Jerry Lewis, whose Hollywood career spanned seven decades, has died.
Multiple reports say that the comic legend and philanthropist was found dead in his Las Vegas home early Sunday morning of natural causes. He had been battling health issues for a few years. Lewis was 91.
Lewis made a name for himself as a zany, physical comic in films going back to the late 1940s and was even in talks as recent as December 2016 to do another picture. He was also known for his lengthy partnership with singer and actor Dean Martin and by later generations as the face of the Muscular Dystrophy Association through his annual Labour Day Telethons.
Born in 1926 in New Jersey to Russian Jewish parents, Lewis began performing at age five along with his parents. Dropping out of high school in grade ten, he began his partnership with Martin in 1946, performing in nightclubs and later on radio. The duo of Martin and Lewis appeared in 17 films together, but professional tension between the two led to their split in 1956. By 1961, the two men were not speaking and did not appear together again until the 1976 MDA Telethon, a reunion arranged by mutual friend Frank Sinatra.
Lewis continued performing alone, recording music and appearing in films. His better known films throughout the 1960s included The Bellboy, The Nutty Professor and It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. He concentrated on television and theatre appearances throughout the 1970s and received acclaim for his work in Martin Scorcese's 1983 film The King of Comedy. Despite health issues later in his life, he continued to appear in film and on TV.
Throughout his career, Lewis worked tirelessly for research on muscular dystrophy. He hosted telethons each year from 1952 to 1959, but his Labour Day Telethons beginning in 1966 became major TV events. During his time hosting the telethons, over $2.6 billion were raised. Lewis was forced out as host of the telethon in 2011 but he did record a video statement for the MDA's website last year.
Lewis was never nominated for a competitive Academy Award but he did win the Academy's Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 2009. He also won an American Comedy Award and an Emmy Governors Award for lifetime achievement.
Lewis was married twice. He had six children with first wife Patti Palmer, the oldest being Gary Lewis of Gary Lewis and the Playboys. They divorced in 1980. He married 32-year-old dancer SanDee Pitnick in 1983 and adopted a daughter. They stayed together until his death.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foGCgNp9UHA