Lemmon's ability to play both comic and romantic leads allowed his career to prosper.

His Oscar nominations include nominations for his performances in the hit comedy Some Like it Hot, with Marilyn Monroe and Tony Curtis, and his dramatic portrayal of terminal alcoholic in Days of Wine and Roses.

He won the Academy Award for best actor for Save the Tiger in 1973.

Although Lemmon's big success seemed to come out of Hollywood, he never forgot his love for the theater.

He acted in the 1960 Broadway play "Face of a Hero" and followed it with "Idiot's Delight" and "Juno and the Paycock" in the '70s.

In the movies, Lemmon often worked with director Billy wilder and actor Walter Matthau, two Hollywood friends.

Wilder directed some of Lemmon's most famous movies, including Some Like it Hot, The Apartment and The Fortune Cookie. The actor-director relationship spanned almost 20 years.

The Lemmon-Matthau-Wilder trio are probably most famous for The Odd Couple.

"Happiness is working with Jack Lemmon," said Wilder at the Kennedy Center Honors award ceremony.

Lemmon and Matthau are still producing movies together--including the recent Grumpy Old Men and its sequel Grumpier Old Men.

Lemmon continued to prove his ability to elicit praise in all facets of entertainment, becoming the only best actor winner at the Cannes Film Festival to direct another performer to the same nomination, with his work with Matthau in Kotch.

Lemmon also was the first actor ever to win the Oscars for both best actor and best supporting actor.

In 1973, he won the Hasty Pudding Cup award.

More recently, Lemmon's portrayal of a New York City executive searching for his son in a chaotic Latin American country in Missing, earned him another best-actor award, at Cannes. Lemmon was the first man to win this award twice at the annual international festival.

Lemmon's successes since 1979 include British, German and Canadian Oscars, three more Academy Award nominations and the first-ever Harvard Arts Medal in 1995.

His passions outside of stardom include golf and music.

Lemmon typically spends at least one hour a day improvising on the keyboard. He regularly plays at the AT & T and Bob Hope gold tournaments. He is also frequently seen losing to friend Peter Falk ("Colombo") in pool.

Lemmon, who lives in the Los Angeles area, has a wife, Felicia Farr, and two children, Courtney and Christopher. Christopher also is an actor.