Jack Lemmon Dead at 76

L O S   A N G E L E S, June 28 -- Jack Lemmon, the other half of The Odd Couple, a two-time Academy Award winner and one of America's best-loved actors, has died at the age of 76.

The star of Some Like It Hot , Irma La Douce and Days of Wine and Roses died on Wednesday at about 10 p.m. PT at a Los Angeles hospital from complications related to cancer, said spokesman Warren Cowan.

In the last 50 years, it would be hard to name many actors who had more impact on American cinema than Lemmon. He starred in a clutch of films and TV productions, earning him two Oscars, an Emmy, five Golden Globes and the American Film Institute Life Achievement Award. (Check out a slideshow of his career.)

It didn't matter if the role was a comedy or a high drama, Lemmon had a versatile style that enabled him to occupy the mind — and body — of the character he played. Among his most memorable roles were the well-meaning Felix Unger in The Odd Couple, a hopeless alcoholic in The Days of Wine and Roses, and his roles in China Syndrome and Some Like It Hot.

Summarizing his special place in the history of entertainment, Cowen, his longtime spokesman, had this to say: "He is one of the greatest actors in the history of the business. To say one word about him would be beautiful. It's an opinion that is shared by everybody who knew him."

His wife, Felicia, and two of his children were at his bedside at USC/Norris Cancer Clinic when he died, Cowan said.

A Partnership Made in Heaven and Hell

Of Lemmon's seven Oscar nominations for lead actor, two were for comedies and five for dramas. He won the Academy Award for lead actor for the first time in 1956 for Mister Roberts, and in 1973 for playing a once-idealistic man slipping into shady ethics to save his business in Save the Tiger.

But for future generations of movie-goers, it will no doubt be his tension-rife on-screen pairing with Walter Matthau in The Odd Couple that will live forever in the annals of cinematic history.