Jack!
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tunbridge wells
words Dan Smith
here’s WE’RE TOLD THAT “ALL WORK AND NO PLAY MAKES JACK A DULL BOY”, WHICH IS PERHAPS THE REASON WE HAVEN’T SEEN THIS HOLLYWOOD ICON AROUND FOR A WHILE… BUT THEN AGAIN, 50 YEARS IS A LONG TIME AT THE TOP.
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ere’s a man who needs little introduction. At 72 and with three Oscars under his belt, he’s still a true original, from his unmistakably disconcerting shark-like grin, to his trademark angular eyebrows – they broke the mould when it comes to Jack Nicholson. As one of the last Hollywood greats, here we reflect on his career and find out about the man behind some of the largest fictional personalities ever to appear on film. Looking back, Jack’s been convincingly neurotic and chilling in countless roles. To name but a few, there was Randle McMurphy in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975), the ever-terrifying Jack Torrance in The Shining (1980) and the unforgettable Colonel Jessep in A Few Good Men (1992). But are these characters elaborate and fantastic constructions, or chilling reflections of Jack’s true and rather dark personality? Onscreen he shouts, screams and laughs like few others, but even when appearing as himself, Jack is as enigmatic and alluring as some of his best creations, almost putting on an act. So the question prevails, who is the real Jack Nicholson?
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He’s keeping his cards close to his chest: “I don’t want people to know what I’m actually like. It’s not good for an actor.” But we can take some things for granted. We know he’s not always a particularly agreeable chap; he’s often outspoken and frequently controversial, but it’s this demeanour and charisma that helps Jack as an actor. His presence has kept him at the fore of film-making for half a century and seen him make hundreds of millions of dollars along the way, not to mention being linked with literally hundreds of women. Jack was married to Sandra Knight for six years in the 1960s but since then has been unable to resist playing away from home. Even during a 16-year relationship with Anjelica Huston, he admitted to cheating and as recently as his late 60s he was dating women more than three decades younger than him, like the actress Lara Flynn Boyle. The problem for Jack, it seems, is that one woman never satisfies: “Women are never enough for me. There were days when I used to go to bed with four or more. But none of them can take away my freedom. Until the end of