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On June 25, 2019, The New York Times Magazine listed Jerry Lewis among hundreds of artists whose material was reportedly destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.

Lewis died at his home in Las Vegas, Nevada, at 9:15 a.m. (PDT) on August 20, 2017, at the age of 91. The cause was end-stage cardiac disease and peripheral artery disease. In his will, Lewis left his estate to his second wife of 34 years, SanDee Pitnick, and their daughter, and intentionally excluded his sons from his first marriage as well as their descendants.

On August 21, 2017, multiple hotel marquees on the Las Vegas Strip honored Lewis with a coordinated video display of images of his career as a Las Vegas performer and resident. From 1949, as part of Martin and Lewis, and from 1956 as a solo, Lewis was a casino showroom headliner, playing numerous dates over the decades. It was also the home for the annual Labor Day MDA telethon.

Lewis starred in a small role in The Trust (2016) and a serious lead role in his final film Max Rose (2016), which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. He was a guest on WTF with Marc Maron and in December, expressed interest in another movie. Lewis' last appearance was in an episode of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee.

In early 2016, Lewis broke a five-year silence during a special taped message at MDA's brand re-launch event at Carnegie Hall in New York City for the organization on its website in honor of its rebranding marking his first (and as it turned out, his final) appearance in support of MDA since his final telethon in 2010 and the end of his tenure as national chairman in 2011. Lewis raised an estimated $2.6 billion in donations for the cause.

In 2010, Lewis met with seven-year-old Lochie Graham, who shared his idea for "Jerry's House", a place for vulnerable and traumatized children. Lewis and Graham entered into a joint partnership for an Australian and a U.S.-based charity and began raising funds to build the facility in Melbourne. On September 12, 2016, Lewis lent his name and star power to Criss Angel's HELP (Heal Every Life Possible) charity event.

Apple iOS 10 includes an auto-text emoji for 'professor' with a Lewis lookalike portrayal from The Nutty Professor. The word "flaaaven!", with its many variations and rhymes, is a Lewis-ism often used as a misspoken word or a person's mis-pronounced name. In a 2016 episode of the podcast West Wing Weekly, Joshua Malina is heard saying "flaven" when trying to remember a character's correct last name. Lewis' signature catchphrase "Hey, Laaady!" is ubiquitously used by comedians and laypersons alike.

In a December 2015 interview on EWTN's World Over with Raymond Arroyo, Lewis expressed opposition to the United States letting in Syrian refugees, saying "No one has worked harder for the human condition than I have, but they're not part of the human condition if 11 guys in that group of 10,000 are ISIS. How can I take that chance?" In the same interview, he criticized President Barack Obama for not being prepared for ISIS, while expressing support for Donald Trump, saying he would make a good president because he was a good "showman". He also added that he admired Ronald Reagan's presidency.

Using the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami as his setting — on a small budget, with a very tight shooting schedule — Lewis shot the film during the day and performed at the hotel in the evenings. Bill Richmond collaborated with him on many of the sight gags. Lewis later revealed that Paramount was not happy about financing a "silent movie" and withdrew backing. Lewis used his own funds to cover the movie's $950,000 budget.

Acting the bumbling and stammering 'everyman', Lewis used tightly choreographed, sophisticated sight gags, physical routines, verbal double-talk and malapropisms. "You cannot help but notice Lewis' incredible sense of control in regards to performing—they may have looked at times like the ravings of a madman but his best work had a genuine grace and finesse behind it that would put most comedic performers of any era to shame." They are "choreographed as exactly as any ballet, each movement and gesture coming on natural beats and conforming to the overall rhythmic form which is headed to a spectacular finale: absolute catastrophe."

No other comedic star, with the exceptions of Chaplin and Keaton in the silent era, dared to direct himself. "Not only would Lewis' efforts as a director pave the way for the likes of Mel Brooks and Woody Allen, but it would reveal him to be uncommonly skilled in that area as well." "Most screen comedies until that time were not especially cinematic—they tended to plop down the camera where it could best capture the action and that was it. Lewis, on the other hand, was interested in exploring the possibilities of the medium by utilizing the tools he had at his disposal in formally innovative and oftentimes hilarious ways." "In Lewis' work the way the scene is photographed is an integral part of the joke. His purposeful selection of lenses, for example, expands and contracts space to generate laughs that aren't necessarily inherent in the material, and he often achieves his biggest effects via what he leaves off screen, not just visually but structurally."

Peter Chelsom, director of Funny Bones wrote, "Working with him was a masterclass in comic acting – and in charm. From the outset he was generous." "There's a very thin line between a talent for being funny and being a great actor. Jerry Lewis epitomized that. Jerry embodied the term "funny bones": a way of differentiating between comedians who tell funny and those who are funny." Director Daniel Noah recalling his relationship with Lewis during production of Max Rose wrote, "He was kind and loving and patient and limitlessly generous with his genius. He was unbelievably complicated and shockingly self-aware."

There have been numerous retrospectives of Lewis' films in the U.S. and abroad, most notably Jerry Lewis: A Film and Television Retrospective at Museum of the Moving Image, the 2013 Viennale, the 2016 Melbourne International Film Festival, The Innovator: Jerry Lewis at Paramount, at American Cinematheque in Los Angeles, and Happy Birthday Mr. Lewis: The Kid Turns 90, at MOMA. Lewis is one of the few performers to have touched every aspect of 20th Century American entertainment, appearing in vaudeville, burlesque, the 'borsht belt', nightclubs, radio, Classical Hollywood Cinema (The 'Golden Age'), Las Vegas, television: variety, drama, sit-coms and talk shows, Broadway and independent films.

Lewis made a musical theatre play of The Nutty Professor at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center in Nashville in 2012. In Brazil, Lewis appeared in Till Luck Do Us Part 2 (2013), a sequel to the 2012 film Till Luck Do Us Part. In 2014, Lewis was guest on The Talk and on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. In 2015, Lewis guest appeared on The World Over with Raymond Arroyo.

He was subsequently taken to the hospital. Some months thereafter, Lewis began an arduous, months-long therapy that weaned him off prednisone and he lost much of the weight gained while on the drug. The treatment enabled him to return to work. On June 12, 2012, he was treated and released from a hospital after collapsing from hypoglycemia at a New York Friars Club event. This latest health issue forced him to cancel a show in Sydney. In an October 2016 interview with Inside Edition, Lewis acknowledged that he might not star in any more films, given his advanced age, while admitting, through tears, that he was afraid of dying, as it would leave his wife and daughter alone. In June 2017, Lewis was hospitalized at a Las Vegas hospital for a urinary tract infection.

On August 3, 2011, it was announced that Lewis would no longer host the MDA telethons and that he was no longer associated with the Muscular Dystrophy Association. The children assisted by MDA are referred to as Jerry's Kids and a tribute to Lewis was held during the 2011 telethon (which originally was to be Lewis' final show bearing his name with the Muscular Dystrophy Association). On May 1, 2015, it was announced that in view of "the new realities of television viewing and philanthropic giving", the telethon was being discontinued.

Similarly, varied musicians have mentioned Lewis in song lyrics including, Ice Cube, The Dead Milkmen, Queen Latifah, and Frank Zappa. The hip hop music band Beastie Boys have an unreleased single "The Jerry Lewis", which they mention, and danced to, on stage in Asheville, North Carolina in 2009. In their film Paul's Boutique — A Visual Companion, clips from The Nutty Professor play to "The Sounds of Science". In 1986, the comedy radio show Dr. Demento aired a parody of "Rock Me Amadeus", "Rock Me Jerry Lewis".

He went on to praise Lucille Ball as "brilliant" and said Carol Burnett is "the greatest female entrepreneur of comedy." On other occasions Lewis expressed admiration for female comedians Totie Fields, Phyllis Diller, Kathleen Freeman, Elayne Boosler, Whoopi Goldberg and Tina Fey. During the 2007 MDA Telethon, Lewis used the word "fag" in a joke, for which he apologized. Lewis used the same word the following year on Australian television. In 2017, Lewis invited the world's most influential minds of comedy to join him at the inaugural Legionnaires of Laughter.

In 2006, he guest starred in an episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit as Munch's uncle. Lewis sang and recorded the duet song "Time After Time" with Dean Martin's daughter, Deana Martin, for her album Memories Are Made of This. In 2008, a computer animated direct sequel to Lewis' 1963 film The Nutty Professor was released, then he appeared on the 81st Academy Awards in 2009.

Lewis suffered numerous heart problems throughout his life; he revealed in the 2011 documentary Method to the Madness of Jerry Lewis, that he suffered his first heart attack at age 34 while filming Cinderfella in 1960. In December 1982, he had another heart attack. Several months later, in February 1983, Lewis underwent emergency open-heart double-bypass surgery. En route to San Diego from New York City on a cross-country commercial airline flight on June 11, 2006, Lewis suffered his third heart attack. It was discovered that he had pneumonia, as well as a severely damaged heart. He underwent a cardiac catheterization days after the heart attack, and two stents were inserted into one of his coronary arteries, which was 90 percent blocked. The surgery resulted in increased blood flow to his heart and allowed him to continue his rebound from earlier lung problems. Having the cardiac catheterization meant canceling several major events from his schedule, but Lewis fully recuperated in a matter of weeks.

A parody of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, it featured him as a socially awkward professor inventing a serum that turns him into a handsome but obnoxious ladies man. It is largely considered to be Lewis' finest and most memorable film (being selected in 2004 for preservation in the U.S. National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant"). Lewis then appeared in a cameo role in It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963).

Lewis once stated political speeches should not be at the Oscars. "I think we are the most dedicated industry in the world. And I think that we have to present ourselves that night as hard-working, caring and important people to the industry. We need to get more self-respect as an industry". In a 2004 interview with The Guardian, Lewis was asked what he was least proud of, to which he answered, "Politics". Not his politics, but the world's politics – the madness, the destruction, the general lack of respect.

In 2000, Lewis appeared as a guest on The Martin Short Show, then on Russell Gilbert Live and executive produced The Nutty Professor II: The Klumps. In 2003, Lewis did guest appearances on Your World with Neil Cavuto and did a guest voice as Professor Frink's father in a Treehouse of Horror episode of The Simpsons. He then made a cameo in Miss Cast Away and the Island Girls in 2004. In 2005, Lewis went on make guest appearances on Late Night with Conan O' Brien and Live with Kelly.

In 1999, Lewis' Australian tour was cut short when he had to be hospitalized in Darwin with viral meningitis. He was ill for more than five months. It was reported in the Australian press that he had failed to pay his medical bills. However, Lewis maintained that the payment confusion was the fault of his health insurer. The resulting negative publicity caused him to sue his insurer for US$100 million.

Lewis rebutted the criticism and defended his methods saying, "If you don't tug at their heartstrings, then you're on the air for nothing." The activist protests represented a very small minority of countless MDA patients and clients who had directly benefitted from Lewis' MDA fundraising. In 1998, Lewis' telethon became the first ever to be viewed around the globe via internet simulcast by RealNetworks on MDA's website. He received a Governors Award in 2005 and the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 2009, in recognition of his fight for the cause and his efforts for MDA.

In 1998, at the Aspen U.S. Comedy Arts Festival, when asked which women comics he admired, Lewis answered, "I don't like any female comedians." "A woman doing comedy doesn't offend me but sets me back a bit." He later clarified his statements saying, "Seeing a woman project the kind of aggression that you have to project as a comic just rubs me wrong." "I cannot sit and watch a lady diminish her qualities to the lowest common denominator." Lewis explained his attitude as that of an older generation and said women are funny, but not when performing 'broad' or 'crude' humor.

John Saleeby, writer for National Lampoon has a humor piece "Ten Things You Should Know About Jerry Lewis". In the animated cartoon Popeye's 20th Anniversary, Martin and Lewis are portrayed on the dais. The animated series Animaniacs satirized Lewis in several episodes. The voice and boyish, naive cartoon character SpongeBob SquarePants is partially based on Lewis, with particular inspiration from his film The Bellboy. In 1998, The MTV animated show Celebrity Deathmatch had a clay-animated fight to the death between Dean Martin and Lewis. In a 1975 re-issue of MAD Magazine the contents of Lewis' wallet is satirized in their on-going feature "Celebrities' Wallets".

He performed in both the national and London runs of the musical. Lewis missed three performances of the live show in four-plus years, one being Martin's funeral. He was then interviewed by James Lipton on Inside the Actors Studio. In 1996, Lewis served as executive producer of The Nutty Professor remake, starring Eddie Murphy. Lewis would next appear on the 12th annual American Comedy Awards in 1998.

Lewis' role serves as the metaphorical pivot in 20th Century comedy, from slapstick anarchists to clever storytellers. Both Arizona Dream and Funny Bones were tongue-in-cheek roles for independent films. In 1995, realizing a lifelong ambition, Lewis made his Broadway debut, as a replacement cast member, in a revival of Damn Yankees. Playing the devil, he was reportedly paid the highest sum in Broadway history at the time.

In February 1994, a man named Gary Benson was revealed to have been stalking Lewis and his family. Benson subsequently served four years in prison.

In 1993, he was the first of a series of 'classic' comedians to guest star in Mad About You, playing an eccentric billionaire. He appearanced on Larry King Live many times and co-starred in the film Arizona Dream (1993) as a car salesman and uncle to a young nephew, then starred as the 'Comedy Legend' father of a young comic in Funny Bones (1995).

In 1991, Lewis guest starred in and directed an episode of the FOX series Good Grief. In 1992, Lewis had a cameo in Mr. Saturday Night (1992), appeared as a guest on The Arsenio Hall Show, The Whoopi Goldberg Show and Inside The Comedy Mind. Lewis did a three-part retrospective for The Disney Channel entitled Martin & Lewis: Their Golden Age of Comedy, using previously unseen kinescopes from his personal archive, highlighting his years as part of a team with Martin and as a soloist.

By 1990, pop culture had shifted its view of disabled individuals and the telethon format. Lewis and the telethon's methods were criticized by disabled-rights activists who believed the show was "designed to evoke pity rather than empower the disabled." The activists said the telethon perpetuated prejudices and stereotypes, that Lewis treated those he claimed to be helping with little respect, and that he used offensive language when describing them. "Smile", "What the World Needs Now Is Love" and "You'll Never Walk Alone" were forever associated with the program as the first song served as the intro, the second for the timpani and tote board cues and the third to close the show.

In addition to his decades-long heart problems, Lewis had prostate cancer, type 1 diabetes, and pulmonary fibrosis. Prednisone treatment in the late 1990s for pulmonary fibrosis resulted in considerable weight gain and a startling change in his appearance. In September 2001, Lewis was unable to perform at a planned London charity event at the London Palladium. He was the headlining act, and he was introduced but did not appear. He had suddenly become unwell, apparently with heart problems.

The filming schedule of the show forced Lewis to miss the Museum of the Moving Image's opening with a retrospective of his work. In 1989, Lewis joined Martin on stage, for what would be Martin's final live performance, at Bally's Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Lewis wheeled out a cake on Martin's 72nd birthday, sang "Happy Birthday" to him and joked, "Why we broke up, I'll never know". Again, their appearance together made headlines. He then appeared in Cookie (1989).

In 1987, Lewis performed a second double act with Davis Jr. at Bally's in Las Vegas, then after learning of the death of Martin's son Dean Paul Martin, he attended his funeral, which lead to a more substantial reconciliation with Martin. In 1988, Lewis hosted America's All-Time Favorite Movies, then was interviewed by Howard Cosell on Speaking of Everything. He then starred in five episodes of the CBS program Wiseguy.

He then hosted a syndicated talk show for Metromedia, which was not continued beyond the scheduled five shows. In 1985, Lewis directed an episode of the Showtime series Brothers. In 1986, Lewis appeared at the first Comic Relief, where he was the only performer to receive a standing ovation and after that, he was interviewed on Classic Treasures. Lewis also starred in the ABC televised movie Fight For Life (1987).

Lewis guest hosted Saturday Night Live, then starred in Cracking Up a.k.a. Smorgasbord (1983, his final directed film), Slapstick (Of Another Kind) (1984), To Catch a Cop a.k.a. The Defective Detective (1984) and How Did You Get In? We Didn't See You Leave (1984), the latter two films from France which had their distribution under Lewis' control and stated that they would never be released in American movie theaters and on home media.

Lewis' second wife was Sandra "SanDee" Pitnick, a stewardess who met Lewis after winning a bit part in his film, Hardly Working. They were wed on February 13, 1983, in Key Biscayne, Florida and had one child together, an adopted daughter named Danielle (born 1992).

Lewis returned to the big screen and directed and starred in Hardly Working (1981), after an 11-year absence from film and despite being panned by critics, it eventually earned $50 million. In 1982, Lewis was a guest on Late Night with David Letterman. In 1983, Lewis co-starred in Martin Scorsese's film The King of Comedy, as a late-night TV host, plagued by two obsessive fans, played by Robert De Niro and Sandra Bernhard. He received wide critical acclaim and a BAFTA nomination for this serious dramatic role.

Eventually the policy was changed, and the Jerry Lewis Cinemas were allowed to show more competitive movies. But after a decade the chain failed and both Lewis and National Cinema Corporation declared bankruptcy in 1980. In 1973, Lewis appeared on the 1st annual 20-hour Highway Safety Foundation telethon, hosted by Davis Jr. and Monty Hall. In 1990, Lewis wrote and directed a short film for UNICEF's How Are The Children? anthology exploring the rights of children worldwide. The eight-minute segment, titled Boy, was about a young white child in a black world and being subjected to quiet, insidious racism, and outright racist bullying.

Lewis did more new guest star spots on The Dick Cavett Show, NBC Follies, Celebrity Sportsman, Cher, Dinah! and Tony Orlando and Dawn. Lewis surprised Sinatra and Martin after walking onto the Aladdin stage in Las Vegas during their show and exchanged jokes for several minutes. He then starred in a revival of Hellzapoppin with Lynn Redgrave, but closed on the road before reaching Broadway. In 1979, he guest hosted as ringmaster of Circus of the Stars.

Also on SNL, the Martin and Lewis reunion on the 1976 MDA Telethon is reported by Chevy Chase on Weekend Update. Comedians Eddie Murphy and Joe Piscopo both parodied Lewis when he hosted SNL in 1983. Piscopo also channeled Jerry Lewis while performing as a 20th-century stand-up comedian in Star Trek: The Next Generation; in the second-season episode "The Outrageous Okona", Piscopo's Holodeck character, The Comic, tutors android Lieutenant Commander Data on humor and comedy. Comedian and actor Jim Carrey satirized Lewis on In Living Color in the sketch "Jheri's Kids Telethon". Carrey had an uncredited cameo playing Lewis in the series Buffalo Bill on the episode "Jerry Lewis Week". He also played Lewis, with impersonator Rich Little as Dean Martin, on stage. Actor Sean Hayes portrayed Lewis in the made-for-TV movie Martin and Lewis, with Jeremy Northam as Dean Martin. Actor Kevin Bacon plays the Lewis character in the 2005 film Where The Truth Lies, based on a fictionalized version of Martin and Lewis. In the satiric novel, Funny Men, about singer/wild comic double act, the character Sigmund "Ziggy" Blissman, is based on Lewis.

His singular mise-en-scène, and skill behind the camera, were aligned with Howard Hawks, Alfred Hitchcock and Satyajit Ray. Appreciated too, was the complexity of his also being in front of the camera. The new French criticism viewed cinema as an art form unto itself, and comedy as part of this art. Lewis is then fitted into a historical context and seen as not only worthy of critique, but as an innovator and satirist of his time. Jean-Pierre Coursodon states in a 1975 Film Comment article, "The merit of the French critics, auteurist excesses notwithstanding, was their willingness to look at what Lewis was doing as a filmmaker for what it was, rather than with some preconception of what film comedy should be."

Lewis' next feature was the partly unreleased The Day the Clown Cried (1972), a drama set in a Nazi concentration camp, which he starred in and directed. The film was rarely discussed by Lewis, but he said that litigation over post-production finances and copyright prevented the film's completion and theatrical release. During his book tour for Dean and Me he also said a factor for the film's burial was that he was not proud of the effort.

His book The Total Film Maker (1971), was based on 480 hours of his class lectures. Lewis traveled to medical schools for seminars on laughter and healing with Dr. Clifford Kuhn and also did corporate and college lectures, motivational speaking and promoted the pain-treatment company Medtronic.

In 1970, Lewis guest starred on The Red Skelton Show, then contributed to some scripts for Filmation's animated series Will the Real Jerry Lewis Please Sit Down. He guest hosted The Mike Douglas Show, directed an episode of The Bold Ones and made guest spots on The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour, The Hollywood Palace, The Engelbert Humperdinck Show, The Irv Kupcinet Show, The Linkletter Show, The Real Tom Kennedy Show and A Christmas Night with the Stars.

Lewis then directed One More Time (1970), a sequel to the 1968 film Salt and Pepper, in which Lewis did his first (and only) offscreen voice performance as a bandleader. His next film was Which Way to the Front? (1970) and new guest spots on The Carol Burnett Show, The Rolf Harris Show and The Kraft Music Hall in 1971.

Lewis made an appearance on The Danny Thomas Hour, starred in Don't Raise the Bridge, Lower the River (1968) and then appeared as a guest on Playboy After Dark, surprising friend Sammy Davis Jr. in 1968. Lewis went on to star in and produce Hook, Line & Sinker (1969) and afterwards, guest starred in an episode of Jimmy Durante Presents the Lennon Sisters Hour.

In 1968, Ed McMahon (announcer, second banana and sidekick to Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show) began his involvement in the telethon, and co-anchored the event with Lewis every year from 1973 to 2008. The program was seen on all local TV stations (known as the MDA "Love Network") throughout the United States. For decades, the broadcast originated from different locations including New York, Las Vegas and Hollywood and was the most successful fundraising event in the history of television. In 1977, Lewis was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for his work with the charity.

Starting in 1967, Lewis taught a film directing class at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles for a number of years. His students included George Lucas, whose friend Steven Spielberg sometimes sat in on classes. Lewis screened Spielberg's early film Amblin' and told his students, "That's what filmmaking is all about." The class covered all topics related to filmmaking, including pre and post production, marketing and distribution and filming comedy with rhythm and timing.

He directed and starred in Three on a Couch (1966), appeared as guest on The Merv Griffin Show alongside Richard Pryor, starred in Way...Way Out (1966), came on The Sammy Davis Jr. Show, had cameos in Batman and Laugh In, was a panelist on Password and starred in a pilot for Sheriff Who. Lewis returned with a new version of The Jerry Lewis Show, this time as a one-hour variety show for NBC, which ran from 1967 to 1969. He would next direct and star in The Big Mouth (1967) and starred on Run For Your Life.

The telethon had many firsts, it was the first to raise over $1 million in 1966, the first to shown entirely in color in 1967, becoming a networked telethon in 1968, going coast-to-coast in 1970, the first to be seen outside continental U.S. in 1972, the largest sum ever raised in a single event for humanitarian purposes in 1974, the greatest amount ever pledged to a televised charitable event (Guinness Book of World Records) in 1980, watched by 100 million people in 1985, celebrated its 20th anniversary in 1990 and had its highest pledge in history in 1992.

In 1965, Lewis was interviewed on The David Susskind Show, then co-starred in Boeing Boeing (1965), his last film for Paramount, based on the French stage play, in which he received a Golden Globe nomination. Lewis directed and appeared on an episode of Ben Casey, an early dramatic role, appeared on The Andy Williams Show and Hullabaloo with his son Gary Lewis. In 1966, after 17 years, Lewis left Paramount, which changed ownership while its new executives declined to renew his 1959 profit sharing contract and went to other studios.

Lewis suffered from a number of chronic health problems, illnesses and addictions related both to aging and a back injury sustained in a comedic pratfall. The fall has been stated as being either from a piano while performing at the Sands Hotel and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip on March 20, 1965, or during an appearance on The Andy Williams Show. In its aftermath, Lewis became addicted to the painkiller Percodan for thirteen years. He said he had been off the drug since 1978. In April 2002, Lewis had a Medtronic "Synergy" neurostimulator implanted in his back, which helped reduce the discomfort. He was one of the company's leading spokesmen.

His last film collaboration with Tashlin was The Disorderly Orderly (1964), which Lewis not only starred in but executive produced. After that, he then directed, co-wrote and appeared in The Family Jewels (1965) about a young heiress who must choose among six uncles, one of whom is up to no good and out to harm the girl's beloved bodyguard who practically raised her. Lewis played all six uncles and the bodyguard. This Diamond Ring, a song sung by Lewis' son Gary Lewis and his band was featured in the film.

He starred next in Tashlin's Who's Minding the Store? (1963) and then hosted The Jerry Lewis Show, a 13-week lavish, big-budget show for ABC, airing from September to December in 1963. The show suffered in the ratings, beleaguered by technical and other difficulties, including the assassination of then U.S. president John F. Kennedy, which left the country in a somber mood. Lewis next co-wrote and starred in The Patsy (1964), his satire about the Hollywood star-making industry.

Lewis took on as guest host on The Tonight Show during the transition from Jack Paar to Johnny Carson in 1962. His appearance on the show scored the highest ratings thus far in late night, surpassing other guest hosts and Paar. The three major networks began a bidding war, wooing Lewis for his own talk show, which debuted the following year. Lewis then directed, co-wrote and starred in the smash hit The Nutty Professor (1963).

Lewis would follow that film by directing several more new movies he co-wrote with Richmond, including The Ladies Man (1961), where Lewis constructed a three-story dollhouse-like set spanning two sound stages. The set was equipped with state of the art lighting and sound, eliminating the need for boom mics in each room.

His next feature The Errand Boy (1961), was one of the earliest films about moviemaking, utilizing all of the Paramount backlot and offices. On air, Lewis then starred in his first special in three years The Wacky World of Jerry Lewis, then appeared in an episode of Celebrity Golf followed by a guest spot on an episode of The Garry Moore Show. He then starred in Tashlin's It's Only Money (1962).

He had finished his film contract with Wallis with Visit to a Small Planet (1960) and wrapped up production on his own film Cinderfella (1960), directed by Tashlin. The movie was postponed for a Christmas 1960 release. Paramount Pictures, needing a quickie motion picture for its summer 1960 schedule, held Lewis to his contract to produce one. As a result, he made his debut as film director of and starred in The Bellboy (1960).

Not yet curricula at universities or art schools, Cinema Studies and Film theory were avant-garde in early 1960s America. Mainstream movie reviewers such as Pauline Kael, were dismissive of auteur theory, and others, seeing only absurdist comedy, criticized Lewis for his ambition and "castigated him for his self-indulgence" and egotism. "The total film-maker, so admired in France, made Hollywood uncomfortable, since the system has always operated otherwise."

Lewis was in the forefront in the transition to independent filmmaking, which came to be known as New Hollywood in the late 1960s. Writing for the Los Angeles Times in 2005, screenwriter David Weddle lauded Lewis' audacity in 1959 "daring to declare his independence from the studio system." Lewis came along to a studio system in which the industry was regularly stratified between players and coaches. The studios tightly controlled the process and they wanted their people directing. Yet Lewis regularly led, often flouting the power structure to do so. Steven Zeitchik of the LA Times wrote of Lewis, "Control over material was smart business, and it was also good art. Neither the entrepreneur nor the auteur were common types among actors in mid-20th century Hollywood. But there Lewis was, at a time of strict studio control, doing both."

Before 1960, Hollywood comedies were screwball or farce. Lewis, from his earliest 'home movies, such as How to Smuggle a Hernia Across the Border, made in his playhouse in the early 1950s, was one of the first to introduce satire as a full-length film. This "sharp-eyed" satire continued in his mature work, commenting on the cult of celebrity, the machinery of 'fame', and "the dilemma of being true to oneself while also fitting into polite society." Stephen Dalton in The Hollywood Reporter wrote, Lewis had "an agreeably bitter streak, offering self-lacerating insights into celebrity culture which now look strikingly modern. Even post-modern in places." Speaking of The King of Comedy, "More contemporary satirists like Garry Shandling, Steve Coogan and Ricky Gervais owe at least some of their self-deconstructing chops to Lewis' generously unappetizing turn in Scorsese's cult classic."

Lewis, and Martin & Lewis, as himself or his films, have been referenced by directors and performers of differing genres spanning decades, including, Blake Edwards's Breakfast at Tiffany's (1960), Andy Warhol's Soap Opera (1964), John Frankenheimer's I Walk the Line (1970), Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather (1972), Randal Kleiser's Grease (1978), Rainer Werner Fassbinder's In a Year of 13 Moons (1978), Christopher Lloyd's Back to the Future (1985), Quentin Tarantino's Four Rooms (1995), Martin Scorsese's Gangs of New York (2002), Hitchcock (2012), Ben Stiller's The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013), Jay Roach's Trumbo (2015), The Comedians (2015), Baskets (2016) and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (2017, 2018).

Lewis starred in Don't Give Up The Ship (1959) and then cameo appeared in Li'l Abner (1959). After his contract with Wallis ended, Lewis had several movies under his belt and was eager to flex his creative muscle. He was free to deepen his comedy with pathos, believing, "Funny without pathos is a pie in the face. And a pie in the face is funny, but I wanted more." In 1959, a contract between Paramount and Jerry Lewis Productions was signed specifying a payment of $10 million plus 60% of the profits for 14 films over seven years.

With the success of that album he recorded the additional albums More Jerry Lewis (an EP of songs from this release was released as Somebody Loves Me), and Jerry Lewis Sings Big Songs For Little People (later reissued with fewer tracks as Jerry Lewis Sings For Children). Non-album singles were released, and It All Depends On You, hit the charts in April and May 1957, but peaked at only #68. Further singles were recorded and released by Lewis into the mid-1960s.

Such live performances became a staple of his career and over the years he performed at casinos, theaters and state fairs coast-to-coast. In February 1957, he followed Garland at the Palace Theater in New York and Martin called on the phone during this period to wish him the best of luck. "I've never been happier," said Lewis. "I have peace of mind for the first time." Lewis established himself as a solo act on TV starting with the first of six appearances on What's My Line? from 1956 to 1966.

He appeared on both Tonight Starring Jack Paar and The Ed Sullivan Show and beginning in January 1957, in a number of solo TV specials for NBC. He starred in his adaptation of "The Jazz Singer" for Startime. Lewis hosted the Academy Awards three times, in 1956, 1957 and the 31st Academy Awards in 1959, which ran twenty minutes short, forcing Lewis to improvise to fill time. DC Comics, switching from Martin and Lewis, published a new comic book series titled The Adventures of Jerry Lewis, running from 1957 to 1971.

Lewis would remain at Paramount, becoming a comedy star in his own right and his first solo movie was The Delicate Delinquent (1957), marking Lewis' debut as film producer. It originally had been planned as the next Martin and Lewis film. He and Martin had made two films with director Frank Tashlin, whose background as a Looney Tunes cartoon director suited Lewis' brand of humor. After starring in The Sad Sack (1957), Lewis made more films with Tashlin starting with Rock-A-Bye Baby (1958) and The Geisha Boy (1958).

Lewis kept a low political profile for many years, having taken advice reportedly given to him by President John F. Kennedy, who told him "Don't get into anything political. Don't do that because they will usurp your energy". Nevertheless, he campaigned and performed on behalf of both JFK and Robert F. Kennedy. Lewis was a supporter of the Civil Rights Movement. For his 1957 NBC special, Lewis held his ground when southern affiliates objected to his stated friendship with Sammy Davis Jr. In a 1971 Movie Mirror magazine article, Lewis came out against the Vietnam War, when his son Gary returned from service traumatized. He vowed to leave the country rather than send another of his sons.

After their partnership ended with their final nightclub act on July 24, 1956, both Martin and Lewis went on to highly successful solo careers and neither would comment on the split nor consider a reunion. However, they would occasionally be seen at the same public events, though never together. On two occasions, Martin invited Lewis on stage, in 1958 and 1961, but the split was too serious for them to reconcile. Sinatra surprised Lewis by bringing Martin on stage on the MDA telethon in September 1976 and in 1989, Lewis attended Martin's 72nd birthday.

After his partnership with Martin ended in 1956, Lewis and his wife Patty took a vacation in Las Vegas to consider the direction of his career. He felt his life was in a crisis state: "I was unable to put one foot in front of the other with any confidence. I was completely unnerved to be alone". While there, he received an urgent request from his friend Sid Luft, who was Judy Garland's husband and manager, saying that she couldn't perform that night in Las Vegas because of strep throat, and asking Lewis to fill in.

Having proven he could sing and do live shows, he began performing regularly at the Sands Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, beginning in late 1956, which marked a turning point in his life and career. The Sands signed him for five years, to perform six weeks each year and paid him the same amount they had paid Martin and Lewis as a team. The critics gave him positive reviews: "Jerry was wonderful. He has proved that he can be a success by himself," wrote one. He continued with club performances in Miami, New York, Chicago and Washington.

In 1956, Lewis was named national chairman of the Muscular Dystrophy Association, then in late 1966, the live annual Labor Day event of The Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon (also referred to as Jerry Lewis Extra Special Special, Jerry Lewis Super Show and Jerry Lewis Stars Across America) debuted in syndication and would air each year. The first show aired on one TV station, New York-based WNEW.

Their films were reliable financial successes for Paramount and hugely popular with audiences, in later years, both Lewis and Martin admitted frustration, and were critical of Wallis for his formulaic and trite film choices, restricting them to narrow, repetitive roles. As Martin's roles in their films became less important over time and Lewis receiving the majority of critical acclaim, the partnership came under strain. Martin's participation became an embarrassment in 1954 when Look magazine published a publicity photo of the team for the magazine cover but cropped Martin out.

In 1952, Martin and Lewis appeared on Bing Crosby and Bob Hope's Olympic Fund Telethon, cameoed in their film Road to Bali (1952) and then Hope and Crosby would do the same thing in Lewis and Martin's Scared Stiff a year later. Attesting to the duo's popularity, DC Comics published The Adventures of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis from 1952 to 1957. In 1954, the team appeared on episode 191 of What's My Line? as mystery guests, appeared on the 27th annual Academy Awards in 1955 and appeared on The Steve Allen Show and The Today Show in 1956.

Between 1952 and 1971, DC Comics published a 124-issues comic book series with Lewis as one (later, the only) main protagonist, titled The Adventures of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. In The Simpsons, the character of Professor Frink is based on Lewis' Julius Kelp from The Nutty Professor. In Family Guy, Peter recreates Lewis' 'Chairman of the Board' scene from The Errand Boy. Comedian, actor and friend of Lewis, Martin Short satirized him on the series SCTV in the sketches "The Nutty Lab Assistant", "Martin Scorsese presents Jerry Lewis Live on the Champs Elysees!", "The Tender Fella", and "Scenes From an Idiots Marriage", as well as on Saturday Night Live' s "Celebrity Jeopardy!".

Martin and Lewis often broke character, ad-libbing and breaking the fourth wall. While not completely capturing the orchestrated mayhem of their nightclub act, the Comedy Hour displayed charismatic energy between the team and established their popularity nationwide. By 1951, with an appearance at the Paramount Theater, they were a cultural phenomenon, attracting crowds rivaled only by Frank Sinatra earlier and later by Elvis Presley and The Beatles. The duo began their film careers at Paramount Pictures as ensemble players, in a 1949 film adaptation of the radio series My Friend Irma and its sequel My Friend Irma Goes West (1950).

In addition to his years as an entertainer and filmmaker, Lewis was also a world-renowned humanitarian, philanthropist and "number one volunteer" who supported fundraising for research into muscular dystrophy. In 1951, Lewis and Martin made their first appeal for the Muscular Dystrophy Association (formerly the Muscular Dystrophy Associations of America) in early December during the finale of The Colgate Comedy Hour. In 1952, after another appeal, Lewis hosted New York area telethons until 1959 and in 1954, fought Rocky Marciano in a boxing bout for MDA's fund drive.

In 1950, Martin and Lewis signed with NBC to be one of a series of weekly rotating hosts of The Colgate Comedy Hour, a live Sunday evening broadcast. Lewis, writer for the team's nightclub act, hired Norman Lear and Ed Simmons as regular writers for their Comedy Hour material. Their Comedy Hour shows consisted of stand-up dialogue, song and dance from their nightclub act and movies, backed by Dick Stabile's big band, slapstick and satirical sketch comedy, Martin's solo songs, and Lewis' solo pantomimes or physical numbers.

Soon after, Martin and Lewis starred in their own vehicles in 14 new movies, At War with the Army (1950), That's My Boy (1951), Sailor Beware (1952), Jumping Jacks (1952), The Stooge (1952), Scared Stiff (1953), The Caddy (1953), Money from Home (1953), Living It Up (1954), 3 Ring Circus (1954), You're Never Too Young (1955), Artists and Models (1955), Pardners (1956) and Hollywood or Bust (1956), all produced by Hal B. Wallis.

Lewis opened a camera shop in 1950, then in 1969, Lewis agreed to lend his name to "Jerry Lewis Cinemas", offered by National Cinema Corporation as a franchise business opportunity for those interested in theatrical movie exhibition. Jerry Lewis Cinemas stated that their theaters could be operated by a staff of as few as two with the aid of automation and support provided by the franchiser in booking film and other aspects of film exhibition. A forerunner of the smaller rooms typical of later multi-screen complexes, a Jerry Lewis Cinema was billed in franchising ads as a "mini-theatre" with a seating capacity of between 200 and 350.

After forming in 1946, they quickly rose to national prominence, first with their popular nightclub act, then as stars of their NBC radio program The Martin and Lewis Show. The two made appearances on early live television on their June 20, 1948 debut broadcast on Toast of the Town (later renamed as The Ed Sullivan Show on September 25, 1955) on CBS. This was followed by a guest stint on The Milton Berle Show, then their appearance on NBC's Welcome Aboard on October 3, 1948.

But these were not Lewis's first foray into recording, nor his first appearance on the hit charts. During his partnership with Martin, they made several recordings together, charting at #22 in 1948 with the 1920s chestnut That Certain Party and later mostly re-recording songs highlighted in their films. Also during the time of their partnership, but without Martin, he recorded numerous novelty-comedy numbers for adults as well as records specifically intended for the children's market.

Lewis wed Patti Palmer (later Lewis, née Esther Grace Calonico; born 1922), an Italian American singer with Ted Fio Rito, on October 3, 1944, and the two had six children together--five biological: Gary Levitch (later Lewis) (born 1946); Scott (born 1956); Christopher (born 1957); Anthony (born 1959); and Joseph (1964–2009)--and one adopted, Ronald (born 1949). It was an Interfaith marriage; Lewis was Jewish and Palmer was Catholic. Palmer filed for divorce from Lewis in 1980, after 35 years of marriage, citing Lewis' extravagant spending and infidelity on his part, and it was finalized in 1983. All of Lewis' children and grandchildren from his marriage to Palmer were excluded from inheriting any part of his estate. While married to Palmer, Lewis openly pursued relationships with other women and gave unapologetic interviews about his infidelity, revealing his affairs with Marilyn Monroe and Marlene Dietrich to People in 2011. His eldest son, Gary, publicly called his father a "mean and evil person" and said that Lewis never showed him or his siblings any love or care.

Jerry Lewis (born Joseph Levitch; March 16, 1926 – August 20, 2017) was an American comedian, actor, singer, filmmaker, and humanitarian, dubbed "The King of Comedy" and "The Total Filmmaker". He gained his career breakthrough with singer Dean Martin, becoming Martin & Lewis in 1946 and would perform together for ten years until their acrimonious breakup in 1956.

Lewis was born on March 16, 1926 in Newark, New Jersey to Daniel "Danny" Levitch (1902–1980), a master of ceremonies and vaudevillian who performed under the stage name Danny Lewis, from New York whose parents immigrated to the United States from the Russian Empire, and Rachael "Rae" Levitch (née Brodsky; 1903–1983), a WOR pianist and Danny's music director, from Warsaw. Reports as to his birth name are conflicting; in Lewis' 1982 autobiography, he claimed his birth name was Joseph, after his maternal grandfather, but his birth certificate, the 1930 U. S. Census, and the 1940 U. S. Census all name him as Jerome.