Jerry Lewis, the manic, rubber-faced showman who jumped and hollered to fame in a lucrative partnership with Dean Martin, settled down to become a self-conscious screen auteur and found an even greater following as the tireless, teary host of the annual muscular dystrophy telethons, has died. He was 91.
Lewis died Sunday of natural causes in Las Vegas with his family by his side, publicist Candi Cazau said.
Tributes from friends, co-stars and disciples poured in immediately. Jim Carrey called him an, “Undeniable genius and an unfathomable blessing.” Carl Reiner said on Twitter that Lewis was, “A true comic icon.” In Las Vegas, Ceasars Palace, where Lewis was once a headliner, featured a message honouring him on a marquee, and in Los Angeles, fans gathered at Lewis’s two Hollywood Walk of Fame stars — one of which was for television and one for film.
Jerry Lewis mugs for the camera at the Sahara hotel in Las Vegas in 1979. Photo: EPA
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Jerry Lewis responding to a question and answer session after a preview of his new film Max Rose at the Regal Village Square Cinemas in Las Vega in 2016. Photo: EPA
Lewis’ career spanned the history of show business in the 20th century, beginning in his parents’ vaudeville act at the age of 5. He was just 20 when his pairing with Martin made them international stars. He went on to make such favourites as The Bellboy and The Nutty Professor, was featured in Martin Scorsese’s The King of Comedy and appeared as himself in Billy Crystal’s Mr Saturday Night. In the 1990s, he scored a stage comeback as the devil in the Broadway revival of Damn Yankees.
In his 80s, he was still travelling the world, planning to remake some of his earlier movies and working on a stage version of The Nutty Professor. He was so active he would sometimes forget the basics, like eating, his associates would recall. In 2012, Lewis missed an awards ceremony thrown by his beloved Friars Club because his blood sugar dropped from lack of food and he had to spend the night in hospital.
