Emil Jannings

Very proficient in money matters, Jannings was one of the highest paid actors of his time. He followed this up with a critically acclaimed performance in Martin Scorsese's 1983 film The King of Comedy in which Lewis plays a late night TV host plagued by an obsessive fan. Because of his involvement in Nazi propaganda, Jannings was prohibited to work after the war, and retired to his farm in Austria. After an eight year absence from movies, Lewis returned in the early 1980s with Hardly Working, a film he both directed and starred in. Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels named him "Artist of the State" in 1941. It has been seen by very few select individuals, but those who see it either praise it for comediec genius or the utmost in bad taste. He made several pro-Nazi films, ending any chance he may have had for a comeback in the United States. Lewis has explained why the film hasn't been released by suggesting litigation over post-production financial difficulties.

He returned to Europe, where he starred opposite Marlene Dietrich in the classic The Blue Angel, filmed in English simultaneously with its German version Der Blaue Engel. The film was a comedy taking place in a Nazi concentration camp. Born Theodor Friedrich Emil Janenz in Rorschach, Switzerland, of a German mother and an American father, Jannings, as a theater actor, had a promising Hollywood career come to an end when talkies made his thick German accent difficult to understand. Later, Lewis starred in and directed the unreleased The Day The Clown Cried in 1972. He won the 1927/1928 Oscar for two films -- The Way of All Flesh and The Last Command. In 1966 he began hosting an annual Labor Day Telethon For The Muscular Dystrophy Association, a charity he had already been publicly associated with for more than ten years. Emil Jannings (July 23, 1884 - January 3, 1950) was the first winner of the Academy Award for Best Actor. Lewis box office appeal waned by the mid sixties.

Lewis directed several more of his own films including The Ladies Man, The Errand Boy, and the iconic film, The Nutty Professor. During this period he was consistently praised by many French critics for his comedy and was awarded the Légion d'honneur, the highest civilian honor in France. Later, this technique would become an industry standard known as video assist. During production Lewis decided to use a video camera to tape the scene while he was filming it, allowing him to review the footage instantly. Legend has it that he edited the film by day and performed in Las Vegas at night.

Lewis went on to star in five more films before he produced, directed, wrote, and starred in his own movie entitled The Bellboy in 1960. Lewis returned as a solo act with his debut film The Delicate Delinquent in 1957. They continued to perform in film and on television until their split in 1956. Critics often found it difficult to describe their chaotic act beyond the austere "Martin sings and Lewis clowns".

In the late forties, they rose to national prominence, first with their popular nightclub act and then as film stars. They distinguished themselves for the majority of comedy acts of the 1940's by relying on the interaction of the two comics instead of pre-planned skits. Jerry Lewis, son of a vaudeville performer named Danny Lewis, gained initial fame with the singer Dean Martin, who served as a straight man to Lewis' manic, zany antics as the The Martin and Lewis comedy team. Joseph Levitch (born March 16, 1926), better known as Jerry Lewis, is an American comedian, actor , producer, and director known for his slapstick humor and his charity fund-raising telethons for the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

There is also a musician named Jerry Lee Lewis.. politician. This article is about the comedian and telethon host; Jerry Lewis is also the name of a U.S. (Golden Raspberry Awards).