TOM TITUS -- Theater

Back when I was a teenage kid working as an usher in my home town’s

movie theater, there arrived a poster for an upcoming flick called “It

Should Happen to You.” The blurb read, “Introducing Jack Lemmon -- a guy

you’re going to like.”

How prophetic. Not only did I like Lemmon’s performance in that 1952

film, I admired him throughout his long and varied career. In fact, if

anyone was to ask me who my favorite actor was over the last

half-century, I would have immediately answered Jack Lemmon.

Lemmon, who died this week at 76, was a consummate actor, one of the

few who could handle comedy and drama with equal aplomb. He won two

Oscars (for “Mister Roberts” and “Save the Tiger”) and should have won

two more, for “Days of Wine and Roses” and “Glengarry Glen Ross” -- for

which, with the ultimate injustice, he wasn’t even nominated.

My admiration for Jack Lemmon led me to take on two of his best movie

roles in local community theater productions. I played Pulver in “Mister

Roberts” at the Costa Mesa Civic Playhouse and Scotty Templeton in

“Tribute” at the Irvine Community Theater, an experience made sweeter by

the fact that my son Jud in the play was portrayed by my real son, Tim.

I also directed two plays made indelible on the screen by Lemmon’s

presence -- “The Odd Couple” at Irvine and “Days of Wine and Roses” at

the Newport Theatre Arts Center. The movie versions of these shows

presented Lemmon at his peak at either end of the performing spectrum --

the fitful hypochondriac neatnik Felix Ungar and the struggling alcoholic

Joe Clay.

That was what was so special about Jack Lemmon. He could inhabit the

skin of virtually any character and make him believable. He was just as

adept at farce (“Some Like It Hot,” “The Great Race”) as he was at

involving drama (“The China Syndrome,” “Missing”). And in the case of

“The Apartment,” the 1960 best picture winner, he excelled at both.

Some of his greatest cinematic moments, of course, came in tandem with

Walter Matthau, whom we lost a year ago. They made nine movie together

and their off-screen friendship translated into on-screen dynamism.

Movies such as “Out to Sea” and “Odd Couple II” would have sunk without a

trace but for their presence.

Jack Lemmon lived long enough to reap the rewards of his success-- two

Oscars, the AFI Life Achievement Award, etc. Yet he left us far too soon.

His recent work in the television versions of “Twelve Angry Men” and

“Inherit the Wind,” both co-starring another late, lamented giant, George

C. Scott, illustrated that age had not eroded his superlative talent.

You can talk about your Brandos, your Gables, your Pacinos and

DeNiros, even your Oliviers. But few actors have spent a half-century at

the top of their game as Jack Lemmon did. His departure leaves a gaping

hole in the big screen.

* TOM TITUS writes about and reviews local theater for the Daily

Pilot. His stories appear Thursdays and Saturdays.