Jack Lemmon Movies

Jack Lemmon in 1955's classic movie...Mister Roberts
Jack Lemmon in 1955’s classic movie…Mister Roberts

Want to know the best Jack Lemmon movies?  How about the worst Jack Lemmon movies?  Curious about Jack Lemmon’s box office grosses or which Jack Lemmon movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Jack Lemmon movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences and which got the worst reviews? Well you have come to the right place….because we have all of that information.

John Uhler “Jack” Lemmon III (February 8, 1925 – June 27, 2001) was a two Academy Award® winning actor. Lemmon’s film debut was a uncredited bit part in the 1949 film The Lady Takes a Sailor but he was not noticed until his official debut in 1954’s It Should Happen To You.

Over the next 45 years, Lemmon would appear in numerous classic movies. Movies like Mister Roberts, Some Like It Hot, The Apartment, Day of Wine and Roses, The Great Race and The China Syndrome. Jack Lemmon received 8 Oscar® nominations for acting in his career.

He won twice, once as Best Supporting Actor in 1955’s Mister Roberts and once as Best Actor for 1973’s Save The Tiger. Lemmon also received an incredible 16 Golden Globe® nominations for his movie roles. So basically for every three movies Lemmon made, he would receive one nomination…..not a bad ratio.

His IMDb page shows 96 acting credits from 1949-2000. This page will rank 53 Jack Lemmon movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Television shows, shorts, cameos and bit parts were not included in the rankings.

Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon 1959's Some Like It Hot.
Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon 1959’s Some Like It Hot.

Jack Lemmon Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews and awards.

Jack Lemmon Movies Can Be Ranked 6 Ways In This Table

The really cool thing about this table is that it is “user-sortable”. Rank the movies anyway you want.

  • Sort Jack Lemmon movies by co-stars of his movies
  • Sort Jack Lemmon movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
  • Sort Jack Lemmon movies by yearly domestic box office rank
  • Sort Jack Lemmon movies how they were received by critics and audiences.  60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie
  • Sort by how many Oscar® nominations and how many Oscar® wins each Jack Lemmon movie received.
  • Sort Jack Lemmon movies by Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score.  UMR Score puts box office, reviews and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.
Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau in 1993's Grumpy Old Men
Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau in 1993’s Grumpy Old Men

Possibly Interesting Facts About Jack Lemmon.

1. Jack Lemmon was born in an elevator.

2. His father was the president of a doughnut company.

2. Jack Lemmon graduated from Harvard University in 1947.

3. Lemmon taught himself to play the piano. He appears in numerous movies playing the piano.

4. Lemmon appeared in 7 movies directed by Billy Wilder. From 1959’s Some Like It Hot to 1991’s Buddy Buddy.

5. Lemmon made 12 movies with Walter Matthau. From 1965’s The Fortune Cookie to 1998’s The Odd Couple II. To see all 12 movies….just type in Walter in the search box…and they will all pop up.

6. Other roles Lemmon turned down over the years: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolfe? , All That Jazz, Never So Few, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Hustler.

7. Lemmon was married twice. His son Chris Lemmon, was his first child by his first wife, actress Cynthia Stone. His second wife was the actress Felicia Farr, with whom he had a daughter, Courtney and a step daughter Denise.

8. Lemmon directed one film in his lifetime…1971’s Kotch. Kotch starred his friend Walter Matthau, and earned Matthau an Oscar® nomination for Best Actor.

9. Lemmon passed away about one year after Matthua passed away. His gravestone simply reads “JACK LEMMON in”

10. Check out Jack Lemmon‘s career compared to current and classic actors.  Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.

Academy Award® and Oscar® are the registered trademarks of the Academy of Motion Arts and Sciences.  Golden Globes® are the registered trademark and service mark of the Hollywood Foreign Press. 

If you do a comment….please ignore the email address and website section.

(Visited 19,803 times)

74 thoughts on “Jack Lemmon Movies”

  1. Bruce,

    To start listing my favorites here would be ridiculous. Jack Lemmon is one of the best actors of all times, in that he could take any role and play it impeccably, regardless of the genre. Perhaps, the one that sticks out more in my mind than any other is “Under the Yum Yum Tree”, but only because it was possibly the first I ever saw of his. Another great movie page, sir!

    Reply

    1. Hey rcrumple….I agree with your thinking about the late great Jack Lemmon. He was an actor that could make any movie better just by being in the movie. I have seen a ton of his movies….but Under the Yum Yum Tree is not one of them….I will be adding that one to my list of movies to watch. Thanks for the compliment and the visit.

      Reply

  2. Nice to see this page about an actor who I suspect is largely unknown to today’s younger film fans, which is a shame because he was one of the most distinctive and likeable of actors. I think his forte must have been light comedy, and notably of course in the company of Walter Matthau, with whom he worked well. Interesting to see quite how successful he was in terms of award nominations.

    I must admit I’ve never greatly liked ‘Some Like it Hot’, possibly his most famous movie, but ‘The Appartment’, made about the same time, is certainly one of my favourites, with a good mix of comedy, pathos and sentimentality.

    Thanks for the page Cogerson. It’s nice to see Jack Lemmon receiving this recognition, and hopefully it will encourage a few visitors to check out some of his movies.

    Reply

    1. Hey Greensleeves….I agree sadly many younger people have know idea of the greatness of Jack Lemmon….to them he was only the old guy in the Grumpy Old Men movies. I think the Matthau/Lemmon movies are all pretty good as their screen chemistry is one of the best of all-time. I think my favorite Lemmon movie might actually be Irma La Douce. I actually watched a Jack Lemmon double feature last night…as I watched #23 The Wackiest Ship in the Army and #27 My Sister Eileen. Both were ok at best….but Lemmon was good in both….thanks for stopping by.

      Reply

  3. Gosh, I forgot how good Jack Lemmon was! My favourite of his is probably Some Like It Hot, his personality perfectly suited his role when he is dressed as a woman and the way he played his double bass really makes me laugh. I also like him in Grumpy Old Men, The Apartment, China Syndrome and Mr Roberts. He’s still very watchable when you see him now. Just go to You Tube and watch his clips – imagine having that much enthusiasm every day you turn up for work.

    Reply

    1. Hey Jools99….I agree he was one of a kind…it is sad that he is no longer with us….it seems that I grew up watching his movies. I would put Mr. Roberts, Short Cuts(granted his part was very small), The China Syndrome and Irma La Douce on the top my favorite Lemmon movies…thanks for stopping by.

      Reply

  4. Thanks for stopping by Shaun….I liked the first Grumpy Old Men….Burgess Meredith stole the show.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.