Description

David Steen recalls: “Jerry Lewis, director, was a different person to Jerry Lewis, stooge to Dean Martin. On set he took filming Hardly Working very seriously except for the occasional – and disconcerting – burst of laughter. In this particular shot he unexpectedly turned around and poked his tongue out at me.”

Location: Beverley Hills, Los Angeles
Year: 1982
Biography: Born in 1926 in New Jersey, Lewis found fame as one half of the comedy duo Martin and Lewis. Their first appearance on film together was in My Friend Irma (1949), and established Lewis as a comedy actor without equal. The comedy pairing lasted the best part of a decade and proved a phenomenon. In 1957 he made his first film without Dean Martin, The Delicate Delinquent (1957), and the success story continued. In 1960, without plans for a Christmas release, he decided to give himself a month to make a movie all by himself. He wrote, directed and starred in the hilarious The Bellboy (1960) and thus launched a parallel career in screen writing, producing and directing. However, despite acclaimed roles in such films as The Nutty Professor (1963), his commercial fortunes dwindled towards the end of the Sixties but in 1983 he again turned in a dazzling performance as a talk show host and object of Robert de Niro’s obsession in Scorsese’s The King of Comedy. He was often accused of egotism, but he was one of few with enough talent to justify such arrogance. In 1988 Lewis was given the Lifetime Achievement Award at the American Comedy Awards and one year later the Golden Lion award at the Venice Film Festival for his lifetime achievement in motion pictures.
Print Type: Fibre-based Harman Galerie FB Digital
Printed by: Metro Imaging, London
Limited Editions: All prints are limited editions, no further prints are produced once sold
Bespoke: All prints are bespoke and printed to order, stamped and numbered
Presentation: Prints are supplied to clients flat in an acid-free box or rolled in a tube
Watermark: The STEEN watermark will not be present on an original print
Copyright: © David Steen / The David Steen Archive