Actor, screenwriter, producer, director. Born John Joseph Nicholson, on April 22, 1937, in Neptune, New Jersey. After graduating from high school in New Jersey at age 17, Nicholson moved to Los Angeles, where he got a job as an office boy at the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) film studio. He made his film debut in the 1958 thriller The Cry Baby Killer, produced by cult filmmaker Roger Corman.
Over the next decade, Nicholson would appear in a string of low-budget B-movies, ranging from horror films (1960's The Little Shop of Horrors, 1963's The Raven, and 1963's The Terror, all directed by Corman) to Westerns (1966’s The Shooting). He also began a short-lived screenwriting career, penning the scripts for the political thriller Thunder Island (1963) as well as two of his starring features, including Ride the Whirlwind (1966) and Flight to Fury. In 1968, he co-wrote and co-produced (with Bob Rafelson) Head, a comedic fantasy romp starring the boyish pop band The Monkees.
During the 1970s, Nicholson attained A-list status in Hollywood, making a number of very different films and continuing to elude definition with an array of complex performances. In 1971, he appeared opposite Candice Bergen in the Mike Nichols-directed drama Carnal Knowledge; he also starred in Rafelson’s crime drama The King of Marvin Gardens (1972) and earned his second Best Actor Oscar nod for The Last Detail (1973). His star rose even higher in 1974 with his starring role as Los Angeles private detective Jake Gittes in Roman Polanski’s acclaimed film noir Chinatown, written by Robert Towne and co-starring Faye Dunaway and John Huston. The film netted Nicholson his third nomination for Best Actor and elevated him from an acclaimed cult favorite to one of America’s most well-known actors.
By that time, Nicholson had begun a romantic relationship with Huston’s daughter, Anjelica, an actress and the third generation of a famous Hollywood family. They soon become one of the most prominent couples in Hollywood, endlessly scrutinized by the media and seen as the perfect blend of class, talent, and cool.
Nicholson finally took home Oscar gold in 1975 for his portrayal of mental patient Randle McMurphy in Milos Forman’s acclaimed drama One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. In addition to Nicholson’s Best Actor statue, the film scored four other major awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress (Louise Fletcher), and Best Adapted Screenplay. The film marked the high point of Nicholson’s career during the 1970s.
He went on to make several poorly received films in the latter half of the decade, including the 1976 Western The Missouri Breaks, co-starring Marlon Brando, and a film adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s final novel, The Last Tycoon (1976), starring Robert De Niro.
Other films included Heartburn, also with Streep, and Broadcast News, starring Albert Brooks, William Hurt, and Holly Hunter.
The next year, Nicholson had considerably less success with The Two Jakes, a sequel to Chinatown that he produced, directed, and starred in alongside Harvey Keitel and Meg Tilly.
Aside from his impressive acting career, Nicholson has also made headlines for the goings-on in his personal life. In 1974, after researching a cover story on the actor for Time, a reporter informed Nicholson that the woman he had thought was his mother (the late Ethel May Nicholson) was actually his grandmother. His mother, June Nicholson, was the person he had known as his older sister; she had died of cervical cancer in the early 1960s, at the age of 43.