Jerry Lewis the Humanitarian and Hollywood Legend is Gone

Imagine you’re born with the name of Jerome Levitch in Newark, New Jersey in 1926. You haven’t finished high school, and your economic prospects look bleak; what do you do? Why you join the family business and spend the next 60+ years making movies and appearing on stage, while raising billions for the less fortunate.

Jerome Levitch, or Jerry Lewis as we knew him, died peacefully in Las Vegas over the weekend, a loving family by his side. Jerry Lewis was 91 years old. We’re not sure Jerome ever really had a career choice; his father was a vaudeville star, his mother played piano for the local radio station. Jerry will always be remembered for….

His nearly 20 movies with fellow comedian Dean Martin; they were bitterly estranged for many years until an emotional reconciliation on his Labor Day Marathon in 1976.

The work; Jerry appeared in 75 films, the 1st ‘My Friend Irma’ in 1949, the last ‘The Trust’ in 2016. He received Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Los Angeles Film Critic Association, the Venice Film Festival, the American Comedy Awards association, and the Academy of Motion and Picture Arts and Sciences. Jerry can also be found on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

The Jerry Lewis ‘Labor Day Muscular Dystrophy telethons’ which began in 1959. Jerry starred as the national spokesman until 2010; it’s estimated the telethons raised nearly $3 billion dollars.

Yes, Jerry died just a few weeks in front of Labor Day, his favorite holiday, but we’re sure he’d like you to watch the telethon and donate if you can. Jerry Lewis, humanitarian and Hollywood legend, dead at the age of 91.

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