0:00:16 > 0:00:19Jack Lemmon loved acting.
0:00:19 > 0:00:23Legend has it whenever the cameras rolled on the film set
0:00:23 > 0:00:26he would always announce "It's magic time!"
0:00:27 > 0:00:32Lemmon's first big break came in the 1955 film Mister Roberts
0:00:32 > 0:00:36for which he won the Best Supporting Actor Academy Award.
0:00:36 > 0:00:39And he went on to become the first person to also win
0:00:39 > 0:00:43a Best Actor Oscar for Save The Tiger in 1973.
0:00:44 > 0:00:47A master of both comedy and drama,
0:00:47 > 0:00:51his desire to be an actor went back to his childhood,
0:00:51 > 0:00:56which he discusses here with Michael Aspel in an interview from 1970.
0:00:56 > 0:00:58Jack Lemmon, your father was an executive
0:00:58 > 0:01:00in the Doughnut Corporation of America
0:01:00 > 0:01:03but you decided pretty early not to follow him in the business,
0:01:03 > 0:01:04didn't you?
0:01:04 > 0:01:08I did. For whatever reasons, probably highly neurotic,
0:01:08 > 0:01:11I always wanted to be an actor as long as I can remember and then
0:01:11 > 0:01:13he made the mistake of letting me go in a local show with him
0:01:13 > 0:01:16called Gold In Them Thar Hills
0:01:16 > 0:01:18when I was about four or five.
0:01:18 > 0:01:21And I had one great line.
0:01:21 > 0:01:25Like, I heard a pistol shot or something or other and that did it.
0:01:25 > 0:01:27And from then on I just stayed in it.
0:01:27 > 0:01:29He had a marvellous line, not to dwell on this too long,
0:01:29 > 0:01:33but I will never forget and I will love him always for his advice to me
0:01:33 > 0:01:37and his attitude when I decided after I was through with my schooling
0:01:37 > 0:01:40and everything to try to be a professional actor.
0:01:40 > 0:01:44And he said, "You're sure you don't want to come in my company and
0:01:44 > 0:01:46"start at the bottom?" which he had wanted me to do,
0:01:46 > 0:01:47quite understandably.
0:01:47 > 0:01:50And I said, "No, I've got to give this a good try."
0:01:50 > 0:01:53And he said, "OK, well, two questions..."
0:01:53 > 0:01:55Now, his company made doughnuts and doughnut machines
0:01:55 > 0:01:57and bread and so forth.
0:01:57 > 0:01:59The baking industry in general.
0:01:59 > 0:02:01He said, "Do you love it?" I said, "Yes."
0:02:01 > 0:02:04He said, "Do you need it?" And I said, "Yes."
0:02:04 > 0:02:06He said, "Well, good, because when the day comes
0:02:06 > 0:02:09"that I don't find love in a loaf of bread, I'm going to quit."
0:02:09 > 0:02:12And I love him for saying that, you know, I knew what he meant.
0:02:12 > 0:02:16- Lemmon is your name, isn't it? - That's... I'm afraid so.- Yeah.
0:02:16 > 0:02:18What's worse is my middle initial is U.
0:02:18 > 0:02:21So as a kid I was traumatic by the age of nine from hearing
0:02:21 > 0:02:24"Jack you Lemmon, Jack..." At school all the time from the kids.
0:02:24 > 0:02:26Did the studio ever want you to change it?
0:02:26 > 0:02:29Yes, Harry Cohn, the late head of Colombia Pictures
0:02:29 > 0:02:32who was a very feared man.
0:02:32 > 0:02:35I had a marvellous relationship with him but when I first met him,
0:02:35 > 0:02:37I had never met him until I'd finished my first film
0:02:37 > 0:02:39with Judy Holliday called It Should Happen To You.
0:02:39 > 0:02:41And he called me up to his office and I thought,
0:02:41 > 0:02:44"Well, good, finally I'm meeting my boss," you see.
0:02:44 > 0:02:48And I walked in and this very imposing figure,
0:02:48 > 0:02:51with the sun coming in, the one open shade that happened to shine
0:02:51 > 0:02:54on the top of his bald head, said, "The name is out,"
0:02:54 > 0:02:57and I said, "What name?" I didn't know what he was talking about.
0:02:57 > 0:02:58He said, "It's going to be Lennon."
0:02:58 > 0:03:01And I said, "Lennon? How do you spell it?"
0:03:01 > 0:03:03He said, "L-E-N-N-O-N instead of L-E-M-M-O-N."
0:03:03 > 0:03:05And I said, "And you pronounce it how?
0:03:05 > 0:03:08He said, "Lennon," and as a joke I said, "Oh, you'd better not do that
0:03:08 > 0:03:10"because they'll think I'm a Russian revolutionary."
0:03:10 > 0:03:14And right away he said "No, I looked it up, it's Lenin."
0:03:14 > 0:03:17But I didn't change it and he didn't push me on it.
0:03:17 > 0:03:20You're a very honest actor you don't approve of the method for example,
0:03:20 > 0:03:21I gather?
0:03:21 > 0:03:22I don't approve of the method.
0:03:22 > 0:03:26I approve of any method that works for you if it's legitimately used.
0:03:26 > 0:03:30I don't approve of any 'method'
0:03:30 > 0:03:34in which the method and how your work becomes more important
0:03:34 > 0:03:36than the result.
0:03:36 > 0:03:38In other words, I think an awful lot of young actors get deluded
0:03:38 > 0:03:43thinking that they are becoming tremendously immersed
0:03:43 > 0:03:46in the material and the part and the character it's...
0:03:46 > 0:03:49But they forget that it doesn't matter whether they're immersed in it
0:03:49 > 0:03:51or whether they are really becoming the character
0:03:51 > 0:03:53if the audience believes.
0:03:53 > 0:03:54They forget about the audience.
0:03:54 > 0:03:57The highest compliment, I think, that an actor can ever be paid
0:03:57 > 0:04:01is not "You're great, you're terrific, you're magnificent"
0:04:01 > 0:04:03or any of those overdone bromides and superlatives.
0:04:03 > 0:04:07But that having once seen a particular performance
0:04:07 > 0:04:10you can never imagine another actor playing that part.
0:04:10 > 0:04:14Lemmon was someone audiences always believed in.
0:04:15 > 0:04:21No matter who he was portraying, he always seemed to get it just right.
0:04:21 > 0:04:22And how he approached this challenge
0:04:22 > 0:04:24is something he spoke about
0:04:24 > 0:04:27to Michael Parkinson in 1972.
0:04:27 > 0:04:31I tell you a thing that fascinates me about actors is that...
0:04:31 > 0:04:34Not being one myself at all, as is quite obvious
0:04:34 > 0:04:37to anyone watching this programme, but if you're...
0:04:37 > 0:04:42As a technique, Jack, are there certain keys to a character?
0:04:42 > 0:04:45Are there things that happen quite by chance perhaps?
0:04:45 > 0:04:48- Like all of a sudden - the revelation?- Yes.
0:04:48 > 0:04:51And it's a terribly difficult thing to explain but they can.
0:04:51 > 0:04:54You can work and work for weeks and weeks,
0:04:54 > 0:04:56you can search and delve and dig.
0:04:56 > 0:05:01And rehearse and everything and you still haven't quite got him.
0:05:01 > 0:05:04It doesn't feel right, it isn't full and it isn't there.
0:05:04 > 0:05:07And sometimes it gets worse and worse, you really are lost
0:05:07 > 0:05:12and then one little thing, and it can be external too.
0:05:12 > 0:05:14It can be the way you tilt your head,
0:05:14 > 0:05:17the way you walk or whatever can do it.
0:05:17 > 0:05:18Like that.
0:05:18 > 0:05:22And I remember reading an article about Larry Olivier
0:05:22 > 0:05:25in which he said that he was in about the third or fourth week
0:05:25 > 0:05:28of a rehearsal of a play and he could not get the character.
0:05:28 > 0:05:31And one day when they were breaking from rehearsal and going to lunch
0:05:31 > 0:05:34it looked overcast and he brought an umbrella along.
0:05:34 > 0:05:38And it wasn't yet raining so he was carrying it like a cane.
0:05:38 > 0:05:40And all of a sudden the whole part came to him
0:05:40 > 0:05:42as he walked across the street.
0:05:42 > 0:05:46He swears the entire part came to him, after three weeks of nothing,
0:05:46 > 0:05:49by the walk and the way he carried the thing.
0:05:49 > 0:05:52The whole manner. Everything about him changed and he had it.
0:05:52 > 0:05:54And it was there, it was irrevocable.
0:05:54 > 0:05:57And I can understand it, it can happen.
0:05:57 > 0:06:00- It sounds silly but it's true.- Yes. - Those little things can do it.
0:06:01 > 0:06:04Years later, Lemmon gave another example
0:06:04 > 0:06:06of how he found his way into a part.
0:06:06 > 0:06:10Talking about his role in the 1989 film Dad
0:06:10 > 0:06:15in which he was playing a character struggling with old age.
0:06:15 > 0:06:18You have to be physically an old man. What did you do to be...
0:06:18 > 0:06:23Well... Of course, from the time I knew I was going to play the part
0:06:23 > 0:06:25I started studying people, you know,
0:06:25 > 0:06:27they get the slower movements were the thing for me
0:06:27 > 0:06:29cos I have a lot of excess nervous energy
0:06:29 > 0:06:32and trying to, get the hands slightly arthritic,
0:06:32 > 0:06:35slightly shaking and to move very, very slowly and the voice,
0:06:35 > 0:06:38sort of, through whispering, etc.
0:06:38 > 0:06:41And the walk, the lower...
0:06:41 > 0:06:43the lower centre of gravity.
0:06:43 > 0:06:45I don't know how to explain this walk to you
0:06:45 > 0:06:50but the whole thing is whatever you're going to do
0:06:50 > 0:06:53in the physical aspects, the outer coating of the character,
0:06:53 > 0:06:55it's something that should be embedded in you
0:06:55 > 0:06:58by the time you're out of rehearsals you shouldn't have to think of that
0:06:58 > 0:06:59while you're playing.
0:06:59 > 0:07:01You play the man and the physical stuff
0:07:01 > 0:07:03takes care of itself, hopefully.
0:07:03 > 0:07:07And I was worried about the walk. How the hell am I going to explain this?
0:07:07 > 0:07:10All I knew is I wanted to lower my centre of gravity.
0:07:10 > 0:07:14- You know, so that...- Well, as if your Y-fronts have dropped?- Yeah.
0:07:14 > 0:07:16AUDIENCE LAUGHS
0:07:16 > 0:07:19Finally what I used... Sometimes we use images.
0:07:19 > 0:07:23As, you know, here's an image of this or... whatever you want.
0:07:23 > 0:07:24Anything that works.
0:07:24 > 0:07:27But I just suddenly one day in rehearsal
0:07:27 > 0:07:30got the image of someone who had...
0:07:30 > 0:07:33Have you ever tried to walk when you've had an accident in your pants?
0:07:33 > 0:07:35AUDIENCE LAUGHS
0:07:35 > 0:07:41- It's... May I?- Not since I was about six.- What you do... First of all...
0:07:41 > 0:07:44I don't mean to be crude about this. No, but it's true but it works.
0:07:44 > 0:07:48- Go on, be crude. - You don't put your legs together.- No.
0:07:48 > 0:07:51And you don't walk erect. You walk very carefully.
0:07:52 > 0:07:57It slowed everything down and I just didn't move fast...
0:07:57 > 0:07:59It was the greatest thing in the world for me.
0:07:59 > 0:08:01from then on once I had that, man, I never moved fast.
0:08:01 > 0:08:04It was perfect. Everybody said, "Isn't that a convincing thing?"
0:08:04 > 0:08:06They didn't know how I got it. What the hell.
0:08:09 > 0:08:12Perhaps the perfect example of Lemmon inhabiting a role
0:08:12 > 0:08:15came in one of his most enduring films.
0:08:15 > 0:08:18Billy Wilder's, Some Like It Hot.
0:08:19 > 0:08:24Along with Tony Curtis, Marilyn Monroe was, of course,
0:08:24 > 0:08:28one of Lemmon's co-stars and people always wanted to know
0:08:28 > 0:08:31how he found working with her.
0:08:31 > 0:08:35Here's Jack talking to Mark Cousins about the film's famous
0:08:35 > 0:08:37train sleeper compartment scene.
0:08:37 > 0:08:39I read that, you know, she's famous
0:08:39 > 0:08:41- for doing like 40 takes or something.- Yeah.
0:08:41 > 0:08:42Did she do it here?
0:08:42 > 0:08:43One take.
0:08:44 > 0:08:46One take. The whole thing.
0:08:46 > 0:08:49And Billy said "Marilyn, do you want to do another one?"
0:08:49 > 0:08:53And she said, "No." And he said, "That's it."
0:08:53 > 0:08:56It was the first shot in the morning. It was the only time I think
0:08:56 > 0:08:58she ever did one take in her life.
0:08:58 > 0:09:01And it was not that she was not capable
0:09:01 > 0:09:03or that the director would cut.
0:09:03 > 0:09:07She would cut because she didn't feel right.
0:09:07 > 0:09:09Whatever it was an alarm clock went off in her brain
0:09:09 > 0:09:12and just said "No." And she would stop.
0:09:12 > 0:09:14So you must have dreaded scenes with her, then?
0:09:14 > 0:09:18In a way, except I liked her very much and we got along great
0:09:18 > 0:09:24and I knew that she had problems and that she was not happy.
0:09:24 > 0:09:29I didn't know why but I knew that she was basically not happy.
0:09:29 > 0:09:33Um... It was none of my business, I never pushed it.
0:09:33 > 0:09:36We never got close enough for me to find out
0:09:36 > 0:09:38what her troubles may have been.
0:09:38 > 0:09:42I mean, we all know she had troubles but...
0:09:43 > 0:09:45..the biggest problem, really,
0:09:45 > 0:09:47was not that, it was her lateness
0:09:47 > 0:09:52cos she would just not come onto the set and shoot until she felt ready.
0:09:52 > 0:09:54And it was not temperament at all.
0:09:54 > 0:09:57It really was a psychological thing with her.
0:09:57 > 0:10:01Till she could face that camera she wouldn't do it.
0:10:01 > 0:10:02And you didn't know she was pregnant?
0:10:02 > 0:10:05- And you didn't know she had a miscarriage during this film?- No.
0:10:05 > 0:10:08- We didn't know it.- It makes the film more poignant, I think...- Yeah.
0:10:08 > 0:10:09- When you know that in retrospect. - Yes.
0:10:09 > 0:10:13You said a fascinating thing which was when you were playing scenes
0:10:13 > 0:10:16with her it's like there was a piece of glass, a glass wall
0:10:16 > 0:10:18between you and her and yet...what?
0:10:18 > 0:10:20- When you looked at the rushes... there was...- Yeah.
0:10:20 > 0:10:23Then you'd go to the rushes and you wouldn't look at yourself,
0:10:23 > 0:10:25you'd just look at her.
0:10:25 > 0:10:28Cos it looked liked, it seemed like nothing was happening
0:10:28 > 0:10:32but it was happening between her and the lens
0:10:32 > 0:10:33if not between her and you.
0:10:35 > 0:10:37Do you think she would have been good in the theatre?
0:10:37 > 0:10:39You know, we talked before about the theatre or was she a...?
0:10:39 > 0:10:41I personally don't think so.
0:10:42 > 0:10:45I don't know, we'll never know but I don't think so.
0:10:46 > 0:10:49- Right, let's look at this... - I think she had a magic on film.
0:10:51 > 0:10:52I don't want her to know
0:10:52 > 0:10:53we're in cahoots.
0:10:53 > 0:10:55Oh, well, we won't tell anybody.
0:10:55 > 0:10:57Not even Josephine.
0:10:57 > 0:10:58Maybe I'd better stay here
0:10:58 > 0:10:59till she goes back to sleep.
0:10:59 > 0:11:02You stay here as long as you like.
0:11:05 > 0:11:07I'm not crowding you, am I?
0:11:07 > 0:11:08No, it's nice and cosy.
0:11:08 > 0:11:10HE LAUGHS NERVOUSLY AND SNORTS
0:11:10 > 0:11:12When I was a little girl on cold nights like this
0:11:12 > 0:11:15I used to crawl into bed with my sister,
0:11:15 > 0:11:17we'd cuddle up under the covers and pretend we were lost
0:11:17 > 0:11:21in a dark cave and we were trying to find our way out.
0:11:21 > 0:11:24- That's brilliant. - HE LAUGHS AND SNORTS
0:11:24 > 0:11:27- Anything wrong? - No, no, no, not a thing.
0:11:29 > 0:11:34- You poor thing. You're trembling all over.- It's ridiculous.
0:11:34 > 0:11:37- Your head's hot.- Ridiculous.
0:11:37 > 0:11:39- You've got cold feet. - Isn't that ridiculous?
0:11:39 > 0:11:44- Here, let me warm them up a little. - Hmm.- There. Isn't that better?
0:11:44 > 0:11:47- Yes, I'm a girl, I'm a girl, I'm a girl.- What did you say?
0:11:47 > 0:11:48I'm a very sick girl.
0:11:48 > 0:11:51- Oh, I'd better go before I catch something.- I'm not that sick.
0:11:51 > 0:11:54- I've got very low resistance. - Well, I'll tell you, sugar.
0:11:54 > 0:11:57If you feel that you're coming down with something, my dear,
0:11:57 > 0:12:01- the best thing in the world is a shot of whiskey.- You've got some?
0:12:01 > 0:12:02- I know where to get it. - HE GIGGLES
0:12:02 > 0:12:04Don't move. Shh.
0:12:04 > 0:12:07- Hold on.- OK.
0:12:28 > 0:12:30Up, up. Now.
0:12:31 > 0:12:33LOUD THUD
0:12:35 > 0:12:38- Are you all right?- I'm fine.
0:12:38 > 0:12:40- How's the bottle?- Half full.
0:12:42 > 0:12:43- You'd better get some cups.- Cups.
0:12:45 > 0:12:49- NARRATOR:- And this very scene also came up in Lemmon's visit
0:12:49 > 0:12:51to the Parkinson show.
0:12:53 > 0:12:57Oh, I tell you, my dear. This is the only way to travel.
0:12:57 > 0:13:00You'd better put on the lights, I can't see what I'm doing.
0:13:00 > 0:13:03No lights, we don't want them to know we're having a party.
0:13:03 > 0:13:05- But I might spill something. - So spill it.
0:13:05 > 0:13:08Spills, thrills, laughs and games.
0:13:08 > 0:13:11This may even turn out to be a surprise party.
0:13:11 > 0:13:13APPLAUSE
0:13:20 > 0:13:24Actually, I think if I'd had been playing with Marilyn Monroe
0:13:24 > 0:13:26in that bed scene, the initial sequence there,
0:13:26 > 0:13:29that I'd have been glad it took 30 odd takes.
0:13:29 > 0:13:30- You know something...- Really?
0:13:30 > 0:13:33That whole first long thing was the first take.
0:13:33 > 0:13:34MICHAEL LAUGHS
0:13:34 > 0:13:37Just to show you how things can happen and it totally shocked me.
0:13:37 > 0:13:39It was the first take straight through.
0:13:39 > 0:13:42Billy said, "Print" and she said, "I loved it too."
0:13:42 > 0:13:43And I thought, "What happened?"
0:13:43 > 0:13:45Because I was ready for it to go all day.
0:13:45 > 0:13:50And...it's lucky I got all the words right because I had learned to,
0:13:50 > 0:13:53kind of, pace myself with Marilyn so you don't go by it,
0:13:53 > 0:13:56you don't end up just exhausted and with your energy level way down
0:13:56 > 0:14:00as she began to, you know, pull it all together.
0:14:00 > 0:14:03Because the day before we had gone, like, 37 takes.
0:14:03 > 0:14:06And she had exactly two lines.
0:14:06 > 0:14:11She walked in and said, "Where's that bourbon? Oh, there it is."
0:14:11 > 0:14:13But it didn't feel right for her, you see.
0:14:13 > 0:14:15- And we went 37 takes. - And that was...
0:14:15 > 0:14:18And the next morning we came in, did the whole upper berth thing -
0:14:18 > 0:14:20that whole first take before he goes down to get the booze -
0:14:20 > 0:14:21in one.
0:14:21 > 0:14:24And she had it in the first crack. So you never know.
0:14:24 > 0:14:26Perhaps she didn't like being in bed with you.
0:14:26 > 0:14:28AUDIENCE LAUGHS Oh, well.
0:14:28 > 0:14:31- Nobody's perfect.- No.
0:14:31 > 0:14:35That marvellous thing there that Wilder did in that movie
0:14:35 > 0:14:37and, indeed, you and Tony Curtis did was, I mean,
0:14:37 > 0:14:40wore women's clothes throughout the entire movie
0:14:40 > 0:14:43and yet you trod the tightrope all along,
0:14:43 > 0:14:46- it never went over into the queer thing at all.- No, not at all.
0:14:46 > 0:14:50I think that in a part like that that if...
0:14:50 > 0:14:54anybody would have ever worry or think about that,
0:14:54 > 0:14:57that that kind of self-consciousness would ruin it.
0:14:57 > 0:15:00I think you'd just have to say, "Forget it" and just play the part
0:15:00 > 0:15:04- to the hilt, absolutely to the hilt and just go to the moon with it.- Yes.
0:15:04 > 0:15:06Let it go, you know, because...
0:15:06 > 0:15:09or at least the character I played, anyhow, is absolutely insane, anyway.
0:15:09 > 0:15:11He never acted he only reacted.
0:15:11 > 0:15:13And once I realised that then I was all set.
0:15:13 > 0:15:15I mean, you know, no matter what you said he would then react.
0:15:15 > 0:15:18He never stopped to think. MICHAEL AND AUDIENCE LAUGH
0:15:18 > 0:15:20He could never... He was incapable of creating a thought
0:15:20 > 0:15:23whereas Tony's character would be the motivator.
0:15:23 > 0:15:25He's the one that would get the ideas.
0:15:25 > 0:15:28He's the one who would do it and I'd just go and react,
0:15:28 > 0:15:30- no matter what it was, you know? - Yeah, yeah.
0:15:30 > 0:15:33And...without ever thinking, he never stopped to think.
0:15:33 > 0:15:36So I just never stopped to think or worry about that.
0:15:36 > 0:15:39Just said, "To hell with it, just go." And let it go all the way.
0:15:39 > 0:15:42- Did you base it, actually, on any woman at all?- Um...
0:15:42 > 0:15:44- You may be honest on this...- No.
0:15:44 > 0:15:46But I'll tell you something very funny
0:15:46 > 0:15:48that I realised shortly afterwards.
0:15:48 > 0:15:50Once we'd gotten the make-up right and everything
0:15:50 > 0:15:53and they'd gotten the hair right, my mother came to the set to visit us
0:15:53 > 0:15:56and I suddenly stood beside and it was one of those wardrobe mirrors
0:15:56 > 0:15:58and we both were there and I looked and I'm like,
0:15:58 > 0:16:00"God, I look just like her." AUDIENCE LAUGHS.
0:16:00 > 0:16:01I really did.
0:16:01 > 0:16:05She had her hair done like mine and she always had this, sort of,
0:16:05 > 0:16:09slight bee sting, you know, the lipstick thing on there.
0:16:09 > 0:16:10And we really did.
0:16:10 > 0:16:12And so I had a couple of pictures taken of us together
0:16:12 > 0:16:15and we looked like sisters. It's very funny.
0:16:15 > 0:16:17Did you ever try out the disguise, Jack, though, in real life?
0:16:17 > 0:16:19Yes, oh, yeah. When we first...
0:16:19 > 0:16:22It took about three or four days of tests to try to get it right
0:16:22 > 0:16:25because it had to be funny, yes, but it also had to be good enough
0:16:25 > 0:16:29so that even though it was a broad farce it would be believable
0:16:29 > 0:16:31that they could get away with it in front of the girls.
0:16:31 > 0:16:35So that, also, was another fine line about it.
0:16:35 > 0:16:38And when we did get the make-up to our satisfaction,
0:16:38 > 0:16:42we were going to lunch, Tony and I, at The Commissary,
0:16:42 > 0:16:44and I said, "Wait a minute, I've got an idea."
0:16:44 > 0:16:47And there was a bunch of girls...
0:16:47 > 0:16:52that were working on another film...in the backlot of MGM
0:16:52 > 0:16:54which is where we were doing the tests.
0:16:54 > 0:16:56It was not a MGM film, it was a United Artists film
0:16:56 > 0:16:58but that's where we were shooting at the moment.
0:16:58 > 0:17:03And I said, "I think they're going to the ladies room, follow them."
0:17:03 > 0:17:08So he said, "What?" I said, "Yeah, follow them." So we did.
0:17:08 > 0:17:12And nobody batted an eyeball. We just went right on in.
0:17:12 > 0:17:14AUDIENCE LAUGHS
0:17:14 > 0:17:17And I figured if we could get by with them, you know, then...
0:17:17 > 0:17:18So we told Billy and he said,
0:17:18 > 0:17:20"Terrific, that's it, we don't change anything."
0:17:20 > 0:17:22And that's how we ended up with the final make-up.
0:17:25 > 0:17:27Today, Some Like It Hot is considered
0:17:27 > 0:17:30one of cinema's greatest comedies.
0:17:30 > 0:17:35But Tony Curtis and Marilyn Monroe were by no means the only co-stars
0:17:35 > 0:17:39with whom Lemmon will be forever associated.
0:17:39 > 0:17:42What about the extraordinary Walter Matthau I mentioned earlier,
0:17:42 > 0:17:46you've done The Odd Couple and Whiplash Willie.
0:17:46 > 0:17:48Now, there's the laconic Matthau, the frenetic you.
0:17:48 > 0:17:50- Is it a happy combination?- Very.
0:17:50 > 0:17:52Again, I'm very close to him personally.
0:17:52 > 0:17:55I must say...
0:17:55 > 0:17:58I always hesitate if someone says who's your favourite actor
0:17:58 > 0:18:01or favourite actress because you don't wish to say someone
0:18:01 > 0:18:04as averse to somebody else, you know, for the sake of their feelings.
0:18:04 > 0:18:05But I've never worked with an actor
0:18:05 > 0:18:08I've enjoyed working with more than Walter.
0:18:08 > 0:18:10And that's just professionally,
0:18:10 > 0:18:12aside from the fact that we're very close friends.
0:18:12 > 0:18:15He is a marvellous, wonderful, thoroughly trained,
0:18:15 > 0:18:19disciplined professional man of great good spirit to work with
0:18:19 > 0:18:22and, of course, enormous talent and a very considerate actor.
0:18:22 > 0:18:25He is concerned with his job within the scene,
0:18:25 > 0:18:27not just what he is going to do, you know.
0:18:27 > 0:18:28And it's a joy to work with him.
0:18:28 > 0:18:31He doesn't care where any camera is or anything else,
0:18:31 > 0:18:33he wants to work with you and not at you.
0:18:33 > 0:18:36And I tell you, usually you work at an actor and not with them.
0:18:39 > 0:18:42And here's an example of Lemmon and Matthau working together
0:18:42 > 0:18:48even though they were 1,000 miles apart on the Wogan show in 1989.
0:18:48 > 0:18:54There was another hilarious role as that fussy, the motherly...Felix.
0:18:54 > 0:18:57- Oh, Felix. Oh, God. - In The Odd Couple.- Well...
0:18:57 > 0:18:59I mean, we've got a little clip from that.
0:18:59 > 0:19:00That's not only a great role
0:19:00 > 0:19:04but there I was playing with one of my very dearest friends and...
0:19:04 > 0:19:06- Walter Matthau.- Yeah, it's a joy. - We've got a little...
0:19:06 > 0:19:08That's not even like work that's just, sort of,
0:19:08 > 0:19:11like just sitting down and chatting over breakfast.
0:19:11 > 0:19:13- You know, he's...ah!- He's an old pal.
0:19:13 > 0:19:14You have a clip of that?
0:19:14 > 0:19:16Yeah, we've got a clip of it over here.
0:19:16 > 0:19:18Mmah!
0:19:18 > 0:19:21Phweh! Phnawah!
0:19:21 > 0:19:23Phaha! Phwah!
0:19:23 > 0:19:26Muhh! Phwah-phwah-phwah.
0:19:26 > 0:19:29- Phwa-ha. Phwah. - FELIX SNORTS.
0:19:29 > 0:19:31Stop that, will you? What are you doing?
0:19:31 > 0:19:32I'm trying to clear out my ears.
0:19:32 > 0:19:34Pwahh. You create a pressure inside your head,
0:19:34 > 0:19:36it opens up the Eustachian tube.
0:19:36 > 0:19:38Mweh. Phwah! Phwah!
0:19:38 > 0:19:40Phwah! Phwah!
0:19:40 > 0:19:42Muhh! Muhh!
0:19:42 > 0:19:43Muhh!
0:19:43 > 0:19:47Phwah-phwah-phwah-phwah-phwah
0:19:47 > 0:19:50- Phwah-phwah. Phwah! - FELIX SIGHS.
0:19:50 > 0:19:53- Did it open up? - I think I strained my throat.
0:19:55 > 0:19:57APPLAUSE.
0:19:59 > 0:20:05- Oh, gosh.- That wonderful clearing of the throat. I mean, I don't know...
0:20:05 > 0:20:08How did Walter Matthau keep a straight face? Did you...?
0:20:08 > 0:20:10How did he keep a straight face?
0:20:10 > 0:20:12That was the toughest scene in the film for me
0:20:12 > 0:20:16because I could not look at Walter. Just those sly little...
0:20:16 > 0:20:18those looks of his just absolutely destroyed...
0:20:18 > 0:20:21What he does...if he says, "Hello" I'm on the floor.
0:20:21 > 0:20:24Well, let's see if he'll say hello to us now because he's
0:20:24 > 0:20:25with us by satellite from Los Angeles.
0:20:25 > 0:20:27- You're kidding?! - So can we call him in?
0:20:27 > 0:20:29Walter Matthau, are you with us?
0:20:29 > 0:20:31- There is the man himself.- Hello. - That's my Walter.
0:20:31 > 0:20:34APPLAUSE.
0:20:34 > 0:20:36- Hello, how are you?- Hi, Walts.
0:20:36 > 0:20:38Oh, for God's sake.
0:20:40 > 0:20:42It's terrific.
0:20:42 > 0:20:44Hey, what are you doing? Where are you?
0:20:44 > 0:20:48- Well, I'm here at the St James Club. - Yeah.
0:20:48 > 0:20:50And Bette Davis is sitting over there.
0:20:50 > 0:20:52She looks about as bad as I do.
0:20:52 > 0:20:55JACK LAUGHS
0:20:55 > 0:20:57Jesus, old silver tongue. He's at it again.
0:20:57 > 0:21:03I'm here, I just want to say, this fella went to Harvard University
0:21:03 > 0:21:08and graduated and his finest moment on the stage is when he went,
0:21:08 > 0:21:11"Mwuah! Mwuah!
0:21:11 > 0:21:12"Mmwuah!"
0:21:13 > 0:21:18- How are you doing, Jack? - Oh, terrific. I miss ya.
0:21:18 > 0:21:20- I miss ya, I'm having a great time. - Are you all right?
0:21:20 > 0:21:22How do we get you back? How much do they want?
0:21:24 > 0:21:27- I don't know, that's up to the critics.- How do we get you back?
0:21:27 > 0:21:29We may find out very shortly.
0:21:29 > 0:21:32- No, I mean, aren't you being held hostage?- Probably.
0:21:32 > 0:21:36- Yeah.- How are they treating you? Are you all right?
0:21:36 > 0:21:38I am terrific. I'm having a wonderful time,
0:21:38 > 0:21:40I'm working with some great guys.
0:21:40 > 0:21:44You never call me. You don't call, you don't write.
0:21:44 > 0:21:45You don't fax.
0:21:48 > 0:21:51All right, I'll call, I'll call, I'll write.
0:21:51 > 0:21:52Why don't you fax?
0:21:52 > 0:21:55All right, I'll fax, I'll fax.
0:21:56 > 0:21:59What's going on over there?
0:21:59 > 0:22:01I'm doing a play, you dummy.
0:22:01 > 0:22:04- You're in a play?- Yeah.
0:22:04 > 0:22:07- You mean you're acting?- Yeah.
0:22:07 > 0:22:10I'm acting with some terrific guys. You'd love it.
0:22:10 > 0:22:14- They pay you money to do this? - Oh, yeah. Sure.
0:22:14 > 0:22:17- I finally got the hang of it. - That's remarkable.- Yeah.
0:22:17 > 0:22:20Ah, no wonder you left America and went to England.
0:22:20 > 0:22:25- They give you money there. - Oh, yeah. Sure.
0:22:25 > 0:22:27- Are you guys great friends? - That's good.
0:22:27 > 0:22:31Do you two meet on a social level or is it just pals in the movies?
0:22:31 > 0:22:34- What do you do when you get together?- Well, mainly...
0:22:34 > 0:22:36- Every Christmas. - JACK LAUGHS
0:22:36 > 0:22:42- Mainly we listen to our wives...- His wife is a very extravagant woman.
0:22:42 > 0:22:45His wife buys me very expensive gifts.
0:22:45 > 0:22:48So I stay friendly with him.
0:22:48 > 0:22:51AUDIENCE LAUGHS
0:22:51 > 0:22:53APPLAUSE
0:22:53 > 0:22:54Oh, God.
0:22:56 > 0:23:00Lemmon often said comedy drama was the hardest thing to get right.
0:23:00 > 0:23:04That didn't mean the serious roles were easy.
0:23:04 > 0:23:07A very different part for you, a very different film, of course,
0:23:07 > 0:23:10- was Days Of Wine And Roses.- Yes.
0:23:10 > 0:23:13What made you particularly want to do that subject
0:23:13 > 0:23:15which is about alcoholism, wasn't it, Jack?
0:23:15 > 0:23:17I was afraid of it.
0:23:17 > 0:23:19- You were afraid, really? - That's one of the reasons.
0:23:19 > 0:23:21I think there's been parts that,
0:23:21 > 0:23:25I don't mean that they are necessarily difficult
0:23:25 > 0:23:27but they might be to me.
0:23:27 > 0:23:31And if I've read a script and I know damn well that it's good
0:23:31 > 0:23:33and that that's a heck of a part
0:23:33 > 0:23:35but I'm a little afraid of it,
0:23:35 > 0:23:39then I really don't want to turn it down because I'll start rationalising
0:23:39 > 0:23:41and I'll spend the rest of my time saying,
0:23:41 > 0:23:43"You backed away from it, kid, you were afraid."
0:23:43 > 0:23:48So I'd rather do it if I felt that strongly about it and flop
0:23:48 > 0:23:49than not to do it.
0:23:49 > 0:23:50And I didn't know how to play the part,
0:23:50 > 0:23:52that's another thing that attracts me.
0:23:52 > 0:23:55If I can finish a script
0:23:55 > 0:23:58and I don't know how to play that part yet,
0:23:58 > 0:24:01then there's something there, you know, you've got to dig
0:24:01 > 0:24:03and there's something to find rather than say,
0:24:03 > 0:24:05"Oh, that's 4-H, I did him last year."
0:24:05 > 0:24:09You know, well, that's off the side of your foot because you played him,
0:24:09 > 0:24:11you know, it's skin deep, it's just surface.
0:24:11 > 0:24:15And those two things - if I don't know how to play them
0:24:15 > 0:24:17and if I'm a little bit afraid...
0:24:19 > 0:24:23I felt that about that part and so I said, "OK, let's go."
0:24:23 > 0:24:26And I felt it about Save The Tiger which is a film that's not out yet
0:24:26 > 0:24:28that I just finished before Avanti.
0:24:28 > 0:24:30It's the same thing. And that's a heavy drama, also.
0:24:30 > 0:24:31Well, let's look at...
0:24:31 > 0:24:34There's one particular scene from Days Of Wine And Roses,
0:24:34 > 0:24:35which I shall always remember,
0:24:35 > 0:24:37which when I first saw it in the cinema,
0:24:37 > 0:24:38really made me catch my breath.
0:24:38 > 0:24:42It's a scene where all of a sudden it turns nasty.
0:24:42 > 0:24:44Where this, sort of, comic drunk really gets it.
0:25:03 > 0:25:04LOUD THUD
0:25:21 > 0:25:23HE GIGGLES
0:25:25 > 0:25:28HE SNORTS AND LAUGHS # Doo-doo-doo-doo. #
0:25:38 > 0:25:40Magic time.
0:25:40 > 0:25:42HE LAUGHS
0:25:59 > 0:26:03AUDIENCE LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE
0:26:07 > 0:26:11That's the most extraordinary blend, isn't it, of comedy and real drama?
0:26:11 > 0:26:15I mean, the flowers behind the back. That's pure Keaton that, isn't it?
0:26:15 > 0:26:18That awful walk into that plate glass.
0:26:18 > 0:26:20I love things like that. That's...
0:26:21 > 0:26:22Blake Edwards had directed that.
0:26:22 > 0:26:25Usually... It was interesting, because Blake...
0:26:25 > 0:26:28I had done practically all comedies,
0:26:28 > 0:26:30as far as films were concerned up to that point
0:26:30 > 0:26:33and Blake had done practically all comedies.
0:26:33 > 0:26:35You know, Pink Panther, this, that.
0:26:35 > 0:26:40He's certainly more known as a comedy director.
0:26:40 > 0:26:43But, I don't know why. I got that crazy idea of hitting...
0:26:43 > 0:26:46Of picking the flowers. It was not in the script, picking the flowers...
0:26:46 > 0:26:49Of almost walking through the thing
0:26:49 > 0:26:52and then having the elevator doors... chop them off,
0:26:52 > 0:26:55so that later, in the middle of a dramatic fight,
0:26:55 > 0:26:58which comes after that,
0:26:58 > 0:26:59I could suddenly notice them
0:26:59 > 0:27:01and wonder what the hell happened to them,
0:27:01 > 0:27:03because he never did figure it out.
0:27:03 > 0:27:06I love if you can throw... Put comedy into drama.
0:27:06 > 0:27:09I love it. It's because that's what life is like.
0:27:09 > 0:27:10We tend to sort of label films.
0:27:10 > 0:27:12If it's a comedy, it's supposed to be a comedy,
0:27:12 > 0:27:13if it's a drama, it's a drama.
0:27:13 > 0:27:16That's why Billy in The Apartment did such a brilliant job
0:27:16 > 0:27:18of putting comedy and drama and romance together.
0:27:18 > 0:27:22He's done it again in Avanti, I think. And...
0:27:22 > 0:27:25It's not easy, but it's always...
0:27:26 > 0:27:29..marvellous, sometimes, even if it's just for relief.
0:27:29 > 0:27:33I remember being struck years ago when I saw Marlon...
0:27:33 > 0:27:37Yeah, Marlon who(?) Marlon Brando, who else?
0:27:37 > 0:27:39When I saw Marlon in A Streetcar Named Desire,
0:27:39 > 0:27:41which was one of the great performances I've ever seen
0:27:41 > 0:27:43by any actor, anywhere, any time.
0:27:43 > 0:27:46This was in the theatre prior to him doing it on film.
0:27:46 > 0:27:50Now, Streetcar Named Desire won the Pulitzer Prize and all of that
0:27:50 > 0:27:53and was certainly was a magnificent, heavy drama.
0:27:53 > 0:27:57But it had more laughs than any comedy running on Broadway that year.
0:27:57 > 0:28:00It had an enormous number of laughs, hundreds of them.
0:28:00 > 0:28:02And it ran very long because of that.
0:28:02 > 0:28:05They had to invent business all over the stage
0:28:05 > 0:28:08while people were laughing about every fourth or fifth line
0:28:08 > 0:28:10and yet it had a tremendous power.
0:28:10 > 0:28:14And when you can combine comedy with drama like that,
0:28:14 > 0:28:16I think it's always much more telling.
0:28:16 > 0:28:19Let's have a look at another sequence from...
0:28:19 > 0:28:21from Days Of Wine And Roses now, which is...
0:28:21 > 0:28:24Which shows a sort of heavy side that we were talking about.
0:28:24 > 0:28:27It's a sequence, in fact, when you're finally taking the cure.
0:28:27 > 0:28:29- You're in the straitjacket.- Oh, yes.
0:28:29 > 0:28:32HE GROANS
0:28:32 > 0:28:34HE SCREAMS
0:28:52 > 0:28:54HE WHIMPERS
0:28:56 > 0:28:57No.
0:28:57 > 0:29:00No!
0:29:00 > 0:29:02HE SCREAMS
0:29:07 > 0:29:09Argh! Ed, give us a hand.
0:29:11 > 0:29:14HE GROANS
0:29:31 > 0:29:35HE BREATHES HEAVILY
0:29:55 > 0:29:58AUDIENCE APPLAUSE
0:30:04 > 0:30:07Did you actually observe people going through...?
0:30:07 > 0:30:11Yes. We went... It was terrible.
0:30:11 > 0:30:14Both Lee Remick, who played in it with me, of course,
0:30:14 > 0:30:18and I went very often to...
0:30:18 > 0:30:20down at the drunk tanks
0:30:20 > 0:30:23and we'd go down late at night to the Lincoln Heights jail
0:30:23 > 0:30:26outside of Los Angeles.
0:30:26 > 0:30:27And...
0:30:28 > 0:30:30..observe them. It's frightening.
0:30:30 > 0:30:35The drying out tables too and the straitjackets and everything.
0:30:35 > 0:30:37It's really not the slightest bit exaggerated
0:30:37 > 0:30:39and just go totally berserk.
0:30:39 > 0:30:41Terrifying.
0:30:41 > 0:30:43They're gone. Totally out of it.
0:30:43 > 0:30:46- What effect did it have on your drinking habits?- Drove me to drink!
0:30:46 > 0:30:49AUDIENCE LAUGHS Naturally! What else would it do?
0:30:49 > 0:30:50A part like that!
0:30:52 > 0:30:55Actually, I don't think it had any effect at all.
0:30:55 > 0:30:57- Didn't it?- Really.
0:30:57 > 0:31:00- Didn't make you frightened?- No, I still kept to 2,3 bottles a day.
0:31:00 > 0:31:03AUDIENCE LAUGHS
0:31:03 > 0:31:05Has drink other affected your work?
0:31:06 > 0:31:07God, I hope not.
0:31:07 > 0:31:08I don't think so. I hope not.
0:31:08 > 0:31:13You'll have observed people in your business whose work it has affected?
0:31:13 > 0:31:14- Yes, not very often.- No?
0:31:14 > 0:31:19I've seen, you know, there are some and it's a pity.
0:31:19 > 0:31:21If they're going to drink when they work.
0:31:21 > 0:31:23I mean, that's, you know....
0:31:23 > 0:31:27Usually, if drink affects an actor's work,
0:31:27 > 0:31:30it's because, basically, he's petrified in the first place.
0:31:30 > 0:31:32If he ever drinks before a performance...
0:31:32 > 0:31:34I don't give a damn how much he drinks afterwards,
0:31:34 > 0:31:36but the actor that drinks before,
0:31:36 > 0:31:39to give himself a little lift or a boost
0:31:39 > 0:31:41- is in trouble, I think...- Yes. - ..emotionally.
0:31:41 > 0:31:44Because he really doesn't want to go out there in the first place
0:31:44 > 0:31:46or he wouldn't do it.
0:31:49 > 0:31:52Another of Lemmon's heavier roles
0:31:52 > 0:31:58came in the 1982 controversial political drama Missing.
0:31:58 > 0:31:59Based on a true story,
0:31:59 > 0:32:02the film was attacked by the US government
0:32:02 > 0:32:05for claiming that America was involved
0:32:05 > 0:32:08in the military overthrow of Chile's President Allende.
0:32:10 > 0:32:12Lemmon played Ed Horman,
0:32:12 > 0:32:16an American patriot whose belief in his country is shattered
0:32:16 > 0:32:20as he searches for his journalist son who's gone missing in the coup.
0:32:22 > 0:32:24Here we find Lemmon in the serious mode,
0:32:24 > 0:32:29discussing the film and how he found portraying a real-life character.
0:32:29 > 0:32:31I was terribly pleased once I had met him,
0:32:31 > 0:32:34because we did not meet until towards the very end of the film,
0:32:34 > 0:32:35which I think is good.
0:32:35 > 0:32:38So, I didn't have any restrictions placed on me...
0:32:39 > 0:32:41..in my attitude towards the character.
0:32:41 > 0:32:44He, at least in the broad strokes,
0:32:44 > 0:32:49the general basic characteristics that I found from the pages,
0:32:49 > 0:32:51are in Ed Horman, thank God.
0:32:51 > 0:32:54So, I don't feel guilty that I portrayed a man
0:32:54 > 0:32:57who is quite different than the real man is.
0:32:57 > 0:33:00There's an innate decency and a dignity about him.
0:33:00 > 0:33:03It's absolutely unflappable.
0:33:03 > 0:33:05It's quite wonderful. He has great strength.
0:33:05 > 0:33:08He's got a great, big strong rod up his back, you know?
0:33:08 > 0:33:11Morally and ethically.
0:33:11 > 0:33:12He's a very principled man.
0:33:12 > 0:33:14I don't think that that man could tell a lie
0:33:14 > 0:33:16if his life depended on it.
0:33:16 > 0:33:18He's not capable of doing that, you know?
0:33:18 > 0:33:19Which also made me feel good,
0:33:19 > 0:33:24because I feel that in if it's basically his story.
0:33:24 > 0:33:27We are not saying that there was complicity of the government.
0:33:27 > 0:33:32We are saying that Ed Horman says there was complicity in his mind.
0:33:32 > 0:33:33There's a big difference there.
0:33:33 > 0:33:36Uh, but I believe him.
0:33:36 > 0:33:39I really would tend to believe this man,
0:33:39 > 0:33:41because he's intelligent,
0:33:41 > 0:33:43a very naive man, as he started out,
0:33:43 > 0:33:48who was wised up quite rapidly to the ways of political life.
0:33:50 > 0:33:53And the fact that being an American does not mean that
0:33:53 > 0:33:56you are given preferential treatment all over the world, you know?
0:33:56 > 0:33:58I think we Americans think that,
0:33:58 > 0:34:01because we sit naively over there in that huge country
0:34:01 > 0:34:04untouched and unsurrounded.
0:34:04 > 0:34:07And we just somehow think that, well, you know,
0:34:07 > 0:34:08Americans are known all over the world.
0:34:08 > 0:34:11Anywhere we go, we'll be taken care of,
0:34:11 > 0:34:13everything will be fine, you know?
0:34:13 > 0:34:14But that's not true necessarily.
0:34:20 > 0:34:22I don't know what happened to your kid, Ed.
0:34:23 > 0:34:29But I understand he was a bit of a snoop.
0:34:29 > 0:34:32He poked his nose around in a lot of dangerous places
0:34:32 > 0:34:34where he really didn't belong.
0:34:34 > 0:34:35Now, suppose,
0:34:36 > 0:34:39I went up to your town, New York,
0:34:39 > 0:34:42and I started messing around with the Mafia.
0:34:42 > 0:34:45I wind up dead in East River.
0:34:45 > 0:34:49And my wife, or my father, complains to the police
0:34:49 > 0:34:51because they didn't protect me.
0:34:53 > 0:34:55They really wouldn't have much of a case, would they?
0:34:57 > 0:34:59You play with fire,
0:34:59 > 0:35:00you get burned.
0:35:00 > 0:35:02But did it worry you that the American government
0:35:02 > 0:35:04reacted against the film as it did?
0:35:04 > 0:35:06No, I was thrilled. HE LAUGHS
0:35:06 > 0:35:08I loved it. I'll tell you why.
0:35:08 > 0:35:10They would never have done it.
0:35:10 > 0:35:11They would never have come out with
0:35:11 > 0:35:14that long, what, 500-word denunciation of whatever
0:35:14 > 0:35:16saying this is distortion of facts
0:35:16 > 0:35:19and these things did not occur as the film says.
0:35:19 > 0:35:22Well, it is not a distortion of facts, they did occur.
0:35:22 > 0:35:25But, they have to protect the stand they always had.
0:35:25 > 0:35:27They would never have taken that stand
0:35:27 > 0:35:32unless the film were very strong and unless it was a hit...you see.
0:35:32 > 0:35:36So, it was flattering in a way, that for the first time in history
0:35:36 > 0:35:38the State Department comes out against a film.
0:35:38 > 0:35:42The book came out, you know, four, five years before that
0:35:42 > 0:35:43and it was not a bestseller.
0:35:43 > 0:35:46They didn't say boo. Nobody said anything.
0:35:46 > 0:35:48They didn't criticise. They didn't say anything about it.
0:35:48 > 0:35:50But, when the film was a hit, boom,
0:35:50 > 0:35:52then they felt they had to do something to save face.
0:35:55 > 0:35:59Missing and another political thriller, The China Syndrome,
0:35:59 > 0:36:03were impressive additions to Lemmon's body of work
0:36:03 > 0:36:05and his reputation for versatility.
0:36:06 > 0:36:10So, which of his roles was his own personal favourite?
0:36:10 > 0:36:12What you think was your best work?
0:36:12 > 0:36:15I don't know. I can't judge that.
0:36:15 > 0:36:18I know that for about half of the parts that I've done,
0:36:18 > 0:36:20and all of the good ones,
0:36:20 > 0:36:22I have been afraid of them.
0:36:22 > 0:36:25But I learned early on that that's OK.
0:36:25 > 0:36:28It started way back with Days Of Wine And Roses.
0:36:28 > 0:36:32I found that I was scared to death once I said I want to play it.
0:36:32 > 0:36:34Then I was worried, "Can I play it?" And...
0:36:35 > 0:36:38I realised that's good, because you're not going to relax.
0:36:38 > 0:36:39You're going to do better work,
0:36:39 > 0:36:41whether you're good, bad or indifferent.
0:36:41 > 0:36:43You'll do better work if you're a little bit afraid.
0:36:43 > 0:36:45"Hey, maybe I can't do this."
0:36:45 > 0:36:47Are you any judge of when you see the finished work?
0:36:47 > 0:36:49Are you any judge of whether it's any good or not,
0:36:49 > 0:36:51or do you think it's all good?
0:36:51 > 0:36:52Not always.
0:36:53 > 0:36:55Oh, God, last time I was on.
0:36:55 > 0:36:58- Crazy Walter, my friend Matthau came on, you know and so forth.- Yes.
0:36:58 > 0:37:02One time, I thought I had done a brilliant job
0:37:02 > 0:37:05in a film called Alex And The Gypsy.
0:37:05 > 0:37:08I think it hit the 50-cent houses in about one minute,
0:37:08 > 0:37:11but anyway, comes the first sneak preview.
0:37:11 > 0:37:13I couldn't wait to bring my friend Walter, huh?
0:37:13 > 0:37:16Now, unlike the theatre, where were faced with that terrible thing
0:37:16 > 0:37:20where you go back to see a friend who's just opened in a play
0:37:20 > 0:37:22and you don't know what you're going to say
0:37:22 > 0:37:23if the performance is not good
0:37:23 > 0:37:25or the play is a turkey or this and that.
0:37:25 > 0:37:27You always worry, "What am I going to say to him," you know?
0:37:27 > 0:37:30"Ah, you've done it again!" Uh, what are you going to do?
0:37:30 > 0:37:33In a film, the one difference is that's it.
0:37:33 > 0:37:34It's there forever, you know?
0:37:34 > 0:37:36Unlike a play. At least that can close.
0:37:36 > 0:37:39Well, I brought Walter to the screening of Alex And The Gypsy.
0:37:39 > 0:37:41We sat in the back.
0:37:41 > 0:37:44I think by the time the lights came up, there was 10 people left.
0:37:44 > 0:37:48They had all gone up and just disappeared during the screening.
0:37:48 > 0:37:50It was just God-awful. It was awful.
0:37:50 > 0:37:52And I then realised it.
0:37:52 > 0:37:55So, the last of the people had gone out.
0:37:55 > 0:37:57Walter was sitting beside me just...
0:37:59 > 0:38:02And I said, "All right, Walts. What do you think?"
0:38:02 > 0:38:04He said, "Get out of it!"
0:38:04 > 0:38:06It was my favourite.
0:38:06 > 0:38:08It was almost worth doing the film for that line.
0:38:08 > 0:38:10How the hell do you get out of a film?
0:38:10 > 0:38:13THEY BOTH LAUGH
0:38:13 > 0:38:14- That's a lot of help.- But you can't.
0:38:14 > 0:38:17Sometimes you think... When you feel, in a film, I think,
0:38:17 > 0:38:19or in a play, very often,
0:38:19 > 0:38:21you feel, "Hey, this is not going very well."
0:38:21 > 0:38:23Usually, you're right, it's not too good.
0:38:23 > 0:38:27But sometimes, you can think, "Oh, boy, this is terrific" and it's not.
0:38:27 > 0:38:30Failures like that were few and far between,
0:38:30 > 0:38:31but there might have been more
0:38:31 > 0:38:35had Lemmon been forced into one particular genre of film
0:38:35 > 0:38:38that he definitely didn't feel suited to.
0:38:38 > 0:38:40Has anybody ever tried, Jack,
0:38:40 > 0:38:45to persuade you to do something other than play a 20th-century man?
0:38:45 > 0:38:47I mean, have you ever had an offer of a biblical role
0:38:47 > 0:38:49or anything like that?
0:38:49 > 0:38:51Oh, I did a test...
0:38:51 > 0:38:52Oh...
0:38:53 > 0:38:56Thank God that Harry Cohen and I hit it off as well as we did,
0:38:56 > 0:38:59because they were doing Joseph And His Brethren.
0:38:59 > 0:39:01It never was finally made.
0:39:01 > 0:39:03And as a matter of fact, I think Tony, at one point,
0:39:03 > 0:39:04was going to play it.
0:39:04 > 0:39:07He would have been infinitely superior to me in it.
0:39:07 > 0:39:09But can you see me as Joseph?
0:39:09 > 0:39:11Well, they just...
0:39:11 > 0:39:14Harry kept saying, "Now, come on. Please do this test."
0:39:14 > 0:39:17And I kept saying, "Listen, I don't... It's just...
0:39:17 > 0:39:19"It's wrong. Please."
0:39:19 > 0:39:23And, er... Jerry Wald, who was then alive, was producing it and...
0:39:25 > 0:39:27..Clifford Odets was writing it
0:39:27 > 0:39:28and they all kept asking me
0:39:28 > 0:39:30and I said, "Well, I can't refuse."
0:39:30 > 0:39:32I didn't have the right to refuse, as a matter of fact.
0:39:32 > 0:39:33So, I did.
0:39:33 > 0:39:36Well, they brought me up and put on this thing.
0:39:36 > 0:39:39This kind of a skirt with a belt down to here and one strap over
0:39:39 > 0:39:43and then the sandals with the laces up to here.
0:39:43 > 0:39:44Oh, Jesus.
0:39:44 > 0:39:49I walked onto that set to do a serious scene
0:39:49 > 0:39:52and the grips started falling out of the rafters.
0:39:52 > 0:39:57I never, ever, ever, in any comedy got as big a laugh...
0:39:57 > 0:39:59AUDIENCE LAUGHS ..as I got in there.
0:39:59 > 0:40:01We could not shoot all morning long.
0:40:01 > 0:40:04Every time I'd opened my mouth, they'd start going.
0:40:04 > 0:40:06And the cameras were jiggling, guys were turning away
0:40:06 > 0:40:08and it was just awful, just God-awful.
0:40:08 > 0:40:10I did the test with Rita Hayworth.
0:40:10 > 0:40:14Hmph! And she had a great deal of trouble, I'll tell you,
0:40:14 > 0:40:17because she'd start cracking up in the middle of the scenes.
0:40:17 > 0:40:19And I tried, I tried my best.
0:40:19 > 0:40:22but, then Harry said, "OK, you don't have to play the part," he said.
0:40:22 > 0:40:25"But, if you ever give me any trouble
0:40:25 > 0:40:27"and you try to back out of a picture that I'm going put you in,"
0:40:27 > 0:40:30he says, "I'm going to show everybody in town that test."
0:40:30 > 0:40:32LAUGHTER So he held it over me.
0:40:36 > 0:40:38The Hollywood epic aside,
0:40:38 > 0:40:41Jack Lemmon showed time and again
0:40:41 > 0:40:44that he was one of cinema's finest actors
0:40:44 > 0:40:46and with the greatest range.
0:40:48 > 0:40:50When Jack died in 2001
0:40:50 > 0:40:53at the age of 76,
0:40:53 > 0:40:57one line quoted repeatedly summed up the reaction.
0:40:57 > 0:41:01It came from the great director Billy Wilder, who simply said,
0:41:01 > 0:41:05"Happiness is working with Jack Lemmon."