Many remember the Adventures of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis comic books published by DC Comics from 1952 to 1957, and the later series of The Adventures of Jerry Lewis that continued until 1971. The career of Jerry Lewis has reached almost the status of an American folk hero, but his commitment to the society has never wavered. Jerry Lewis is a man who in his career has battled with two heart attacks, pneumonia, pulmonary fibrosis, diabetes, and prostate cancer. He has continued to hold an annual 21-hour long television show called the telethon to help patients of muscular dystrophy. At
the age of eighty-four years, even this year, Jerry Lewis and his telethon managed to raise $59 million for patients of muscular dystrophy.
Jerry Lewis is internationally viewed as a man who is proficient with all aspects of his art. An outstanding comedian, actor, and film director, he has taught film direction in classes that included students like Steven Spielberg and George Lucas. Jerry Lewis's career has been the subject of books and films and is as outstanding as his person. Born to a vaudeville entertainer and piano player, Jerry Lewis started his performing career by the age of five and by fifteen, he had already become an adept.
Jerry Lewis's career truly took off when he partnered with Dean Martin, the singer, forming the famous Martin and Lewis comedy team. The team quickly became nationally popular in the forties, first at their nightclub programs and then through their own radio show. Jerry Lewis enjoyed the career of one of the early stars of television and was the star host of the immensely popular Colgate Comedy Hour in 1950.
Jerry Lewis's career took a sharp upward turn when Paramount Pictures signed on the Martin and Lewis team for a string of hit comedy films. Later, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis split to have solo careers. After the team split, Jerry Lewis continued his career at Paramount and became a major solo comedy star. Jerry Lewis is taken to have pioneered the concept of ''video assist'' in the motion picture industry, when in his film Bellboy, he first used the concept of using video cameras and closed circuit monitors to review his performance on the go.
There are few people in America who can boast of as many awards as Jerry Lewis has in his career. In 1952, Jerry Lewis won his first awards that included the Golden Apple Award for the Most Cooperative Actor and the special Photoplay Award. He was also a nominee for the Best Comedian in 1952. In 1965, Jerry Lewis won the Golden Laurel as Family Comedy King. In 1977, Jerry Lewis was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for his Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon through which he had by then raised more than $95 million for patients of muscular dystrophy.
Jerry Lewis is loved internationally and in 1983 he won the British Academy Film Awards as Best Actor in a Supporting Role. In March 2006, he was awarded the Legion d'honneur by France. Other major awards in the Jerry Lewis's career include Primetime Emmy Awards, Lifetime Achievement - American Comedy Awards, induction into the New Jersey Hall of Fame and Career Achievement Award by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association.
Jerry Lewis and his telethon set an example of humanitarianism that brought him the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the 81st Academy Awards and the Chapman University awarded him an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters during the 2010 MDA Telethon. At the age of eighty four, Jerry Lewis, both through his career and his MDA Telethon, remains an inspiration to other artists.
