Jerry Lewis

American comedian, actor and film director (1926–2017)

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Comedians rank#122
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Lived 1926–2017, aged 91United States

United States ComediansComedian

Wikipedia
78 languages
Cross-language footprint
Era
1926–2017
Aged 91
Known for
The Nutty Professor
1996

Summary

Updated 2026-06-21

He made slapstick an art form and stretched a single ten-year partnership with Dean Martin into five decades of solo dominance — then spent another four raising $2.45 billion on live TV, one Labor Day at a time.

Biography

About

Born Jerome Levitch in March 1926, he paired with singer Dean Martin in 1946 and the duo became Martin and Lewis, a juggernaut that produced sixteen films, a Colgate Comedy Hour run, and live performances that defined buddy comedy before they split in 1956. Lewis pivoted to solo filmmaking and acting, appearing in thirty-five pictures through 1984 while guest-hosting The Tonight Show a record fifty-two times and fronting his own series. From 1966 forward, as national chairman of the Muscular Dystrophy Association, he turned the annual Labor Day telethon into an institution, pulling in nearly t…

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