There Was Darkness Behind The Scenes
As with most comedians, they seem to have some darkness in their lives. Most were never privy to what was really going on in Jerry Lewis’ life, since they were always smiling or laughing. Indeed, Lewis had a dark secret, one that was never noticeable under the bright lights of the stage.
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Only his family knew Lewis was harboring this dark secret. After he passed, the glitzy and glamorous facade of his world started to fade and it seeped into the lives of those who were allegedly closest to the famed comedian.
Lewis' Secret Came As A Big Surprise To Fans
Jerry Lewis was a highly skilled entertainer and comedian who created fantastical worlds to captivate his fans. His unique creation of crazy and out-of-this-world scenarios were always a hit with the audience.
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With a public figure, people have to learn to embrace their personality and persona. Lewis proved to everybody with his final act that we have to be careful when making assumptions about these types of people.
He Dealt With Health Problems From A Young Age
Lewis had been dealing with a heart condition for a long time, and it only got worse as time went on. He refused to his condition to stop him from performing and entertaining. He was only 34 years of age when he encountered his first problem with his heart.
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Reportedly, during Lewis’ final hours on his deathbed in 2017, his wife, SanDee Pitnick, and their adopted daughter, Danielle, remained by his side. This happened at their Nevada home and Jerry was 91 years old.
Lewis Was Suffering Inside
Could all of the laughs and happiness that emulated from Lewis’ audience, and all of the joy in his life, been staged? Certainly, this is the information that can be gathered after his passing. The dark aspects of his life have come to light.
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Contrary to what was shown to the public, Lewis’ life was not all it was cracked up to be. Suffering from personal demons that the world never saw, a legal document was uncovered that revealed the way Lewis regarded his children.
Did Jerry Lewis Really Possess A Hidden Dark Side?
Many people feared that the Jerry Lewis they thought they knew was all a facade, specifically after the initial news about the legal document was released. This caused people to wonder if his light and wholesome personality came with a dark side. Even worse, people wondered if he had climbed to the top with a dark secret.
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Could he have been unhappy and unfufilled behind the curtain? Did he have tenuous relations with his family, a total opposite to the image he presented to the world? Some people started to think that his public projection as an entertainer and huminatarian wasn’t rooted in any semblance of truth.
The Backstory Behind Lewis' Upbringing
Surely, Lewis possessed the artistic capacity to keep whatever he wanted to himself. Acting talent, after all, ran in the Lewis family, since he was the son of performers. Lewis’ mother, Rachel Levitch, was a professional pianist, while his father, was an actor.
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Considering Lewis was such a gifted actor, it’s easy to see how he would have masked his pain in front of his audience. He fooled everybody with his charm and impressionable demeanor. People really thought he had a wonderful and ideal personal life.
He Was A Natural Attention Seeker
Lewis frequently ended up in the care of relatives because his father worked at the theater and his mother performed on the radio. Even though he was probably safe under their wing, this instability had a significant effect on him as he went on in his life.
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It isn’t really too much of a shock that a kid like Lewis who was left alone would grow into being an attention seeker. Insecurities and self-doubt plagued him, which served as an elemental catalyst in forming the wacky personality that fans came to love and admire.
Shaping up as an Entertainer
Jerry Lewis lived a lonely childhood inside temporary homes, under the care of provisional guardians, waiting for his parents to return and pick him up. One day, he begged them to let him come along – to travel as a family when they worked.
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While his request was not instantly granted, Lewis found ways to express his latent ability to entertain by organizing mini-shows at school for his friends’ enjoyment. This way, he kept himself positively distracted from the loneliness that seemed to never end.
High School Cheerleader
Jerry’s parents were often on the road, and even with all this work, it was hard for them to keep their family afloat. Life was already hard, and they couldn’t afford to have him come along wherever they went.
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Lewis started to find his comedic and energetic personality at school, and at Irvington High School, he even became a cheerleader. His father finally decided to bring Jerry along when he signed a long-term performance arrangement at the New Jersey Hotel, to Jerry’s delight.
First Duo Performance
To the surprise of his father, Jerry dared to take the stage for a share of the spotlight. Together with the hotel owner’s daughter, he danced before the crowd and lip-synced popular songs. The audience went gaga over them.
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This foretaste of onstage success got little Jerry hooked for more. The positive response from the audience was a drug to his attention-seeking personality. He decided to quit school for show business and changed his name from Joseph Levitch to Jerry Lewis, which was easier to remember.
Dean Martin Collaboration
It was a smart decision for the aspiring comedian to change his name at the outset of his professional career. Though Jerry is pretty similar to Joseph, the switch allowed him to differentiate himself from Joe “The Bronze Bomber” Louis and another comedian by the name of Joe E. Lewis.
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Lewis first met Dean Martin in New York City at the Glass Hat Club, and he was instantly drawn to Martin’s cool persona. Instead of being repelled by their contrasting dynamism, they found themselves pulled together like the missing piece to each other’s puzzle.
A Unique Blend
The two comedians’ contrasting styles quickly set the entertainment industry on fire, lighting up every nightclub in which they performed. The King of Cool had matched up with the Comedy King, and they later became known as Martin and Lewis on a nationwide scale.
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The duo performed at the 500 Club in 1946, but it was in the Copacabana that their partnership really took flight two years later. Hal B. Wallis, a producer of popular Hollywood films such as Casablanca (1942), was one of those who witnessed Martin and Lewis perform there.
Movie Stars
On that fateful night that Wallis first witnessed the comedy duo perform, he saw the potential lurking in their unique partnership and knew he could take them beyond the regular nightclub performances.
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Dean Martin’s manly composure and Jerry Lewis’ wild risibility were destined to bring our movie screens to life, and Wallis was the man to make it happen. Quick to identify talent when he saw it, Hal B. Wallis instantly decided to sign up Martin and Lewis under the umbrella of Paramount Pictures.
Film Debut
Jerry Lewis’ monkeying around and portrayal of an idiotic character highlighted Dean Martin’s relaxed and self-deprecating style. They first publicly appeared on the silver screen together in 1949 in My Friend Irma, which was directed by George Marshall. This comic formula would go on to produce many films in the years to come.
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Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin have come a long way since they first met. A decade since their partnership began in nightclub performances, they ended their professional relationship after the movie Hollywood or Bust.
Beyond Martin and Lewis
Jerry Lewis steadily proved that he was no fluke. He single-handedly proved he had the talent to stand on his own beyond the split with Martin in ‘59. He just knew that his brand of comedy was going to forge on in Hollywood.
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Jerry Lewis’ partnership with Dean Martin catapulted his character to new heights and playing the fool only strengthened his character and popularity. Following their professional breakup in 1959, Lewis rose to the challenge of becoming his own brand of comedy.
Lewis as a Film Director
Lewis was able to rise to the challenge in Hollywood as a captivating performer with a frenzied, wild comedic style that was thoroughly his own. However, his rise to fame didn’t stop there. Lewis soon took his skills to another level as a film director.
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Lewis opened up a new angle in his field of performances, directing films he took part in, starting in 1960 with the movie Bellboy in which he played the role of Stanley. This would mark the start of a new widened spectrum in Lewis’ career.
Here to Stay
Lewis thrived after breaking up with Martin, and he was fruitful not only as an actor but as a director too. He consistently proved that he had something to give and even lessons to teach. Although it was made in a rush, Bellboy enjoyed great success, and everyone knew Lewis was here to stay.
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This meant he would have more opportunities coming, and he began working as a co-writer too. He followed up his directing debut with another success in The Ladies Man the following year.
Gainful Employment
Jerry Lewis was flooded with film project offers, and for twelve years after his directing debut in 1960, he was able to deliver an average of a film a year. In 1963 he released The Nutty Professor, which many considered his best work.
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Its success was phenomenal, and the film pulled in three times what it cost, with a total of $19 million earned at the box office. In the seventies, Lewis felt it was time for him to take a break. He came back to work with Robert DeNiro.
Lewis the Humanitarian and Philanthropist
Jerry Lewis supported projects that helped fund muscular dystrophy research. In 1966, he became more involved in telethons that raised awareness. He also helped finance research through the Muscular Dystrophy Association, of which he became the chairman.
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After taking a hiatus from the film industry, Jerry Lewis came back stronger in the eighties. He starred in The King of Comedy by Martin Scorsese, working alongside Robert DeNiro who referred to the comedian as a friend who was tough and unique.
Genius in New Role
Robert DeNiro and Sarah Bernhard witnessed Jerry Lewis’ genius when they co-starred with him in The King of Comedy. Lewis played the role of Jerry Langford – a man with whom Rupert Pupkin (DeNiro) had been obsessed. This was a role that showed the world another side of Lewis’ diversity as an actor – playing the straight man.
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Though he was going from personal best to personal best in his career, Jerry’s personal life was suffering. Behind the increasing intensity of the spotlight, his family had suffered, and the world was oblivious to it.
Marriage to Patti Palmer
Jerry Lewis met Patti Palmer during his early years as an actor, before he’d even teamed up with Dean Martin. This was a whirlwind affair, and they decided to marry in 1944. Palmer was of Italian-American descent, and being a singer, it was no surprise that the two would entangle in the entertainment world.
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Palmer provided the emotional support Lewis needed while making his mark in the industry. They had six kids. Gary, their first child, was born in 1946.
Marital Infidelities
Lewis’ marriage to Patti Palmer was filled with challenges. Of course, this was not an uncommon thing among marital unions made in Hollywood. Despite the fact that they had a growing family for which Palmer sacrificed her singing career, Jerry Lewis slipped into a string of marital infidelities.
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While his popularity continued to grow, Lewis had relationships with women other than his wife, with perhaps the most famous one being Marilyn Monroe. Meanwhile, Palmer was focused on rearing their children at home. Despite Jerry’s affairs, their marriage lasted for 35 years.
Public Admission to Cheating
In retrospect, it seems that there was nothing Palmer could have done to save their marriage, with her husband’s frequent and impenitent philandering. Even Jerry Lewis was not coy about his sexual escapades, publicly admitting this to the press.
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It is a surprise that their marriage lasted for more than three decades, and it is clear that Jerry Lewis got the better side of the deal. Palmer sacrificed so much to raise their kids while his career took off. As for Jerry, he remarried in 1983.
Marriage to SanDee Pitnick
Consistent with his unrepentant nature and philandering ways, Jerry Lewis remarried in the same year (1983) that his marriage with Palmer was finally dissolved. He met SanDee Pitnick on the set of the movie Hardly Working.
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Lewis had six sons with his first wife. His second marriage took place in Key Biscayne, Florida, and it lasted for 34 years, almost as long as the first union endured. They had an adopted daughter named Danielle together.
Danielle Lewis
Danielle came into the Lewis household in 1992. Jerry and SanDee Lewis had a successful marriage that held on until the very end of Jerry’s life, though not without some degree of doubt from onlookers who know about the actors’ history with marital disloyalty.
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It was said that, in 2017, SanDee and her daughter Danielle never left Jerry’s side until he finally succumbed to his chronic illnesses. They sat beside him as he lay on his deathbed at the age of 91 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The Revelation in Jerry’s Will
SanDee Pitnick and adopted daughter Danielle showed unwavering devotion to Jerry Lewis until he passed away. Their closeness and devotion did not go unrewarded. Jerry’s will revealed that all the proceeds of his life’s work would be exclusively transferred to them.
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In contrast, all of his children from the first marriage would inherit nothing, not even a single asset. This was an announcement that would shock everyone. This legal document led to more questions than answers about Lewis’ personal life.
A Deliberate Decision
Immediate doubts arose, with many people suggesting the decision may have been made out of the confusion that came with old age for Lewis. However, the legal document disclosed that his final wishes had been a deliberate design. For undisclosed reasons, he wanted to exclude his own six sons from his estate.
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In a career that spanned many decades, Jerry Lewis amassed a total of $50 million. His will meant that all his possessions and properties would be handed down exclusively to his wife SanDee Pitnick and daughter Danielle.
A Strained Relationship
Jerry Lewis’ death was not the final chapter in the book of his life. Rather, it was an unexpected start to a posthumous edition. The central theme is a mystery, with an opening chapter filled with hundreds of questions and assumptions.
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His son Anthony’s account of his father’s relationship with his mother and siblings made it clear that it had been a strained relationship. He told Inside Edition that the quality of life they shared behind closed doors was nothing like Lewis’ happy public life.
It Was a Scary Experience
Lewis’ son Anthony (the second youngest) described life with his father as being nothing like the comedic films the man loved to make. If anything, life with Jerry Lewis as a dad was more like living in a psychological thriller. Anthony claimed he and his brothers were often left fraught with fear and anxiety.
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They would scamper out of the way when they heard their father’s footsteps at the door, and they did so at the warning of their protective mother. Jerry Lewis, it seemed to them, had many unpredictable identities, and they never knew which one they’d get when he came home.
Behind Closed Doors
Who knew which Jerry Lewis was coming home on any given day? Anthony explained that they had no way of telling, and they were all left in suspense. He was beaten more than once as a child, but that wasn’t the worst part.
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Anthony could withstand the physical harm, but the mental abuse was a different thing altogether. They were constantly stricken with fear, which left them all with insecurities they had to contend with alone and in silence.
Hindered Even in Death
It seems that Jerry’s animosity towards his own offspring ran so deep that he could not let it end, even in his passing. When the actor died, arrangements were made so that only his two sons – Scott and Christoper – were allowed to attend the funeral.
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The rest of his children were left in the dark for reasons that continue to draw intrigue. It seems Jerry’s private life was filled with darkness so extreme that it surpassed his death. Though he did allow his sons to attend his funeral, no space was left for them to expect any kind of inheritance.
A Scarring Childhood
In an interview with The National Enquirer in 1989 – the year Jerry Lewis reconnected with Dean Martin on the latter’s birthday – the comedian’s youngest son, Joseph, described his life with his father. He didn’t mince words in saying that it was pure hell.
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What made this worse was the insecurities that had gradually built up in him, causing him to use drugs to mask his pain. He even decided to see a psychologist for therapy, but Joseph claimed that nothing could cushion his life from the cruelty he experienced at the hands of his father.
An Unforgiving Father
Whatever caused Jerry Lewis’ enmity towards his children should have been settled when Joseph died in 2009. It was an opening for forgiveness – a chance for renewed love. However, the animus Lewis had in his heart was too dark and heavy.
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In spite of his amassed fortune, the legendary comedian took another opportunity to distance himself from his kids by refusing to pay for Joseph’s funeral. Even death was not enough to soften his heart. This was something he told his remaining children to hide from the media.
Gary Lewis Sounds Off
Of all his sons, the youngest took everything the hardest. Joseph died with a bleeding heart that he had tried and failed to fix. Drugs gave him temporary shelter in a world where anyone can hurt you, even one’s own parents.
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A year after Joseph passed away, Gary spoke to The National Enquirer about his problematic family. The eldest son sounded off and seconded Joseph’s thoughts, even hinting that his father was partially responsible for his youngest brother’s death.
An Uncaring Father
When Jerry Lewis’ eldest son Gary spoke with The National Enquirer, he seemed to pick up where Joseph left off with regard to their father. Joseph felt unloved all his life, and Gary felt that way too.
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He went so far as to claim that, as a father, Jerry Lewis was evil. They were never treated like family. The question now was, did Joseph overdose because of his father’s rejection? Jerry Lewis never cared to look into this possibility.
Jerry Lewis’ Turn to Speak
Jerry Lewis had been trying to tread lightly on sensitive matters regarding his family. For the most part, he kept his side of the story away from the media. More than two decades after Joseph died, Jerry finally opened up about it.
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Lewis appeared before the camera as if still in mourning. He shared how hurt he was by his family problems. He spoke to The Hollywood Reporter emotionally about the disputes that had befallen them in all the years they were together and beyond.
Unfair to Joseph
Contrary to the image painted of him by his two sons, Lewis appeared vulnerable, hurt, and fragile. He spoke like a typical father who was suffering from the loss of his child, describing the incident as “unfair” not to himself, but to Joseph.
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Who really knows why Joseph went that direction? Jerry Lewis claimed that he never understood his son’s underlying reasons for taking drugs. The past is past, he said, and there was nothing he could do to change it.
Missed Opportunity
Lewis said he beat himself up countless times over the misfortune of Joseph’s life. He pointed out that his youngest was no longer a child when these issues arose. He was a fully grown man who was aware of the impact his life choices had on his family.
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Lewis insisted that he never got over Joseph’s death, but his family remained strangers to him, right down to his grandchildren, all of whom he disinherited. Anthony expressed that his main regret was not being able to sit down with his father to tell him how much he loved him, despite all the pain.