Jack Nicholson (88) Makes Huge Claim About His Hollywood Legacy

Jack Nicholson is known as one of the most powerful actors to ever work in Hollywood.

He has won three Academy Awards and holds the record for the most nominations for any male actor. Because of this, he was always one of the highest-paid stars in the business. Studios were happy to pay him millions because his movies almost always made a lot of money at the box office.

In fact, Nicholson once bragged about his financial success to the press. He claimed that he was probably the most successful actor in the history of movies. Looking at the numbers, he was mostly right. Out of dozens of films he made after his big break in Easy Rider, only two of them failed to make a profit.

A great behind the scenes shot of JACK NICHOLSON on the set of THE SHINING (1980). pic.twitter.com/609orcC7Dp

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While he was a huge star in front of the camera, things were a bit different when he tried directing. His second movie as a director, Goin’ South, did not do very well. Still, Nicholson found a way to be proud of it. He told The Washington Post that Goin’ South produced more million-dollar actors from obscurity than any movie in history. He was talking about cast members like Mary Steenburgen, John Belushi, Christopher Lloyd, and Danny DeVito.

However, his claim wasn’t perfectly accurate. While Mary Steenburgen was a newcomer, the other actors were already starting to get famous. John Belushi was a star on Saturday Night Live, and both Lloyd and DeVito were already appearing in the hit show Taxi. Even if his movie didn’t make them all famous, it still featured a massive amount of future talent in one place.

Jack Nicholson earned the right to be a little bit cocky. It is very rare for an actor to have such a long career where almost every single movie makes money. Even if his directing wasn’t as perfect as his acting, he clearly had a great eye for talent. Seeing all those famous faces in one of his early directed films shows that he knew who was going to be a star.

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