Jerry Lewis

Comedian, actor, writer and director whose rubber-faced, often juvenile, characters earned him a place in entertainment history as one of the great physical comics of all time. In the late 1940s, Lewis teamed with Dean Martin and they became one of the country's best-known musical comedy duos. They appeared together on television, the nightclub stage and in 17 films together before going separate ways in 1956. Lewis's credits include the films Geisha Boy (1958), Bellboy (1960), The Nutty Professor (1963) and The King of Comedy (1983). More recently, he has become as renowned for hosting the muscular dystrophy telethons. He won the French Legion of Honor in 1984 and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1977.