50 Fun Facts About Jack Nicholson

In which state was Jack Nicholson born and raised?

New Jersey never left him: he grew up on the Shore, in Neptune City, Manasquan and Spring Lake, and told the state's Hall of Fame in 2010, "You can't get away from New Jersey!"

In 1974, Time researchers told Nicholson his supposed sister was actually his what?

His mother, June, was unmarried, so her parents raised him as their own son and never told him; he called the discovery dramatic but not "what I'd call traumatizing".

The teenage Nicholson's first Hollywood job was as an office boy in which studio's cartoon department?

MGM's cartoon unit was the home of Tom and Jerry; its directors William Hanna and Joseph Barbera are said to have offered him a start as an animator, but he wanted to act.

Which actor directed Nicholson in both The Crossing Guard and The Pledge?

Sean Penn cast Nicholson's former partner of many years as his character's ex-wife in The Crossing Guard, and Roger Ebert found an "eerie resonance" in their midnight diner scene.

Nicholson made his film debut in which 1958 Roger Corman teen drama?

The Cry Baby Killer cast him as a teenager who panics after a shooting and takes hostages; its producer Roger Corman kept him busy in B-movies for the next decade.

Nicholson chopped through The Shining's prop door too fast for Kubrick because he had trained as what?

A firefighter: he had served as one in the California Air National Guard, so the breakaway door fell apart too easily and a real one was fitted for the scene.

Nicholson co-wrote which 1968 film vehicle for The Monkees?

Head, written with director Bob Rafelson, sank at the box office but later found a cult following; Rafelson soon gave him his star-making lead in Five Easy Pieces.

For which actor was the Easy Rider role of lawyer George Hanson originally written?

Rip Torn quarrelled with director Dennis Hopper at a New York restaurant and walked away; his replacement turned the boozy small-town lawyer into a first Oscar nomination.

Stanley Kubrick chose Nicholson to play which historical figure in an epic that was never filmed?

Napoleon eluded him twice: Kubrick's epic stalled after a change of ownership at its studio, and Nicholson later bought the rights to a book on the emperor's death but never got that film made either.

What was the name of Nicholson's oil-rig worker in Five Easy Pieces (1970)?

Bobby Dupea is a one-time piano prodigy hiding from his upper-class family on the oil rigs; Karen Black said his famous diner showdown was partly improvised and out of character.

Nicholson turned down which role in The Godfather, saying an Italian-American actor should play it?

Michael Corleone went to the little-known Al Pacino instead; by his biographer's count Nicholson also passed on the leads in The Sting and The Great Gatsby.

On Carnal Knowledge (1971), Nicholson began a lifelong friendship with which musician co-star?

Art Garfunkel played his college roommate, and the friendship lasted: in 1998 it was Garfunkel who presented him with a best-actor prize from the National Board of Review.

For which film did Nicholson win Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival?

The Last Detail brought him the Cannes prize, but he said that missing the Oscar for it "hurt real bad", adding: "I did it in that movie, that was my best role."

What is the name of the private detective Nicholson plays in Chinatown (1974)?

Jake Gittes was a role he liked enough to revive: sixteen years later he directed himself in a sequel, The Two Jakes.

Which actress starred opposite Nicholson in both Heartburn and Ironweed?

Meryl Streep began Heartburn opposite Mandy Patinkin, who was dismissed and replaced by Nicholson after filming had started; a year later the pair played a homeless couple in Ironweed.

Which director gave himself a cameo as the thug who slits Nicholson's nose in Chinatown?

Roman Polanski plays the knife man himself, which is why his star spends much of the film behind a bandage; the two had been friends for years before the shoot.

What is the name of Nicholson's character in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest?

Randle P. McMurphy came his way after Gene Hackman and James Caan had been in the frame; it won him his first Oscar on a night the film swept all five major awards.

Which future star, raised in the same area as Nicholson, played a patient in Cuckoo's Nest?

Danny DeVito had already played the patient Martini on stage; the two stayed close, and DeVito went on to direct him in a 1992 biopic.

In which 1975 film does Nicholson's reporter take over a dead gunrunner's identity?

The Passenger: the dead man was running arms to rebels in Chad, and his contacts soon come looking for the reporter; Nicholson later acquired the film's rights and kept it off the market for years.

As a teenage cinema worker, Nicholson watched which Marlon Brando film at every showing?

On the Waterfront played twice a night at the cinema where he had a summer job; two decades later he took a role in The Missouri Breaks just to act opposite Brando.

Which famous line in The Shining did Nicholson improvise?

'Here's Johnny!' was Ed McMahon's nightly introduction of Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show; Kubrick, long resident in England, did not know the catchphrase and nearly used another take.

Who wanted more of an "everyman" than Nicholson as Jack Torrance in The Shining, and lost the argument to Kubrick?

Stephen King felt audiences would see Nicholson as unhinged from the first scene and wanted an actor like Jon Voight; still unhappy, he scripted his own television version in 1997.

Nicholson won his second Oscar playing retired astronaut Garrett Breedlove in which film?

Terms of Endearment only came to him because Burt Reynolds, for whom the part was written, chose to make the racing comedy Stroker Ace instead.

Which playwright did Nicholson play in Warren Beatty's Reds (1981)?

Eugene O'Neill is the film's embittered rival for Louise Bryant; Nicholson, who calls himself Irish, said he saw himself in a fellow writer with family troubles, and won an Oscar nomination.

Who directed Nicholson in Prizzi's Honor after playing the villain opposite him in Chinatown?

John Huston asked him to hide his usual intelligence and play the hit man as simple and dumb, so Nicholson stuffed tissue under his upper lip to thicken his speech.

Nicholson cut his usual fee in exchange for a share of the takings on which film?

Batman made the gamble pay: his share of the box office and merchandise for playing the Joker came to well over $50 million, and by one biographer's estimate as much as $90 million.

What rank does Nicholson's Nathan Jessep hold in A Few Good Men?

Colonel Jessep, the Guantanamo Bay base commander, was only ten days' work for Nicholson; director Rob Reiner said his full-out effort in every rehearsal made the other actors raise their game.

For which film was Nicholson nominated for both a Golden Globe and a Razzie in the same awards season?

Hoffa split opinion: Golden Globe voters shortlisted his Teamsters boss for best dramatic actor, while the Razzies named the same performance among the year's worst.

In Tim Burton's Mars Attacks! (1996), Nicholson played which two roles?

The President and a casino boss: asked to play President Dale, he joked that he wanted every role in the film, and Burton, who had directed him before, added Las Vegas hustler Art Land.

What is the name of the obsessive-compulsive novelist Nicholson played in As Good as It Gets?

Melvin Udall won him a third Oscar and Helen Hunt won Best Actress opposite him, though he had worried that romancing a much younger co-star was a movie cliché.

As of 2026, who alone has more acting Oscars than Nicholson's three?

Katharine Hepburn won four and never came to a ceremony to collect one; Nicholson's three sit beside 12 nominations, the most for any male actor.

Besides Nicholson, who is the only actor Oscar-nominated for films from every decade from the 1960s to the 2000s?

Michael Caine finally won on his fourth nomination, for Hannah and Her Sisters, but was away filming Jaws: The Revenge and could not collect the Oscar in person.

In About Schmidt (2002), Nicholson played a retired actuary from which state?

Nebraska is director Alexander Payne's home state: he set and shot the film in Omaha, where he grew up, and Nicholson's subdued widower won a Golden Globe.

Nicholson's Boston mob boss Frank Costello in The Departed was based on which real gangster?

Whitey Bulger was still on the run when the film came out, a fixture of the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list; he was finally caught in California in 2011.

As of 2026, which film is the last Nicholson made before stepping away from the screen?

How Do You Know, his fourth film for director James L. Brooks, took under $50 million against a $120 million budget; he said afterwards he was simply less driven to "be out there".

At the 2013 Oscars, who joined Nicholson by video link to announce Best Picture?

Michelle Obama appeared live from the White House in a surprise kept even from its press corps; it was the eighth time Nicholson had presented the night's top prize.

Nicholson declined a cameo in which 2019 horror sequel?

Doctor Sleep, the sequel to The Shining, went ahead with Henry Thomas in his old role; director Mike Flanagan said Nicholson declined any part but sent his best wishes.

On the SNL 50 special in February 2025, Nicholson introduced which performer's tribute song?

Adam Sandler was introduced by Nicholson from a seat in the audience, a rare outing for the 87-year-old, and then sang "50 Years", his own ballad about the show's half century.

In which rock-opera film did Nicholson sing as the specialist who examines the hero?

Tommy cast him as a suave physician who sings his diagnosis to Ann-Margret; he later said Ken Russell was the only director who ever told him to "just look beautiful, Jack".

Nicholson's longest relationship, from 1973 to 1990, was with which actress?

Anjelica Huston also acted beside him in several films; the on-and-off romance ended when another woman, Rebecca Broussard, was expecting his child.

In 1994 Nicholson attacked a stranger's Mercedes at a red light with what?

A golf club, a two-iron by one account, did for the roof and windscreen after he decided the driver had cut him off; the charges were dropped once he paid an undisclosed settlement.

What did Nicholson do with his late neighbour Marlon Brando's bungalow after buying it?

Had it demolished: he said the mould-ridden house was past saving and that he acted out of respect for a neighbour of thirty years with whom he had shared a driveway.

Nicholson, Marlon Brando and Warren Beatty all living on the same hilltop road earned it what nickname?

Bad Boy Drive was the nickname for Mulholland Drive in the years all three lived there; Nicholson, who shared a gate with Brando, wrote that he "could write a novel just about our gate".

Nicholson was for decades a courtside season-ticket holder of which NBA team?

Los Angeles Lakers fandom nearly got him thrown out of a 2003 playoff game, when he left his seat to shout at a referee over a foul called on Shaquille O'Neal.

Which actress appeared with Nicholson in both Reds and Something's Gotta Give?

Diane Keaton played the woman his character loves and loses in Reds; reunited with her 22 years later, Nicholson marvelled that she had the entire script memorised before filming began.

Which world leader did Nicholson call a 'genius' after meeting him in 1998?

Fidel Castro had been due to give him an hour during a week-long visit to Cuba and talked for three; Nicholson came home urging Washington to restore relations with Havana.

What kind of creature was named Ornodolomedes nicholsoni in Nicholson's honour in 2018?

A fishing spider from Western Australia: the scientists who described it said the name honours an actor who "so brilliantly portrays diverse personalities".

Which Ivy League school gave Jack Nicholson an honorary doctorate in 2011?

Brown made him a Doctor of Fine Arts at its 2011 commencement; he had not planned to speak, but heckling students brought him to the podium for a few words of thanks.

Nicholson's reading of a Rudyard Kipling children's story won him which award in 1988?

A Grammy, for Best Recording for Children, shared with Bobby McFerrin, who wrote the music for The Elephant's Child; the pair went on to record two more of Kipling's Just So Stories.

Which Western was the second of the three films Nicholson directed?

Goin' South cast him as an outlaw saved from the gallows by a marriage of convenience; he had spotted his unknown leading lady, Mary Steenburgen, in a studio waiting room and handed her a script.