If you look at the early works of some acting legends, they are often almost unrecognizable. This seems to be less the case with Jack Nicholson. His striking facial features are already present in his feature film debut clearly visible. The Hollywood veteran has more than 50 years stood in front of and behind the camera before retiring. His first jobs were on stage and in soap operas, but after a short time he received a leading role in his first feature film.
Jack Nicholson’s first film role was the title role
In 1958’s The Cry Baby Killer, Nicholson played Jimmy Wallace, a young man who loses out in a fight. He then gets hold of a pistol from his attackers and shoots two of them. When a police officer confronts him and tries to arrest him, Jimmy takes refuge in a storage room and takes a woman and her baby hostage.
The film itself was not particularly successful and although Nicholson received a lot of screen time, his acting performance was poor not yet at its peak arrived. The role was still worth it for him because he went on to make numerous films for producer Roger Corman, who was also responsible for The Cry Baby Killer.
Also interesting:
Jack Nicholson went from low-budget actor to legend
Jack Nicholson starred in low-budget films for ten years His big breakthrough in 1969 came. Alongside Henry Fonda and Dennis Hopper, Nicholson impressed in the motorcycle classic Easy Rider. Over the next few years he continued to expand his career.
In the 70s he reached another highlight of his career with his role in the film One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest: his first Oscar for Best Actor. Most people probably remember him today for his starring role as Jack Torrance in Stanley Kubrick’s Stephen King adaptation The Shining.
This was followed by an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in 1983 for Time of Tenderness and another Oscar in 1997 for It Can’t Get Better, again as Best Actor. His last film role was in How Do You Know It’s Love in 2010 before retiring from acting.
This also makes Jack Nicholson one of the only three male actors to three Oscars have won. With his twelve nominations, however, he holds his own record in the Academy.