Jerry Lewis dead at 91: Tributes pour in for comedy legend of the Nutty Professor who went on to raise $2bn for muscular dystrophy research by hosting telethons for 40 years
- Comedian died at home in Las Vegas at 9.15 am Sunday, his agent confirmed
- The veteran actor and comic died aged 91 from 'natural causes'
- Lewis starred in several hit movies including Martin Scorsese's The King of Comedy and The Nutty Professor
- He also founded the annual Labor Day Muscular Dystrophy telethon in the 1960s
- Telethon raised more than $2.45 billion over the decades, led by Lewis, until he was relieved as host in 2011
- He is survived by his second wife, SanDee Pitnick, and six children including musician Gary Lewis
The comedian passed away at home in Las Vegas at 9.15 am Sunday, his agent confirmed.
'Sadly I can confirm that today the world lost one of the most significant human beings of the 20th century,' his representative Mark Rozzano told ABC News.
Over his long career in showbiz, Lewis starred in several hit movies including Martin Scorsese's The King of Comedy and The Nutty Professor.
But arguably his most famous achievement is founding the annual Labor Day Muscular Dystrophy telethon in the 1960s, which raised more than $2.45 billion over the decades, led by Lewis until he was relieved as host in 2011.
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Comedy legend Jerry Lewis (pictured at the 66th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes 2013) has died at the age of 91
Over his long career in showbiz, Lewis starred in several hit movies including Martin Scorsese's The King of Comedy and The Nutty Professor (pictured, Lewis in The Nutty professor)
Lewis' most famous achievement is founding the annual Labor Day Muscular Dystrophy telethon in the 1960s, which raised more than $2.45 billion over the decades (pictured hosting the show in 1990)
Lewis (left in 1979 and right, in an undated photo) died at home in Las Vegas at 9.15 am Sunday, his agent confirmed
He received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award for his fund-raising work on behalf of the Muscular Dystrophy Association at the Academy Awards ceremony in 2009. The actor was he was also nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 1977 for his work.
The Association has since posted a video, 'In Loving Memory of Jerry Lewis' recalling his many decades hosting the telethon that brought in some much money for the charity.
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Yet he was always elusive about what motivated him to raise money for that charity.
'The important thing is that I do it, not the why,' he told The New York Times.
Lewis (bottom) first shot into the limelight after teaming up with singer and Rat Pack member, Dean Martin (top) who played the straight man to Lewis' funnyman (together in an undated photo)
They began with a nightclub routine, then a radio show, before moving to TV with shows like Toast of the Town, later renamed The Ed Sullivan Show (a photo shoot of the comedy duo together in 1951)
Jerry Lewis, Carmen Miranda and Dean Martin in 1953 comedy movie Scared Stiff
Scores of celebrities, comedians and fans are mourning the loss of the comedy giant, pictured here in around 1960
Lewis had a long, illustrious career, starring in 50 movies including My Friend Irma, The Bellboy, and Cinderfella, as well as long running TV shows and even a stint on Broadway in the musical Damn Yankees.
His material could controversial, and in his later years the comedian was forced to make numerous apologies for jokes criticized for being homophobic and racist.
He also appears to have had a nasty temper.
Lewis once threatened to murder Joan Rivers after the comedian once dared to criticize him.
She had spoken out after she said, calling him 'unfunny' and saying he was lucky to have the telethon to help his career after she saw him during the telethon event, standing next to a child and talking about how 'this kid is gonna die' as he appeared for call-ins.
In response, he had written Rivers a note, Chicago Now reports, that read: 'Dear Ms. Rivers, we’ve never met, and I’m looking forward to keeping it that way. If you find it necessary to discuss me, my career, or my kids ever again, I promise you I will get somebody from Chicago to beat your goddamn head off.'
Rivers took the threat seriously enough to employ bodyguards, and kept uncharacteristically quiet about Lewis from then on.
In a sexist statement in 200, Lewis later opined that he didn't 'like female comedians'.
American actor and comedian Jerry Lewis sitting on a couch with his first wife, Patti Palmer, and their two sons, Gary and Ronald around 1960
Jery, with first wife Patti and his six children in 1967. He later lost his son Joseph, and adopted a daughter with second wife SanDee
Comedian Jerry Lewis (L) and his son, singer Gary Lewis, at the 39th Annual Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon at CBS Television City on September 5, 2004 in Los Angeles
Lewis and his second wife Sandee Pitnick kiss each other on March 12, 1984 at the Opera in Paris
(L-R) Danielle Sarah Lewis - his adopted daughter - comedian Jerry Lewis and his second wife SanDee Pitnick attend Lewis' Hand And Footprint Ceremony at TCL Chinese Theatre IMAX on April 12, 2014
However, many still remember him fondly for his slapstick and 'rubber' face - which inspired a whole new generation of physical comedy actors like Jim Carrey.
Lewis first shot into the limelight after teaming up with singer and Rat Pack member, Dean Martin who played the straight man to Lewis' funnyman.
They began with a nightclub routine, then a radio show, before moving to TV with shows like Toast of the Town, later renamed The Ed Sullivan Show.
The pair took their comedy double act into the movies, starting with My Friend Irma in 1949, and starred in 14 movies together.
When not shooting with Martin, Lewis was developing his own solo projects including a comic book series called The Adventures of Jerry Lewis and - just to prove he could do almost anything he set his mind to - he released an eponymous album Jerry Lewis Just Sings in 1995.
His performances earned him not one, but two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one for TV and one for film, and a lifetime achievement award in 2009 by the Academy of of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences.
The comedian has suffered a few health scares in recent years, and was rushed to hospital in 2012 after collapsing from low blood sugar.
He was also hospitalized in June this year with a urinary tract infection.
Lewis and director Martin Scorsese, with whom he worked on The King of Comedy, attend the Friars Club Honoring Martin Scorsese at Cipriani Wall Street last September)
Lewis has won multiple awards, including two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (pictured left after a ceremony, putting his hands in cement in Hollywood in 2014) and the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Awardin 2009 (right)
Jerry Lewis accepts the 2015 Casino Entertainment Legend Award at Global Gaming Expo's (G2E) Casino Entertainment Awards at Vinyl inside the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino on September 30, 2015 in Las Vegas
Actor and comedian Jerry Lewis (C) is greeted by friends, actors Tom Hanks (L) and Steve Martin at a special screening of Lewis's film 'The Nutty Professor' at Paramount Studios in Hollywood, California, in 2004
Always a joker, 'rubber-faced' Lewis kept his sense of fun and humor through to the end (pictured in the 1980s, left and last April at his 90th birthday last year, right)
Lewis, who was born to parents who were in the arts in Newark, New Jersey in 1926, married his first wife Patti Palmer in 1944 and the couple had six kids together before divorcing in 1980.
One of his sons, Joseph, died of an overdose in 2009. Another of his sons is singer and musician Gary Lewis.
Three years after his divorce, he married SanDee Pitnick and together they adopted daughter Danielle.
Twitter has been awash with heartfelt condolences from fellow comedians, celebrities and fans who are saddened by the loss of such as comedy giant.
Penn Jillette, of comedy magic duo Penn and Teller, tweeted: Goodbye to the real, no irony, king of comedy,' with a picture of him with his arm around Lewis.
'The world is a lot less funnier today,' tweeted Star Trek actor William Shatner.
'As a kid I'm pretty sure I was the biggest Jerry Lewis fan in the world. Truly, RIP' added stand up comic and actor Kumail Nanjiani.
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