s films. The Wild Angels was shot with Bruce Dern, Peter Fonda but without Nicholson. It was his 61st film, cost him 360 000 dollars and earnt 15,5 M dollars. This inspired Peter Fonda, who started to raise money for his project Easy Rider which he shot with Dennis Hopper in two years´ time. In order to get money Fonda played in two more Cormac´s films about bikers´ gangs called Hells Angels on Wheels and The Trip.

Fonda hired Nicholson for Easy Rider for 392 dollars a week and he had a small but very important part. He was stoned or entire shooting and it is said he smoked 155 joints. Actual shooting took seven weeks, editing took seven months. At the time he got divorced. Easy Rider had premiere in Cannes and Nicholson became a new star of Hollywood. All studios wanted him in their movies since he was authentic, always playing himself and audience identified with him and loved him for that. Film was nominated for Academy Award in two categories- the best script and the best supporting actor. Agreement in Academy was- price for script will win Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid since Easy Rider looked like improvisation, rather than script. Jack lost to Gig Young from They Shoot Horses, Don´t They? So, the members of Academy showed what they think about independent film which soon slowly changed the whole Hollywood. But apart Academy, everybody knew which was the best film. Thanks to its box office success forced studios to open the division for youth, which were tasked to make films with budget up to 1 M dollars that would be addressed for young audience and the expensive mainstream stars wouldn´t be playing in them.

I was never too thrilled that I played in Corman´s films but as an actor I badly needed job and this was only one I have got. No one else wanted me

Further film Five Easy Pieces was made by newly established independent company BBS of Bob Rafaelson and producer Bert Schneider with who jack will collaborate for many decades. Film cost 1,6 M and earned 18 M dollars and also brought Jack another Academy award nomination.

At that time Jack showed an interest in directing and also wrote a script and became a producer of film called Drive, He Said. But he took far too big piece that he could take and film flopped. Actress Karen Black recollected: ,,Shooting was chaotic and due to problem with budget Jack couldn´t have as many assistants as he would have needed and concentrate only on directing. He couldn´t handle all by himself and many things that he started he never finished. This is a problem of an independent film but at the same time it is very exciting.”

At the time Stanley Kubrick called Jack and offered him a lead in a movie Napoleon. Although this project never materialized Nicholson was flooded by offers and he could pick up. He refused films which later became big hits such as The Godfather, The Sting, The Jackal, The Great Gatsby or The Exorcist. Since he made 26 films in 13 years, he was tired.

One of his good features was loyalty. He never forgot the friends who helped him on his way up which is not seen very often by actors of his calibre. When he got an offer from Bob Rafaelson to play in his film The King of Marvin Gardens hew made it from loyalty since Bob´s films didn´t make profit and he needed a big star. Jack agreed with the minimum salary and also secured a part for Bruce Dern whose career stagnated. But one way or another film was flop both commercially and critically.

Then he got an offer for The Last Detail, which was the project which collapsed many times at least for two reasons. Firstly, the politicians are shown as vulgar cads and secondly in first seven minutes the word fuck is used 342x. Jack was hired as a star which can save the film and it did happen and he showed the ability to bring non-genre film to mainstream audience. During shooting he and director were constantly snorting cocaine. Columbia bosses didn´t like film one bit and threatened not to present it, but soon changed their mind and it was successful on festivals in Cannes and San Francisco and Jack was nominated for Academy Award. On the way to Cannes Jack stopped for a day in London where director Ken Russell asked him to play small part in musical Tommy. For one- day job Jack got 75 000 dollars. At that time, he met daughter of director John Huston, who became integral part of his life for further 13 years.

Michelangelo Antonioni asked him to play in The Passenger and Jack paid him a tribute by words: ,,I worked with him since I wanted to be a film director and I thought I could learn something from real master. He is one of the few people I listen to.” But film bombed out and within a week was withdrawn from the cinemas.

Day after finishing this movie in London he was in Los Angeles he tried on costumes for new film Chinatown, directed by Roman Polanski. It became a hit and received 11 Academy Award nominations but Jack again lost, this time to Art Carney for his small part in movie Harry and Tonto.

I am just an ordinary man from New Jersey, no intellectual, but I try to give common person something special

Then he was offered a lead in Once Flew Over the Cuckoo Nest directed by Miloš Forman and produced by Michael Douglas. It was shot in real mental hospital and since Jack never stepped out of his character McMurphy and his colleagues followed him, it was difficult to find out who is actor and who is real patient. Film was a mega success and earned over 108 M dollars and firstly since 19354 it received Oscars in all four main categories. Jack won it also and thanked with words: ,,I guess it proves that in Academy they are as many nuts as anywhere else. I would like to thank my agent who told me ten years ago, that I have no place among actors. I have one more dream, to drive Milos Forman in Rolls Royce to Prague.” One cannot NOT love such honest actor.

Now Nicholson was on the very top. With coming fame, further roles and bigger cheques he started to invest. He bought pictures of 20th. Century painters such as Picasso and in 2010 when he stopped acting, the value of his collection was estimated to reach 100 M dollars. The framed paintings were leaning against the wall and more over he never locked the door. Once Roman Polanski took a chance, when Jack was in Aspen, and brought in 13 years old Samantha Gailey to take some pictures for Vogue magazine. But it went further than taking pictures and when it all was revealed Polanski left America overnight never to be seen there again.

Year later Jack returned to directing and he picked up a film Going South which was made for Paramount. Not only he directed that but also played a lead there. Actress Mary Streenburgen remember that work: ,,Jack picked me up from Magic Pan pub where I used to work as waitress. I have never ever stood in front of the camera and never stood on set. I made camera tests and since I haven´ t heard anything from him for five days I thought I failed and wanted to go back to New York. I went to Paramount to get my money but Jack was sitting there with cigar in his mouth and he calmly told me you are on the pay roll. He helped me in many ways since I was so naïve and raw. He taught me things he learnt himself for ages. He was very generous and was happy when other actors were successful.”

As director he repeated almost every scene and when his actor wasn´t happy with take, he let he do it again and again. There was tropical heat on set and John Belushi was fighting his drug addiction and was very unreliable. Film wasn´t a success and Jack was more disappointed as director than as an actor. He needed to direct a successful film which will be accepted by audience and he was determined not to give up till he succeeds.

Immediately after finishing this, he started to work with Stanley Kubrick on film The Shining. Which was shot in London studios where Ridley Scott was making his Alien where played Jack´s friend Harry Dean Stanton. Together they remembered at good old days and threw parties visited by Mick Jagger, George Harrison, Bob Dylan, John Lennon and many horny girls. Jack slept every day with different one. According to instructions of perfectionist Kubrick, Jack had to repeat one shot forty times. As director he understood Stanley´s desire for perfection but as an actor he felt that the best shot is the first one and with further ones he loses urgency and reality of the moment. Kubrick started to use steady cam at that time. Finally, Jack was happy when shooting ended since he was pissed off with that. During 1981 he made four films and John Huston told him not to make films for films otherwise he will become an actor of senseless films. Jack accepted his advice and stopped filming for next two years and enjoyed his life. He returned in 1983 thanks to James L. Books who wrote a script, produced and directed a part in Terms of Endearment and offered Jack a role of astronaut Breedlove. Paramount firstly agreed to back the film but then stepped out of the project claiming, it will be a box office flop unlike films of Steven Spielberg or George Lucas which were money making machines at that time. Brooks asked studio bosses: ,,Do you think we are in danger if we make something original?” Finally, he got 10 M dollars and made something which took audience´s heart, and earned him three Oscars, one for Jack and nice 109 M profit. Paramount bosses were again wrong.

I belong to actors who can do whatever they like

At that time was published a book called Wired: The Short Life and Fast Times of John Belushi. Author was famous Bob Woodward, who covered Watergate with Carl Bernstein in 70´s. Jack got angry since it also mentioned him and Hollywood was frightened since Bob set up a mirror to the life in Dream Film Factory and they didn´t like the picture thy saw in it. He writes here that: ,,Cocaine sets up a rhythm of life in Hollywood where laws, which ordinary people have to respect, some chosen ones, don´t have to abide by. Film cream is part of society which is dangerously out of control and is obsessed with desire for money, sex and drugs and no one paid attention to AIDS. Nobody wanted to admit, that it is a problem and it came after the death of Rock Hudson which changed the look at it.” Instead of admitting Bob is right, Hollywood people accused him for disclosing their privacy and habits.

When Jack as over 50 he came to conclusion that it will be harder and harder to get appropriate roles and was afraid that audience will lose interest in him. Due to this, he took an offer from Tim Burton to play Joker in Batman which a focused to younger audience. He got paid 5 M dollars and percentage from profit. Film was a massive box office hit, earning 251 M dollars worldwide and Jack brought one third of it to his bank. He was back on top.

He refused offers for Silence of the Lambs, Batman Returns, The Hard Way and The Last Scout. Paradoxically he was temped back for sequel of Chinatown which was called The Two Jakes.

His friend and producer offered him 11 M dollars if he takes a lead and directs it. It was hard earned money and Jack realized he can´t sit on two chairs at the same time. He recalled that time: ,,Do you know what is it like to play lead and direct at the same time? You get up at 6. A.m. and at 8a.m. you are on set. You film the whole morning, lead actors, prepare shots, play your role and miss lunch since you have to sort out problems. In the afternoon you shoot till dark and while actors go home, you don´t, since you have two hours meeting and then watch dailies. Now it´s midnight and you haven´t had your dinner yet, so go to take some bite and if you get home at 2. a.m. you are lucky. You are deadly tired but can´t go to bed since you are also an actor and must learn your part. So, you go to bed at 3.a.m. and alarm clock wakes you up at 6. a.m. That is the normal programme but I had to re- write the script which can be done early morning only, so for three months I have slept only 2-3 hours each day. The Two Jakes was the hardest job I have ever done.”

Producer Robert Evans was skint and desperately needed money so he had to sell his house where he had lived for twenty-three years. Jack was very sorry and he never forgot how he put him into his film On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, when he was unknown actor. He found the buyer and paid him 5 M from his own pocket and gave it back to Robert Evans. So, he repaid him his kindness. It showed how deeply Jack appreciates the friends who helped him. Similar way he helped jobless friend Harry Dean Stanton when he found him a part in a movie Man Trouble. The New York Times made analysis of Hollywood incomes and Jack Nicholson was top of the poll as the richest actor in Hollywood. All of his films since Cormac ones-bar two- were profitable and he got a percentage from profits since Easy Rider in 1969.

In February 1992 when he became father for the fifth time, he got an offer to play in A Few Good Men. The deal was 500 000 dollars per day and he worked for ten days. For his performance he was nominated for Academy Award again but didn´t get it. He had better taste in the mouth after getting his percentage from 243 M dollars´ profit. At the same year he didn´t win another nomination, this time it was Razzle for the worst performance in a movie Hoffa, where he played only to help his friend Danny De Vitto, who was directing it. In that award he was lost to Sylvester Stallone in a movie Stop! Or My Mum Will Shoot.

In 1994 he played with beautiful Michelle Pfeiffer in a movie Wolf. It panned out critically but it as another box office hit and real sky-high profits. On Venezia Film Festival he was asked by one journalist why he wanted to play wolf. Jack replied: ,,I like wolves since one male fuck all females.”

Then he played in row of box office flops and critics started to write him off. James L. Brooks came again with an offer for lead in film As Good As It Gets. Sixty years old Jack was impressive again and gained his third Academy Award and film had 314 M dollar´s profit. He cut down his working tempo and enjoyed his life with full hands.

His further nomination came in 2003 for the performance in a movie About Schmidt. (So far) the last film he has made was in 2010 again wilt collaboration with James L. Brooks and it was called How Do You Know?

Ageing Jack started to attend friend´s funerals often then Academy Awards ceremony. It was the role he didn´t enjoy at all.

Jack knew how to earn money and how to enjoy them and how to spend them. Apart aforementioned painting collection he also owns many real estates (he bought Marlon Brando´s house and have it demolished from honour to his idol). Jack is fanatic fan of Los Angeles Lakers and owns front row season ticket since 1970 until these days. He well secured his five children and support them on prestigious universities. He refused for long time to have his star on Hollywood Walk of Fame since he didn´t like the idea of being spat at by pedestrians or pissed on by dogs. Jack is the actor who can do whatever he can also say what he wants. We appreciate that in current politically and gender correct (Hollywood) world. Jack Nicholson is one of it´s kind.

Foto, thanx: IMDb