Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, December 31, 1993 TAG: 9401050181
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BARRY KOLTNOW ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Without hesitating, Lemmon related a story about a time early in his career when he was a theater usher in New York City. He worked at the very theater where a young sensation named Marlon Brando was turning the acting world on its collective ear in ``A Streetcar Named Desire.''
Each night, Lemmon said, he watched in awe the work of the greatest actor in the world.
Lemmon was reminded of the story and then was asked the same question he was posed 20 years ago. This time he hesitated. He thought a moment and then shook his head.
``The reason I hesitated is that I've changed my mind,'' said Lemmon, whom many consider to be one of the greatest actors in the world. His latest effort is a re-teaming with Walter Matthau in ``Grumpy Old Men,'' which opened last week.
``I still think Marlon is wonderful. But the more I've seen over the years, the more I've come to realize that there is no such thing as the greatest actor in the world. There are a great many actors who, at the right time in their lives with the right part, can turn in a performance that can't be topped.
``I suppose I'm capable of that for the same reasons. I have given some performances that are hard to top.''
In fact, Lemmon, 68, has turned in so many performances that can't be topped, he has been nominated eight times for Academy Awards, winning for ``Mister Roberts'' and ``Save the Tiger.'' He is the only actor to win two best-actor awards at the Cannes Film Festival (``The China Syndrome'' and ``Missing''). And in 1988, he was given the American Film Institute's prestigious lifetime achievement award.
But the Boston-born, Harvard-educated actor is destined to be remembered by movie audiences less for his award-winning dramatic roles than for his comedy - specifically, his comedic work with longtime friend Matthau.
The two men met more than 30 years ago - Matthau says they met in a delicatessen, Lemmon says it was in a bar - and worked together for the first time in ``The Fortune Cookie'' in 1966.
They worked together five more times, including ``Kotch,'' in which Matthau acted and Lemmon directed.
In ``Grumpy Old Men,'' their first pairing in more than a decade, Lemmon and Matthau play best friends and neighbors who have loved and hated each other for 56 years. They curse each other, pull pranks on each other and generally cause mayhem in each other's lives. Just like best friends.
Then into their lives comes an attractive and dynamic new neighbor (Ann-Margret), who turns their perennial bickering into a real jealousy-fueled feud.
``A script like this doesn't come down the pike too often,'' Lemmon said. ``I can't tell you how many times people have come to us with an idea, only there was no script. They were hoping Walter and I would say yes first and then they could get the project started on our say-so.
``Well, we waited 10 years for this one, and it was worth the wait.''
The movie was shot on location in freezing Minnesota - Lemmon swears the wind-chill factor hit 70 degrees below zero - but the cold didn't stop the laughs. Lemmon said he has fun with Matthau regardless of the weather.
``He's my favorite actor, and the funniest man I know,'' said Lemmon, who said he and his co-star are as close as brothers. Their wives also are best friends, he said.
``But he strikes me funnier than I strike him. It's like Burns and Benny. Whenever George opened his mouth, Jack would fall on the floor, and that's the way it is with Walter and me. He can just look at me and knock me out. It's not that he's funny-looking; it's the looks he makes.''
Lemmon said Matthau never lets up, even during rehearsals. ``He'd be screaming at me in rehearsals that we've made a terrible mistake and that this movie will ruin our careers and that's it's all my fault.
``Then when we're actually filming and I'm ready to do my lines in front of the camera, he'll walk over to me and whisper in my ear, `This is a piece of [bleep]!' How am I supposed to say my lines after that?''
Lemmon, who does a perfect Matthau impersonation when telling the stories, said he has tried to analyze why the screen pairing works but has been unable to come up with any definitive reasons for its success.
``Enough people have asked the question that I've done a lot of thinking on this subject and my answer is that there is no answer,'' he said.
``Walter's immensely talented and I suppose I'm talented, too, or I wouldn't be here. But it has nothing to do with talent. It has something to do with our friendship, but that's not really it either.
``It's like there's me and then there's Walter and there's this third thing when we're together. Something happens when we're together and it's a natural thing. It's like the hair color you're born with. It's just something that is.''
by CNB