Sony has released a six-DVD boxed set tribute to Jack Lemmon, marking the first-time release of these films in the DVD format. Here is the official press release.
In
a career that spanned half a century, Jack Lemmon was truly America’s Everyman.
Although he worked in every genre from musical to western, he truly excelled at
comedy, turning in a series of nuanced performances that garnered worldwide
acclaim. On June 9, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (SPHE) honors one of the
most versatile and accomplished actors in Hollywood history with The Jack
Lemmon Film Collection,in partnership with Chris Lemmon,
Jack’s son and biographer. This must-have six-disc boxed set features five
classic performances from the gifted two-time Academy Award® winner for Save
the Tiger (1973) and Mister Roberts (1955). The set includes Phffft!
featuring Kim Novak, Operation Mad Ball, featuring the
film debut of Ernie Kovacs, The Notorious Landlady featuring Fred
Astaire, Under the Yum Yum Tree,and Good
Neighbor Sam. In addition, the bonus materials include a two-part
documentary hosted by Chris Lemmon featuring intimate interviews with friends,
fans, and colleagues, including Kevin Spacey, Andy Garcia and Shirley MacLaine;
and photographs from the life and work of Jack Lemmon. The collection also
includes the Ford Television Theatre’s “Marriageable Male†episode starring
Jack Lemmon. The Jack Lemmon Film Collection will be available
for $59.95 SRP.
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About
Jack Lemmon (February 8th, 1925 - June 27, 2001)
One
of the most versatile actors in the history of Hollywood was born in an
elevator in the Boston suburb of Newton and attended Harvard University (Class
of ‘47), where he became president of the Hasty Pudding Club. After a stint in
the Navy, Lemmon became a professional actor, working on radio, television and
Broadway.
Although
he made his film debut playing a bit part in the 1949 film The Lady Takes a
Sailor, his official debut as a cinematic leading man was opposite Judy
Holliday in the 1954 comedy, It Should Happen to You. Lemmon worked with
many legendary leading ladies over the course of his five-decade-long career,
including Rita Hayworth (Fire Down Below), Marilyn Monroe (Some Like
It Hot), Julie Andrews (That’s Life!), Shirley MacLaine (The
Apartment), Natalie Wood (The Great Race), Betty Grable (Three for
the Show), Janet Leigh (My Sister Eileen), Doris Day (It Happened
to Jane), June Allyson (You Can’t Run Away From It), Ann Margret (Grumpy
Old Men), Sophia Loren (Grumpier Old Men) and many more.
In
addition, he teamed with Walter Matthau in 11 films (including The Odd
Couple, The Front Page and Grumpy Old Men), forming one of
the most-beloved duos in film history. Lemmon was also a favorite actor
of legendary director Billy Wilder, who cast Lemmon in many of his classic
films, including Some Like It Hot (named by the American Film Institute
as the funniest film of all time), The Apartment, Irma La Douce, The
Fortune Cookie, Avanti!, The Front Page and Buddy Buddy.
In
1956, Lemmon was awarded his first Academy Award® as Best Supporting Actor for Mister
Roberts and in 1974 was named Best Actor for Save the Tiger,
becoming the first actor to achieve this honor in two categories. His other
Best Actor nominations include Some Like it Hot (1960), The Apartment
(1961), Days of Wine and Roses (1963), The China Syndrome (1980),
Tribute (1981), and Missing (1983). In 1988, the American Film
Institute honored him with its Lifetime Achievement Award. He also holds the
record for the most Golden Globe® nominations for acting (22, including both
actors and actresses) of which he won six, plus the Cecil B. DeMille Award in
1991. At the 1998 Golden Globe Awards, he was nominated for “Best Actor in a
Made for TV Movie†for his role in “Twelve Angry Men†losing to Ving Rhames.
After accepting the award, Rhames asked Lemmon to come onstage, and in a move
that stunned the audience, gave his award to him.
Lemmon
was one of the best-liked actors in Hollywood. He is remembered as a genuine
mentor as the actor Kevin Spacey recalled in a tribute. Already regarded as a
legend, he met the teenage Spacey backstage after a theater performance and
spoke to him about pursuing an acting career. Â Spacey would later work
with Lemmon in Dad (1989), Glengarry Glen Ross (1992) and on
stage in a revival of “Long Day’s Journey Into Night.†In 2000, Spacey
dedicated his Oscar® for American Beauty to Lemmon.Â
Jack
Lemmon’s place in film history is firmly established and his work will live on
for generations, as evidenced by his being voted the 33rd Greatest Movie Star
of all time by Entertainment Weekly and the 45th Greatest Movie Star of
all time by Premiere Magazine.
PHFFFT!
(1954):
After
their successful pairing in It Should Happen to You (1954), Oscar®
winner Judy Holliday (Best Actress, Born Yesterday, 1951) and Lemmon
were reteamed in this romantic comedy by George Axelrod (The Seven Year Itch,
Breakfast at Tiffany’s). Phffft! follows a married couple who
divorce only to find out that their divorce is even less successful than their
marriage.  Columbia’s rising love goddess Kim Novak and Jack Carson
provide support as the romantic interests Lemmon and Holliday take up with in
an effort to make each other jealous.
OPERATION
MAD BALL (1957):
Lemmon
teamed up with director Richard Quine for the second of six films, (including My
Sister Eileen; Bell, Book and Candle; It Happened to Jane;
and How to Murder Your Wife) for this hilarious comedy about a party
being planned by a group of enlisted men and their efforts to keep the fact a
secret from an obnoxious, busy body officer. Lemmon headlined a cast of comedy
legends including Ernie Kovacs (Our Man in Havana) and Mickey Rooney (Babes
in Arms).
THE
NOTORIUS LANDLADY (1962):
Richard
Quine teamed two of his most frequent collaborators, Lemmon (in the fifth of
their six films together) and Kim Novak (who made four films with the director)
in a comedy/drama written by Blake Edwards (The Pink Panther, Victor/Victoria)
and co-starring Fred Astaire (Top Hat, The Band Wagon). An
American diplomat (Lemmon), stationed in London, rents a room from a landlady
(Novak) only to discover she’s being watched by Scotland Yard and may have
killed her missing husband.
This
wacky comedy about a happily married advertising agent (Lemmon) trapped into
posing as his sexy neighbor’s husband so she can inherit $15 million, co-stars
Romy Schneider (TheVictors), Dorothy Provine (The Great Race),
and Edward G. Robinson (Little Caesar). The story soon spirals out of
control when her greedy in-laws hit the scene.
DVD
Special Features Include:
·      Â
Two-part Documentary
·      Â
The Ford Television Theatre’s “Marriageable Male†episode
 CLICK HERE TO ORDER THE SET DISCOUNTED FROM AMAZON