Title: Riding easy: Jack
Nicholson, single man and singular star.
Date: 12/8/2003; Publication:
Byline: Joe Neumaier
Jack Nicholson takes a moment, cocks his head and stubs out his cigar. He's pondering if the lack of an enduring romantic relationship over three decades has been good for him. Or if, perhaps, acting has been his one true love.
And that's when he takes the sunglasses off.
Being unattached, says the famously single Nicholson _ whose new film "Something's Gotta Give" opens Friday _ allows "mobility, in every sense, even if it's just going to a party. You can come and go at your own tempo. I don't know if anyone has ever really understood if I'm attached or unattached at any given moment, though I don't think it relates to professional (things) other than as publicity.
"But you know, I'm a seeker in this area. I have re-evaluated my own probabilities not because of others, but because of what I think I no longer can offer a relationship. (With) the combination of my own inclinations and discernment, it would be highly unlikely for me to meet that mythic 'Other.' But I'm open to the possibility _ always have been, always will be. I think that's what affairs of the heart are about. Almost everybody's happy to be a fool for love."
It's the kind of answer true screen icons know how to provide: a fusing of the public face and the private soul. It's what makes "Jack" more than just a bigger-than-life personality _ who's still got that Cheshire Cat grin, whose eyebrows still boomerang up his forehead when he makes a point _ with an indelible body of work.
In 1969, Nicholson became a star via his supporting role in "Easy Rider." Now, at 66, the three-time Academy Award winner is at a point that's almost as rewarding for him as was the first half of the 1970s (when he made "Five Easy Pieces," "Carnal Knowledge," "Chinatown" and "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest") or the first half of the 1980s ("The Shining," "Reds," "Terms of Endearment," "Prizzi's Honor").
"Because of the oddness of what appeals to me," Nicholson jokes, "I've once again mismanaged myself into the pinnacle of my career."
Among the films Nicholson has made since 1995 are two gritty stories directed by Sean Penn ("The Crossing Guard," "The Pledge") and "As Good as It Gets," for which he won his third Oscar. Last year he racked up his 12th Oscar nomination for "About Schmidt."
"Something's Gotta Give" is a romantic comedy co-starring Diane Keaton. Nicholson's role in it _ Harry Sanborn, a legendary music executive who inexhaustibly woos younger women _ contains echoes of his real life.
Nicholson has not only been one of Hollywood's best and most bankable actors
for more than 30 years but one of its unapologetic ladies' men, rarely dating
within his age group. After his six-year marriage to Sandra Knight ended in
1968 (the couple had a daughter, Jennifer, in 1963), his liaisons and flings
became the stuff of lore. He had an on-again, off-again relationship with Anjelica Huston for more than 15 years, and was involved
with B-list actress Rebecca Broussard, who was half his age,
from 1989 to 1992 (they had two children _
More recently, he dated actress Lara Flynn Boyle, 33 years his junior. They broke up earlier this year. However, Nicholson says he resists getting melancholy, about love or anything else.
"To reminisce is an easy trough to fall into," he says. "But it's like when someone asks, 'What are you doing for Christmas?' _ my impulse is to say, 'Hey, don't rob me of my future!' Because that keeps you from being present right now. And that is the closest thing to religion that I have: to actually be in the here and now. A lot of people can't remember things because they weren't actually there to begin with _ they don't take it all in."
He says he's content with the way he has conducted himself in his career and
with his pals. As he says, "I haven't ever cheated or lied to somebody
inside the business, and
Does he think he has been a good man?
"Well, I'm more comfortable with myself than that!" he says, laughing. "Much more, in fact."
Yet when it comes to being called a great American actor, Nicholson admits to some trepidation.
"I'm not as comfortable" with that title, he says. "To show you that I'm not completely without vanity, if somebody didn't (call me that) I'd probably react more than when they do.
"I'm content with the fact that I made a decent effort. That's what I've always worried about: that I wouldn't try hard enough. You know, it's easy in an interview to say, 'Oh, well, I've just been very lucky, right time, right place.' But I studied, I've tried to exercise my own good sense, and I've made the effort. Of course, a lot of people don't get the same opportunities. But a lot of people do, and they don't capitalize on it.
"I (was) conscious enough to have had a plan of some kind. I thought it was a good plan; very little actually went the way I planned it, but most of it went better than I'd hoped. And I'm vainly proud of the fact that I've been involved with a lot of good movies. For the most part, the overall effort has had some kind of integrity."
So, back to that question: If it hasn't been one woman, has moviemaking been his one great love?
"Acting is more comparable to relationships in the sense that it's one of my great love-hates," he says. "I mean, I'm someone who doesn't like getting up early in the morning, so right there, I've had my moments of 'God-doggit!' But really _ life is the great love of my life."
And he has enjoyed it fully?
Nicholson smiles again. The eyebrows shoot up.
"Like a glutton!" he says. "Like a glutton!"
___
JACK & OSCAR
Jack Nicholson's 12 Academy Award nominations are truly as good as it gets _ no other actor has earned as many (Meryl Streep is the most-nominated actress with 13 nods).
"Easy Rider," 1969 (Best Supporting Actor nominee). The part was intended for Rip Torn, but it was Nicholson who ended up playing drunken Southern lawyer George Hanson. The role put his career into high gear after a decade of B-movie parts.
"Five Easy Pieces," 1970 (Best Actor nominee). The role of Bobby Dupea, a concert pianist hiding out in blue-collar jobs, was Nicholson's first lead, and a touchstone for a generation of angry young men.
"The Last Detail," 1973 (Best Actor nominee). As "Badass" Buddusky, a snarling Shore Patrol officer who reluctantly hauls a young sailor off to prison, Nicholson is as tough as nails, a Rottweiler in a peacoat.
"
"One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," 1975 (winner, Best Actor). Watch the mix of anger, glee and defiance as Nicholson's McMurphy pretends to watch a baseball game after the TV is shut off. The character's doing it for his fellow mental patients, but the actor knows a home run when he sees one.
"Reds," 1981 (Best Supporting Actor nominee).
In his buddy Warren Beatty's epic about socialism, Nicholson played Eugene
O'Neill and created a masterpiece of minimalism. Whether browbeating Diane Keaton into bed or silently sneering at
"Terms of Endearment," 1983 (winner, Best Supporting Actor). To play a womanizing ex-astronaut who charms neighbor Shirley MacLaine, Nicholson reportedly asked director James L. Brooks, "How much gut do you want?" His first real dive into middle age.
Prizzi's Honor," 1985 (Best Actor nominee). The overbite and
"Ironweed," 1987 (Best Actor nominee). As
Francis Phelan, a haunted man staggering through Depression-era
"A Few Good Men," 1992 (Best Supporting Actor nominee). As the corrupt but self-righteous Col. Jessup, Nicholson showed he could handle the truth.
"As Good as It Gets," 1997 (winner, Best Actor). Obsessive-compulsive New Yorker Melvin Udall may have been one of Nicholson's lesser nut jobs, but he pursues skeptical waitress Helen Hunt with real emotion.
"About Schmidt," 2002 (Best Actor nominee). Nicholson captured the essence of Midwestern lost soul Warren Schmidt _ simultaneously falling into oblivion and awakening to life's possibilities.
___
(c) 2003,
Return to Main Articles Menu Page or Return to Home