Jack Nicholson
Jack Nicholson
John Joseph "Jack" Nicholsonis an American actor and filmmaker, having performed for nearly 60 years. He is known for playing a wide range of starring or supporting roles, including satirical comedy, romance and dark portrayals of excitable and psychopathic characters. In many of his films, he has played the "eternal outsider, the sardonic drifter", and someone who rebels against the social structure...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionMovie Actor
Date of Birth22 April 1937
CityNeptune City, NY
CountryUnited States of America
There's only two people in your life you should lie to... the police and your girlfriend.
Just let the wardrobe do the acting.
There are short parts that I as an actor am very right for. Or I just like the part. Or you need someone like me for the movie. By that I don't mean at the box office, I mean in the execution of the material.
It's the post-literate generation that is most disturbing to a movie-maker. The explosions and the knifings. People like to go to what's hot and you can't get past a certain gross unless you involve children who go more than once.
It [TV] is the cancer of film. It's why people can't be educated to film. In the late '60s, we expected to see a movie or two every week and be stimulated, excited and inspired. And we did. Every week after week. Antonioni, Goddard, Truffaut - this endless list of people. And then comes television and home video. I know how to work exactly for the big screen, but it doesn't matter what I think about the art of movie-making versus TV.
I assume most of the characters I play are exactly like me.
It's difficult for people sometimes to recognise when they're happy. People sometimes seem to me to be afraid to be happy.
The first role I ever played I had the lead and it's pretty much stayed that way, though people take great relish in calling me a character actor, which I am. There are a lot of short parts I could play, but I only do them when they are central to the idea of the movie.
I'm fairly well off. I can't poor-mouth that away from people's sensibilities about me, which is something I worry about as an actor. But it would be real stupid of me to do something for the money.
I would never say, "I'm retired." I believe if I decided to just not work, in six months everybody would just forget whether you were working or not.
I thought of myself as part of the general filmmaking effort. And as my scope broadened, I began to think about directing. I wanted to be the guy who got to say whether the dress is red or blue.
On the birth of his son after having had two daughters: I finally got it right.
I don't want people to know what I'm actually like. It's not good for an actor.
There was a period when I just wanted to make what I wanted to make and I didn't care what lie I had to tell.