Jack Lemmon ham, a fine ham, and with ham you have to trim a little fat." The biography quotes Lemmon as saying, "I am particularly susceptible to the parts I play... If my character was having a nervous breakdown, I started to have one." He enjoyed longtime working relationships with both Blake Edwards, starring in "Days of Wine and Roses" (1962), "The Great Race" (1965) and "That's Life!" (1986), and Richard Quine, starring in "My Sister Eileen", "Operation Mad Ball", "Bell, Book and Candle", "It Happened to Jane", and "How to Murder Your Wife". Quine also directed Lemmon's screen test when the
The Wackiest Ship in the Army (film) ship and the Army, puzzling some viewers. (The later TV series spelled out the link.) The director and writer of the film was Richard Murphy, who had written the script for the 1951 film "You're in the Navy Now". The film was originally developed for Ernie Kovacs in the lead role, with Lemmon as the ensign. But at production time Kovacs was unavailable, and Lemmon was considered too old-looking for an ensign. So Lemmon got the lead role and popular actor/singer Ricky Nelson the supporting role. Though acquired before "Operation Petticoat", this film was not released until after that film.