Big trouble in our Life

Between 1961 and 1963, Nicholson starred primarily in television series and television films, including Sea Hunt (English) Russian, Bronco and Hawaiian Eye (English) Russian. In 1963, director Roger Corman, who had previously worked with Jack in the films Cry-Baby Killer and Little Shop of Horrors, invited him to a minor role in the comedy horror The Crow. Jack's character is Rexford Bedloe, the son of Adolphus Bedloe, a member of the Brotherhood of Magicians, played by Peter Lorre.

The film was shot in a record two days on a budget of $27,000, and Nicholson himself said: “I went to the set knowing that I had to be extremely bizarre, since Roger at first did not want to take me for this role at all. In other words, I couldn't play it the way it was in the script, so I did a lot of weird s**t that I thought was supposed to be funny." Upon arriving at the set, Jack was informed that he would be playing alongside an old friend, John Shaner. When both arrived on set, Corman gave Nicholson the last six pages of the script and Shaner the first. The director tore the rest of the pages into two halves, giving one to Jack and the other to Shaner. "That's all. That's all we know about the film. I didn't even know what it was called. I had to persuade Shaner to read half of his pages,” Nicholson admitted

Charles B. Griffith, Little Shop of Horrors writer
Little Shop of Horrors is the name Roger Corman has given to his new film, an adaptation of Arthur C. Clarke's sci-fi short story The Shrew Orchid, about a botanist who discovers a new species of carnivorous orchid and feeds it to his arrogant aunt. According to other sources, the screenplay for the film was based on John Collier's short story "Green Thoughts

Popular in drive-in theaters and foreign countries, "Too Late for Love" took another place in Nicholson's filmography, but his first real success was in "Shop of Horrors" [28].

"Shop of Horrors"

Jack Nicholson as Wilbur Force
Jack did everything exactly as it was written in the script, but added his own juicy facial expressions and gestures. Roger rarely gave directing direction. He believed the actors were experts at it. Luckily, in Jack's case, that was the case.

After playing the role of rebellious racing driver Johnny Varron in Harvey Berman's drama The Wild Race, Nicholson began work on Richard Rush's low-budget independent film Too Late for Love, in which he was cast as the villain Buddy. “It was an exploitation film with a budget of around $50,000. We sold it to Universal for 250,000, and it was a hit at the very magical time when the critics invented the New Wave,” Rush said. According to the director, the film was the first invention of the "new wave", and in Europe the picture was called "Honeymoon in High School" and "Teen Lovers" due to the fact that it showed then forbidden things, like teenage pregnancy[ 28]. It is noteworthy that in writing the script, Rush was assisted by the then unknown Francis Ford Coppola, who, as Rush said, had more youthful spirit than discipline

In 1955, Nicholson was determined to become an actor after watching East of Eden, On the Waterfront, and The Man with the Golden Arm, which starred James Dean, Marlon Brando, and Frank Sinatra, respectively. It was these actors who most influenced the young Jack, but Brando impressed him the most: “I watched On the Waterfront twice a night and could not take my eyes off this guy. He was mesmerizing,” Nicholson said. It was the same with Sinatra, who hypnotized Nicholson in The Man with the Golden Arm and instilled in him a lifelong craving for hats, an invariable attribute of his wardrobe. Realizing that he would not immediately become an actor, Jack got a job in the animation department of MGM (English) Russian.[18]. Management paid him $30 a week, which was not enough for him: “I did everything. He delivered milk, created, pierced and stacked paper, made sure that the animators were happy with its entire supply, ”said Nicholson

Nicholson's teachers disagreed when it came to him: Latin teacher Ruth Walsh sat Jack straight in front of her just because he looked like a troublemaker, and English teacher Miss Belting never got along with him until the end life told a new generation of Manasquan students that "Nicholson had a big mouth and he still is" [15]. Three times Nicholson was "caught in the act": during swearing, smoking and vandalism (destroyed the sign of a competing school)[15]. Jack was also loved by his peers: for bringing fantasy into the life of the school, they called Nicholson "the best high school actor" [15]. Jack also took part in the theatrical productions of the school: his role in the play "Out of the Frying Pan" was almost episodic, but caused applause[15]. Even more successful was the role of Hannibal in the play based on the play by John Patrick's "Weird Mrs. Savage", which brought him the title of "Best High School Actor"

During his school years, Nicholson was actively involved in baseball, but when he was offered to become responsible for the equipment of the school football team, he gladly accepted [17]. A few months later, Jack replaced football with basketball, which became his favorite sport. In addition to personal sports, Nicholson became a reporter for the school newspaper The Blue and Gray, where he wrote about the achievements of school sports teams. The book Treasure Chest, published by the school authorities, described Nicholson as "a cheerful and good-natured person" and "an enthusiastic writer"

When Jack was ready for high school, the family moved once more, this time to Spring Lake, where Ethel opened her own beauty parlor at 505 Mercer Avenue[14] . Later, Jack admitted that his grandmother's income reached the mark of 5 thousand dollars a year[14]. Ethel searched for a school for her grandson for a long time and found it in the nearest area: Manasquan High School seemed quite suitable for her [14]. In 1950, Nicholson was successfully accepted into this educational institution, where the teenager soon got the nickname "Fat Man" (eng. Chubs) due to the excess weight that he suffered from the age of four [14]. In the next ten years, Jack responded to ridicule with his fists, he simply stopped the sarcasm with fights [17]. It was not until reaching five feet and nine inches that his classmates changed their offensive nickname, replacing it with an abbreviation of Jack's last name - "Nick"

In 1945, Ethel's business was booming, and the whole family moved from a one-story bungalow on Neptune Sixth Street to a two-story house in the working part of the city [14]. Every morning, eight-year-old Jack had to walk seven blocks from his new residence at 2 Steiner Avenue to Theodore Roosevelt School, where he studied[14]. It was there that Nicholson was first involved in a theatrical production, performing the jazz song Managua, Nicaragua (English) Russian

.I grew up in a family of women, so I was not repressed by the male. They always encouraged me and said, "We don't care what you do, just make sure you don't lie to us and tell us where you are." And if they did not want me to go to such and such a place, they let me know about it.

— In an interview with film critic David Thomson, 1997[10]
Two years later, June met musician Don Rose (born Furcillo), the son of a barber, who sang in a large band. On October 16, 1936, they were married in Elkton, Maryland[11]. In early 1937, Nicholson disappeared from Neptune without telling anyone where she had gone[12]. There were rumors that she went to stay with a cousin in New York, and they were confirmed when one of June's friends received a letter sent from a New York address [12]. In April, June Nicholson gave birth to a boy, John, but no children named Nicholson, King, Rose, Kirschfeld, or Furchillo were recorded in the city register of births, deaths, or marriages.[12] This was due to the fact that when mentioned in the magazine, the surname "Nilson" (June's stage name) was confused, which was recorded as "Wilson" [12].

Jack Nicholson's mother was dancer and singer June Francis Nicholson (1918-1963; stage name June Nilson)[7][8]. Leaving school in 1934 to start her professional career, June came to grips with work at a local radio station, where she hosted the Saturday morning show Eddie King and His Radio Kids. She was assisted by her future lover, musician Eddie King, a Jew by birth (name at birth - Edgar Alfred Kirshfeld), who illegally immigrated to the United States from Latvia in 1925[9]. During the time spent in a foreign country, King rose high up the career ladder and changed several professions: from the leader of an underground musical group to a dance instructor [9]. In the early 1930s, King opened his own dance studio at 702 Cookman Avenue, where he met June Nicholson, who was one of his first student

Jack, like his peers, was a member of the last generation who grew up without the influence of television[6]. Ethel's grandmother was one of the first people in the area to buy a TV, but by this time Jack was already a teenager and was more interested in jazz fusion and jukeboxes.

He was born on April 22, 1937 in New York, at St. Vincent Catholic Medical Center (English) Russian [4]. Various sources contain conflicting information about the place of birth of the actor: for example, in his official biography, the house on Sixth Street in the city of Neptune, New Jersey is indicated as the place of birth, but it is more likely that Nicholson was born in New York [5]. There is also no exact data on the date of Jack's birth: when the boy was baptized in the Church of the Ascension near Bradley Beach in 1943, the family told the priest that he was born in 1938

John Joseph (Jack) Nicholson (eng. John Joseph "Jack" Nicholson, born April 22, 1937, Neptune, New Jersey, USA) is an American actor, film director, screenwriter and producer.
Nicholson is considered one of the greatest actors in film history. He was nominated for an Oscar a record 12 times, winning three times[1]. He is also one of only two actors (along with Sir Michael Caine)[2] to be nominated for an Oscar for best performance (lead or supporting role) in four different decades: 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and 2000. -s years. In 1994, at the age of 57, he became one of the youngest actors to receive the American Film Institute's Lifetime Achievement Award. Jack Nicholson has also won numerous other awards, including a BAFTA, seven Golden Globes, six National Board of Film Critics Awards, and a Screen Actors Guild Award.