Farewell Jack?

There is a report going around that one of the most recognizable faces of all time is retiring from acting. The amazing Jack Nicholson is reported to have chosen to walk away due to struggling with his memory. Now while I understand the reasons given for his retiring, I hope the report is false. There aren't a lot of actors or actresses I like. I don't go see a movie based on who is in front of the camera, I never have actually. I have always been drawn to a film by who's behind the camera, except when it came to Jack.

I first became aware of Jack thanks to Terms of Endearment for which he won a best supporting actor Oscar award. I became a fan of his the moment that film ended and I walked out of the theater (yes I saw that in the theater). I then went on to see pretty much everything Jack was in. I went back and saw One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and I even went back to when he played Wilbur Force in The Little Shop of Horrors. 

Jack won his first Oscar for Cuckoo's Nest and everyone thought he was snubbed when he didn't even get a nomination in his most memorable role as the demented father in The Shinning. His second Oscar win was for Terms and his third was for the romantic comedy As Good As It Gets. He is tied with Daniel Day-Lewis and Walter Brennan for the most Oscar wins, and he and Michael Caine are the only two actors to be nominated for an Oscar in every decade from the 1960's to the 2000's.

Jack was a force no matter where he was or what he was doing. Whether it was in front of the cameras in films like Batman as the Joker, Easy Rider, Chinatown, Wolf, A Few Good Men, the hilarious About Schmidt, The Pledge, Tommy, Mars Attacks, The Passenger, Hoffa, The Departed, The Witches of Eastwick, or cheering on his Lakers from the floor of the Forum, when Jack was around all eyes were on him.

It would be nice to see him in front of the camera just one more time. Greedy maybe, since he's got such a massive volume of work already under his belt, but I'm a fan and that's what fans root for, we root for more. If this is the end though, if this report is true and Jack is hanging up his star for good, he's earned the right to do so. So here's to you Jack, and thanks.