All Play And No Work Makes Jack A Birthday Boy (Happy Birthday Jack Nicholson!)

Born on April 22nd 1937, the great Jack Nicholson celebrates a birthday and a legendary career spanning six decades. His filmography is littered with Hollywood classics, like "Easy Rider," "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest," "Terms Of Endearment," "Chinatown," and "The Departed." Much like movie star icons Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney, and James Stewart, he is an actor often imitated but more often than not it's out of love.
He has been nominated 12 times for the Academy Award (the most of any male actor) and won once for Best Supporting Actor ("Terms Of Endearment") and twice for Best Actor ("One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest" and "As Good As It Gets"). Surely a career worthy of praise.
But if you erase all of those accolades and just recognize him for his role in horror and his roles in villainy, it's STILL an impressive career.
Early in his career he starred in Roger Corman's cult classic "The Terror," which is a fine piece of b-movie horror, as well as the original "Little Shop Of Horrors." He would star in the 1980 horror masterpiece, Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining" (based on the classic Stephen King novel). To this day it strikes chills among fans of King and horror movies in general.
He would portray one of cinemas greatest villains, The Joker, in 1989's "Batman," and was so great in the role, his successors ended up with out-of-body masterclasses of acting just to TOP him. Which they eventually did. But not without a bar to pass. He also took a pass at classic monsters with his howling portrayal in 1994's "Wolf."
He will ultimately be remembered as one of Hollywoods finest actors and greatest movie stars, but his contributions to horror can't be understated.
Happy birthday to the legendary Jack Nicholson!