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 In a career that spanned half a century, Jack Lemmon was truly America's Everyman. Although he worked in every genre from musical to western, he truly excelled at comedy, turning in a series of nuanced performances that garnered worldwide acclaim. On June 9 (just in time for father's day), Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (SPHE) honors one of the most versatile and accomplished actors in Hollywood history with The Jack Lemmon Film Collection, in partnership with Chris Lemmon, Jack's son and biographer.
This must-have six-disc boxed set features five classic performances from the gifted two-time Academy Award- winner [for Save the Tiger (1973) and Mister Roberts (1955)]. The set includes Phffft! featuring Kim Novak, Operation Mad Ball, featuring the film debut of Ernie Kovacs, The Notorious Landlady featuring Fred Astaire, Under the Yum Yum Tree, and Good Neighbor Sam.
In addition, the bonus materials feature a two-part documentary hosted by Chris Lemmon featuring intimate interviews with friends, fans, and colleagues, including Kevin Spacey, Andy Garcia and Shirley MacLaine; and photographs from the life and work of Jack Lemmon. The collection also includes the Ford Television Theatre's Marriageable Male episode starring Jack Lemmon. The Jack Lemmon Film Collection will be available for $59.95 SRP.
About Jack Lemmon
(February 8th, 1925 - June 27, 2001)
One of the most versatile actors in the history of Hollywood was born in an elevator in the Boston suburb of Newton and attended Harvard University (Class of '47), where he became president of the Hasty Pudding Club. After a stint in the Navy, Lemmon became a professional actor, working on radio, television and Broadway.
Although he made his film debut playing a bit part in the 1949 film The Lady Takes a Sailor, his official debut as a cinematic leading man was opposite Judy Holliday in the 1954 comedy, It Should Happen to You. Lemmon worked with many legendary leading ladies over the course of his five-decade-long career, including Rita Hayworth (Fire Down Below), Marilyn Monroe (Some Like It Hot), Julie Andrews (That´s Life!), Shirley MacLaine (The Apartment), Natalie Wood (The Great Race), Betty Grable (Three for the Show), Janet Leigh (My Sister Eileen), Doris Day (It Happened to Jane), June Allyson (You Can't Run Away From It), Ann Margret (Grumpy Old Men), Sophia Loren (Grumpier Old Men) and many more.
In addition, he teamed with Walter Matthau in 11 films (including The Odd Couple, The Front Page and Grumpy Old Men), forming one of the most-beloved duos in film history. Lemmon was also a favorite actor of legendary director Billy Wilder, who cast Lemmon in many of his classic films, including Some Like It Hot (named by the American Film Institute as the funniest film of all time), The Apartment, Irma La Douce, The Fortune Cookie, Avanti!, The Front Page and Buddy Buddy.
In 1956, Lemmon was awarded his first Academy Award® as Best Supporting Actor for Mister Roberts and in 1974 was named Best Actor for Save the Tiger, becoming the first actor to achieve this honor in two categories. His other Best Actor nominations include Some Like it Hot (1960), The Apartment (1961), Days of Wine and Roses (1963), The China Syndrome (1980), Tribute (1981), and Missing (1983).
In 1988, the American Film Institute honored him with its Lifetime Achievement Award. He also holds the record for the most Golden Globe® nominations for acting (22, including both actors and actresses) of which he won six, plus the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 1991. At the 1998 Golden Globe Awards, he was nominated for "Best Actor in a Made for TV Movie" for his role in Twelve Angry Men losing to Ving Rhames. After accepting the award, Rhames asked Lemmon to come onstage, and in a move that stunned the audience, gave his award to him.
Lemmon was one of the best-liked actors in Hollywood. He is remembered as a genuine mentor as the actor Kevin Spacey recalled in a tribute. Already regarded as a legend, he met the teenage Spacey backstage after a theater performance and spoke to him about pursuing an acting career. Spacey would later work with Lemmon in Dad (1989), Glengarry Glen Ross (1992) and on stage in a revival of Long Day's Journey Into Night. In 2000, Spacey dedicated his Oscar for American Beauty to Lemmon.
Jack Lemmon's place in film history is firmly established and his work will live on for generations, as evidenced by his being voted the 33rd Greatest Movie Star of all time by Entertainment Weekly and the 45th Greatest Movie Star of all time by Premiere Magazine.
PHFFFT! (1954)
 (91 Minutes - not rated)
After their successful pairing in It Should Happen to You (1954), Oscar-winner Judy Holliday (Best Actress, Born Yesterday, 1951) and Lemmon were reteamed in this romantic comedy by George Axelrod (The Seven Year Itch, Breakfast at Tiffany's). Phffft! follows a married couple who divorce only to find out that their divorce is even less successful than their marriage. Columbia's rising love goddess Kim Novak and Jack Carson provide support as the romantic interests Lemmon and Holliday take up with in an effort to make each other jealous.
OPERATION MAD BALL (1957)
 (105 Minutes - not rated)
Lemmon teamed up with director Richard Quine for the second of six films, (including My Sister Eileen; Bell, Book and Candle; It Happened to Jane; and How to Murder Your Wife) for this hilarious comedy about a party being planned by a group of enlisted men and their efforts to keep the fact a secret from an obnoxious, busy body officer. Lemmon headlined a cast of comedy legends including Ernie Kovacs (Our Man in Havana) and Mickey Rooney (Babes in Arms).
THE NOTORIUS LANDLADY (1962)
 (123 Minutes - not rated)
Richard Quine teamed two of his most frequent collaborators, Lemmon (in the fifth of their six films together) and Kim Novak (who made four films with the director) in a comedy/drama written by Blake Edwards (The Pink Panther, Victor/Victoria) and co-starring Fred Astaire (Top Hat, The Band Wagon). An American diplomat (Lemmon), stationed in London, rents a room from a landlady (Novak) only to discover she's being watched by Scotland Yard and may have killed her missing husband.
UNDER THE YUM YUM TREE (1963)
 (110 Minutes - not rated)
Nominated for Best Motion Picture Musical/Comedy and Best Actor (Lemmon) Golden Globes, Under the Yum Yum Tree is a comedy about a young couple in love (Carol Lynley and Dean Jones) who agree to determine their "character compatibility" by living together platonically. Virtue eventually triumphs after a series of humorous incidents during which the couple's lecherous landlord (Lemmon) hopes to seduce his new female tenant. Based on the risqué Broadway play by Lawrence Roman and co-starring Edie Adams (The Apartment, Lover Come Back), Imogene Coca (TV's Your Show of Shows), and Paul Lynde (TV's Bewitched); Under the Yum Yum Tree was a top-grosser at the box office.
GOOD NEIGHBOR SAM (1964)
 (130 Minutes)
This wacky comedy about a happily married advertising agent (Lemmon) trapped into posing as his sexy neighbor's husband so she can inherit $15 million, co-stars Romy Schneider (The Victors), Dorothy Provine (The Great Race), and Edward G. Robinson (Little Caesar). The story soon spirals out of control when her greedy in-laws hit the scene.
DVD Bonus Features include:
• Original Theatrical Trailers
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