The Authentic Actor
Jack Lemmon played characters who were stepped over yet didn’t play the victim. He was the down on his luck guy who had the ability to just get on with things. He weaved seamlessly between the genres of comedy and drama – even when the film style changed, he didn’t. In comedies, he had a sadness about him, a vulnerability. And in dramas, he had a wit about him—the one constant: authenticity.
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Unlike his name, there was nothing bitter about him. Even the characters he played that we weren’t supposed to like, we kind of liked anyway. Lemmon was a special performer that we all loved and identified with, which is why it’s high time to devote an entire piece to the actor who did everything, including draining his spaghetti in a tennis racket.