Jerry Lewis Jerry Lewis Joseph Levitch (March 16, 1926 – August 20, 2017), known worldwide as Jerry Lewis, was an American comedian, director, actor, producer, singer, screenwriter and humanitarian, whose career spanned eight decades and was nicknamed "The King of Comedy". He was known for his partnership with Dean Martin as the groundbreaking act of Martin and Lewis. Lewis went on to star in, write, produce and direct many motion pictures, such as "The Delicate Delinquent", "The Sad Sack", "Rock-A-Bye Baby", "The Geisha Boy", "Don't Give Up The Ship", "Visit to a Small Planet", "Cinderfella", "The Bellboy", "The Ladies' Man", "The Errand
Jerry Lewis "He was kind and loving and patient and limitlessly generous with his genius. He was unbelievably complicated and shockingly self-aware." Actor and comedian Jeffrey Tambor wrote after Lewis' death, "You invented the whole thing. Thank you doesn't even get close." There have been numerous retrospectives of Lewis' films in the U.S. and abroad, most notably "Jerry Lewis: A Film and Television Retrospective" at Museum of the Moving Image, the 2013 Viennale, the 2016 Melbourne International Film Festival, "The Innovator: Jerry Lewis at Paramount", at American Cinematheque in Los Angeles, and "Happy Birthday Mr. Lewis: The Kid Turns 90", at MOMA.