TCM Classic Film Festival: Jerry Lewis finally gets cemented in history

Jerry Lewis has already cemented his place in film history as one of the greatest and most influential comics to grace the screen, but for some reason, his feet and handprints were not cemented in front of the TCL Chinese Theatre. That changed on Saturday morning during the TCM Classic Film Festival.

As with previous years, the festival hosted a handprint ceremony, and this year it was Lewis’ turn. TCM host Robert Osborne came on a stage set up in front of the theater to say a few words about Lewis, drawing a round of applause for mentioning Martin Scorsese’s The King of Comedy, which should have earned Lewis an Oscar nomination.

After Osborne, Hollywood’s own fanboy, Quentin Tarantino, took the stage. Tarantino ran a mini Lewis festival at a theater he owns in Hollywood, so he is clearly passionate about a man who did everything. Lewis wrote, directed and starred in his films, like Tarantino has himself. Tarantino called Lewis the perfect “children’s movie star,” recalling how he turned cleaning up a classroom into his own Jerry Lewis movie.

Tarantino called Lewis a real treasure and he showed that charm off for the press and crowd in attendance. Despite being 88, Lewis didn’t look it, giving a small stand-up performance and joking about how long it had taken him to get this honor. He also flipped off the camera pool and took his own camera out to take pictures of the photographers.

Also in the crowd at the event were comedians Dane Cook, Richard Lewis and Illeana Douglas, who paid homage to a master of the craft.

Lewis was also at the festival to attend a screening of The Nutty Professor, which turned 50 last year.

images courtesy of Daniel Levine

WordPress › Error

There has been a critical error on your website.

Learn more about debugging in WordPress.