Jack Lemmon Remembered

Re “Jack Lemmon, Everyman Star, Dies,” June 29: After I graduated from film school, I was lucky enough to get a job as a night watchman on the set of “The China Syndrome.” I loved this job because it meant I could climb up into the rafters and watch Jack Lemmon perform his scenes. One night I watched him play the final scene, in which his character, dying on the control room floor of a nuclear reactor, feels a rumbling that means the reactor is about to go into a meltdown. I marveled at how Jack could ramp up to emotional speed for this delicate yet forceful scene time after time. He managed to breathe his way into the truth of the moment and let it radiate out of him in a way that will forever stand in my memory as the essence of how acting can convey transcendental levels of experience.

The next day, Jack was doing the scene in which he experiences a nervous breakdown. As usual, he was full of energy and good humor for everyone, but when “magic time” arrived he descended into the dark cloud of inner torment that the role called for, eloquently expressing the inner world of his character with a unique kind of electricity that seemed to radiate out of him, through the lens and onto the film, influencing the choices of the editors and finally hitting the bull’s-eye in the hearts of the audience.

Michael Gastaldo

Santa Monica

Lemmon’s over-the-top performance as Professor Fate in “The Great Race,” along with Peter Falk’s underplaying, was a comedy classic and a joy to behold, yet it is seldom mentioned among his many acting feats.

Ray Berthon

Cerritos

One summer evening in the ‘60s we were walking along Sunset Boulevard when a big car--I remember it as a silver Rolls Royce--made a turn at the side street in front of us. I realized the driver was Lemmon and spontaneously raised my hand, waved and yelled, “Hey, Jack!” I have never forgotten his happy response as he broke into a big smile, returned the wave and called a greeting back to us. His humanity shined through; it warmed my heart then as it has each time I remember that brief exchange.

Barbara Howard

San Clemente