Jerry Lewis

Jerry Lewis entered the world as Joseph Levitch on March 16, 1926, in Newark, New Jersey, to a household already connected with the entertainment industry. Stage appearances began sporadically at age five, and by his mid-teens he was working professionally as a comedian and impressionist.

He joined forces with Dean Martin in 1946, an entertainer for whom Lewis repeatedly voiced deep admiration. Their partnership ignited at once, quickly establishing them as one of the most sought-after double acts in show business. Between 1949 and 1956 they completed several films, appeared on numerous radio and television programs, and crisscrossed the country with a live routine of stand-up comedy and songs at clubs and other venues.

In performance, Lewis supplied the wild, often anarchic comedy while Martin handled the vocals and, in the films, took the romantic lead. Despite their enormous popularity, personal friction led them to end the act on July 24, 1956, during an engagement at Manhattan’s Copacabana. The date happened to mark the tenth anniversary of their first formal booking together at a nightclub in Atlantic City. After the split, Lewis kept making film comedies and continued touring his solo act in major American casinos and nightclubs as well as in Europe.

Although best known for his work as a movie comedian, writer, director, and producer, Lewis recorded several singles and one charting album as a serious vocalist in the late ’50s. His other charting single, “It All Depends on You,” reached number 68 in 1957; the song had earlier been a number-two hit for Paul Whiteman in 1927.

He also accepted occasional dramatic roles, most memorably in Martin Scorsese’s The King of Comedy in 1983. Lewis and Martin did not speak after their breakup until the mid-’70s; relations remained distant, though a measure of reconciliation took place shortly before Martin’s death in 1995, as Lewis later described in his 2005 memoir of their partnership. Lewis made his Broadway debut in 1994, stepping into the pivotal role of Mr. Applegate, the Devil, in a revival of Damn Yankees, and repeated the part in London in 1997. In addition to performing, he devoted extensive energy to charitable causes, most visibly through his long-running telethons. He died at his home in Las Vegas, Nevada, on August 20, 2017, at the age of 91.