Editing Jack Lemmon (section)

=== 1959–1969: Breakthrough and stardom ===
[[File:Some Like It Hot (Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon).jpg|thumb|left|[[Tony Curtis]] and Lemmon in ''[[Some Like It Hot]]'' (1959)]]
Lemmon worked with director [[Billy Wilder]] on seven films. Their association began with the gender-bending comedy ''[[Some Like It Hot]]'' (1959), with [[Tony Curtis]] and [[Marilyn Monroe]].<ref name="Bernstein">{{cite news|last=Bernstein|first=Adam|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/2001/06/29/actor-jack-lemmon-dies-at-76/60532edb-0664-4441-8674-9cdd44d39f95/|title=Actor Jack Lemmon Dies at 76|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=June 29, 2001|access-date=April 5, 2019}}</ref> His role required him to perform 80% of the role in drag. People who knew his mother, Millie Lemmon, said he had mimicked her personality and even her hairstyle.<ref name="NYT1981" /> Critic [[Pauline Kael]] said he was "demonically funny" in the part.<ref name="Harmetz" /> 

After his success with ''Some Like It Hot'', and with his exclusive contract to Columbia Pictures expiring, Lemmon was finally free to form his own independent film production company in early 1960, Jalem Productions.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1960-03-26 |title=Press-Telegram from Long Beach, California |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/705315446/ |access-date=2025-02-15 |website=Newspapers.com |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=1960-03-23 |title=Los Angeles Evening Citizen News from Hollywood, California |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/684107280/ |access-date=2025-02-15 |website=Newspapers.com |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=1963-11-05 |title=The Philadelphia Inquirer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/179208338/ |access-date=2025-02-15 |website=Newspapers.com |language=en-US}}</ref> Lemmon later joked about the banality of the company's name being made up of the first letters of his names, admitting that he could not find another name that he both liked and was also available to use.<ref name=":0" /> Lemmon was president and director of the company, his father was vice-president and co-director, and William Freedman was secretary-treasurer.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Boxoffice |url=https://archive.org/details/boxofficeoctdec180boxo |title=Boxoffice (Oct-Dec 1961) |last2=Boxoffice |date=1961 |publisher=New York, Boxoffice |others=Media History Digital Library}}</ref> The first production through Jalem was the stage play [[Face of a Hero|''Face of a Hero'']], starring Lemmon and directed by [[Alexander Mackendrick]] and was presented in October–November 1960.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/motionpicturedai87unse |title=Motion picture daily |date=1960 |publisher=New York [Motion picture daily, inc.] |others=MBRS Library of Congress}}</ref> In August 1964, Lemmon appointed producer [[Gordon Carroll]] vice president of Jalem Productions.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1964-08-15 |title=Los Angeles Evening Citizen News from Hollywood, California |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/684512033/ |access-date=2025-02-15 |website=Newspapers.com |language=en-US}}</ref>

The sequence of films with Wilder continued with ''[[The Apartment]]'' (1960) alongside [[Shirley MacLaine]]. The film received mixed reviews from critics at the time, although it has been re-evaluated as a classic today. It received 11 nominations, winning five [[Academy Award]]s for [[Academy Award for Best Picture|Best Picture]] and [[Academy Award for Best Director|Best Director]]. Lemmon received [[Academy Award|Oscar]] nominations for his performances in ''Some Like it Hot'' and ''The Apartment''. He reunited with MacLaine in ''[[Irma la Douce]]'' (1963). MacLaine, observing the director's relationship with his male lead, believed it amounted to "professional infatuation".<ref name="Harmetz" />

Lemmon's first role in a film directed by [[Blake Edwards]] was in ''[[Days of Wine and Roses (film)|Days of Wine and Roses]]'' (1962) portraying Joe Clay, a young alcoholic businessman. The role, for which he was nominated for the [[Academy Award for Best Actor|Best Actor Oscar]], was one of Lemmon's favorites. By this time, he had appeared in 15 comedies, a Western and an adventure film. "The movie people put a label attached to your big toe — 'light comedy' — and that's the only way they think of you", he commented in an interview during 1984. "I knew damn well I could play drama. Things changed following ''Days of Wine and Roses''. That was as important a film as I've ever done."<ref name="Harmetz" /> ''Days of Wine and Roses'' was the first film where Lemmon was involved with production of the film via his Jalem production company.<ref>{{Cite web | last = Stang|first = Joanne| url = https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/packages/html/movies/bestpictures/apartment-ar3.html |title = Jack Lemmon: They Loved Him in Moscow |work = The New York Times | date = August 29, 1965 | access-date = April 6, 2019}}</ref> Lemmon's association with Edwards continued with ''[[The Great Race]]'' (1965), which reunited him with Tony Curtis. His salary this time was $1&nbsp;million, but the film did not return its large budget at the box office.<ref>Shipman, p. 320-21</ref> ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'', in its December 31, 1964, review, commented: "never has there been a villain so dastardly as Jack Lemmon".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://variety.com/1964/film/reviews/the-great-race-1200420760/|title=The Great Race|work=Variety|date=December 31, 1964|access-date=December 31, 2020}}</ref>

[[File:The apartment trailer 1.JPG|thumb|Lemmon and MacLaine in ''[[The Apartment]]'' (1960)]]
In 1966, Lemmon began the first of his many collaborations with actor [[Walter Matthau]] in ''[[The Fortune Cookie]]''. The film has been described by the British film critic [[Philip French]] as their "one truly great film".<ref name="French">{{cite news|last=French|first=Philip|url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2001/jul/01/features.philipfrench|title=The nicest actor on the lot|work=The Observer|date=July 1, 2001|access-date=April 2, 2019}}</ref> Matthau went on to win an Academy Award for his performance in the film. Another nine films with them co-starring eventually followed, including ''[[The Odd Couple (film)|The Odd Couple]]'' (1968), ''[[The Front Page (1974 film)|The Front Page]]'' (1974), and ''[[Buddy Buddy]]'' (1981).<ref name="Krikorian">{{cite news|last=Krikorian|first=Greg|url=https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-jack-lemmon-20010629-story.html|title=Jack Lemmon, Everyman Star, Dies|work=Los Angeles Times|date=June 29, 2001|access-date=April 1, 2019}}</ref> In 1967, Lemmon's production company Jalem produced the film ''[[Cool Hand Luke]]'', which starred [[Paul Newman]] in the lead role.<ref name="Baxter" /> The film was a box-office and critical success. Newman, in gratitude, offered him the role of the Sundance Kid in ''[[Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid]]'', but Lemmon turned it down.<ref>''A slice of Lemmon for extra character'', Bob Flynn, Panorama, p. 7, Canberra Times, August 15, 1998</ref> The best-known Lemmon-Matthau film is ''The Odd Couple'' (1968), based on the [[Neil Simon]] play, with the lead characters being the mismatched Felix Unger (Lemmon) and Oscar Madison (Matthau), respectively neurotical and cynical.<ref name="Gatward">{{cite web|last=Gatward|first=Hannah|url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/lists/jack-lemmon-10-essential-films|title=Jack Lemmon: 10 essential films|work=BFI Film Forever|date=February 8, 2018|access-date=April 5, 2019}}</ref>