Jerry Lewis Net Worth

Jerry Lewis's Quotes

• [looking back on more than 60 years in show business] I was about as discreet as a ... bull taking a piss in your living room.
• I think I really wanted to write my biography more to be able to mention that [John F. Kennedy] and I were friends than anything else.
• Going unnoticed has never been my strong suit.
• Other comedy teams never generated anything like the hysteria that [Dean Martin] and I did, and that was because we had that X factor--the powerful feeling between us. And it really was an X factor, a kind of mystery.
• I shall pass through this world but once. Any good, therefore, that I can do or any kindness that I can show to any human being, let me do it now. Let me not defer nor neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again!

Interesting Facts about Jerry Lewis

1. Claimed he was thrown out of high school for punching out his principal who had offended him with an anti-Semitic remark, and then went directly into vaudeville. An episode of Seinfeld (1989) makes use of plot point based on Lewis' (alleged) real-life stratagem of secretly leaving an audiotape recorder running in a briefcase he intentionally leaves behind him in meetings to see what some people may be saying about him.
2. Had open heart surgery (1983) and underwent surgery for prostate cancer (1992).
3. Jerry took his last name from his actor-father's stage name.
4. He was known as a clothes horse. He gave away suits rather than having them cleaned and refused to wear a pair of socks more than once.
5. He was presented the French Legion of Honor (1984) and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize (1977).
6. He taught a film class at the University of California.
7. He became the highest paid performer in Broadway history for his role as the Devil in "Damn Yankees" (1995).
8. Son of Danny Lewis.
9. Oldest son Gary Lewis and his soft-rock group Gary Lewis & The Playboys had several pop hits in the 1960s, including "This Diamond Ring". At the height of his recording career Gary and Jerry appeared together on NBC TV's Hullabaloo (1965).
10. He and Dean Martin were the world's top box-office earners from 1950-1956. On his own, Lewis also ruled as #1 movie draw in 1957, 1959, and 1961-1964.
11. Nominated for Nobel Prize for his 50 years raising money to fight muscular dystrophy.
12. First filmmaker to develop and use video-assist device on location.
13. Wrote 10 scripts in 10 years.
14. Said there was no gap between comedy and tragedy.
15. In Italy, Lewis has been given the nickname 'Picchiatello' (which means something like "nut" or "crazy"). At least three of his movies use the word in their Italian title: Je bent nooit te jong... (1955) which became "Il Nipote Picchiatello" ("The Crazy Nephew"), De linkshandige Uitzendkracht (1980) ("Bentornato Picchiatello", or "Welcome Back Crazy") and Smorgasbord (The Movie) (1983) ("Qua La Mano Picchiatello". pr "Shake My Hand, Crazy").
16. He was a huge fan of 'The Catcher in the Rye' and strongly identified with the main character Holden Caulfield. He planned to direct a movie version but failed to acquire the rights from the book's famously reclusive author J.D. Salinger.
17. Suffered from diabetes and pulmonary fibrosis.
18. Children with Patti Lewis: Gary Lewis (born 1945), Ronald (born 1949), Scott (born 1956), Christopher (born 1957), Anthony (born 1959) and Joseph (born 1964). With SanDee Pitnick a daughter Danielle (born 1992).
19. In 1969, Lewis announced an ambitious project of franchising a chain of Jerry Lewis Cinemas. A firm believer in family entertainment, he said that the one inviolate rule of the chain would be that nothing other than family-oriented films would be shown. The theaters were to be state-of-the-art, easy to operate and franchised to individuals who could meet the chain's investment requirements. However, a combination of changing tastes in popular entertainment and management problems caused the project to collapse within just a few years. Several lawsuits between Lewis and his associates were settled out of court.
20. The character Professor John Frink in The Simpsons (1989) is based on his role of Professor Julius Kelp in The Nutty Professor (1963). He also did the voice of Professor John Frink Sr. in "The Simpsons" episode "Treehouse of Horror XIV", segment "Finkenstein". Also, some of Krusty the Clown's off-stage antics are based on him.