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
The Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon attained. Many criticisms arose against Jerry Lewis himself, and his negative impressions of disability. Activists argued that Lewis tended to only value disabled children as "poster children," yet ignoring those same "poster children" as they grow up and need genuine help rather than pity. In his 1990 essay "If I Had Muscular Dystrophy" in "Parade" (which had a longtime yearly feature about the telethon with the MDA and Lewis' cooperation), Jerry Lewis imagines himself as an adult with MD. He writes, "I decided after 41 years of battling this curse that cripples children of all ages, that I would put