Radar Online cites a reliable ‘Hollywood insider’, suggesting the 76-year-old Nicholson has opted to quietly retire as a result of memory issues. However, Nicholson is likely to continue making public appearances at the likes of the Oscars and his beloved L.A. Lakers’ games (where he has reliably occupied a courtside seat for over a quarter of a century).
The news of Nicholson’s potential retirement is not exactly the most shocking development: Nicholson had already significantly lightened his workload from as early as the mid-1990s. The 2000s only saw Nicholson appear in only seven films, with gaps of up to two or three years between performances. Indeed, his last screen appearance was in 2010’s big-budget, all-star flop How Do You Know, which saw him collaborating again with As Good As It Gets director James L. Brooks. That 1997 film won Nicholson his third Oscar, following his Academy Award winning efforts in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Terms of Endearment.
Nicholson’s acting career started early, appearing in a number of low budget productions during the late 1950s and early 60s. His career began in earnest, however, with the one-two punch of 1969’s Easy Rider and 1970’s Five Easy Pieces.
One of the central figures in the counter-cultural and artistic revolution that swept through Hollywood from the 1960s, Nicholson starred in a number of instantly iconic films such as The King of Marvin Gardens, Chinatown and One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest.
Two of his most memorable roles came at opposite ends of the 1980s - The Shining in 1980, and as the Joker in 1989’s Batman. Often sticking to supporting roles during the 1990s (with exceptions like As Good As It Gets), he was still a formidable screen presence.
In the last decade or so, it was perhaps his performances as widower Warren Schmidt in About Schmidt and aggressive, unstable Irish gangster Frank Costello in The Departed that won him the most plaudits. Recently, Nicholson is said to have declined one of the lead roles in About Schmidt director Alexander Payne’s most recent film Nebraska, with Bruce Dern taking the role instead.
Nicholson has also occasionally directed films - most (in)famously for The Two Jakes, a sequel to the seminal Chinatown. The film was released to a muted critical and audience response, and a planned third film in the series was cancelled.
Whether Nicholson will retire once and for all remains to be seen. Even if we have seen his final screen bow, however, he’ll merely be proudly walking away from a long, highly influential career. His place in cinema history is well and truly secured.
(Main image: Wikipedia Commons / Franz Richter)
