Q 6

PLAYBOY: Did you just go over and say, "I'm knocked out"?

Jack Lemmon: Damned near. In retrospect, I realize that I psyched myself right out. I was married when I met Felicia, but the impact of our meeting had nothing to do with my first marriage's failure. It was two years later when I saw Felicia again and then I was free. We went together for three or four years. I think we were both petrified to marry.

Q 7

PLAYBOY: What qualities do you find appealing in a woman?

Jack Lemmon: Intelligence and the lack of a need to come on. Trying to be sexy totally turns me off. But women turn me on. I love women.

Q 8

PLAYBOY: How important to you has your career been?

Jack Lemmon: When I was young, it was everything. It has to be in this crazy profession, because the dedication you must have in order to make it is overwhelming. Even with talent, you've got to be able and willing to stick against an awful lot of odds, because luck is involved. You may not get the chance to show the talent.

Q 9

PLAYBOY: Did it ever occur to you to stop?

Jack Lemmon: No, it didn't, but there was an awful lot of fear and insecurity the first few years. Still, I would not have quit. The terrible thing is that it isn't a matter of just getting a little job now and then or a small part. An actor really can't begin to know how good he might or might not be until he actually gets a couple of good parts, with a good cast, in a good piece, with a good director. The rest of the time, you don't really know. And it may be ten years and then you're going to have to look in the mirror, finally, after all of that time, and say, "I'm a journeyman," or, "I can't cut it."

Q 10

PLAYBOY: What advice would you give a young actor today? Would you tell him to go into the business?

Jack Lemmon: Boy, it's very tough to give advice. The experience is very tough to get, compared with when I was young and television was wide open, and there were no stars and you could get big parts. A complete education is a great help, and not just concentrating on the theater or acting at the expense of everything else. An education broadens your horizons. It teaches you how to think.

Q 11

PLAYBOY: Do you have any heroes?

Jack Lemmon: Beyond me, you mean? I don't really have heroes per se, but there are people in different walks of life I admire. Like Jack Nicklaus. There is something about the way that man handles himself. He has immense innate dignity. And I also know him. So I know it's not a put-on. That's why a lot of people respect him. Also, what that man can do professionally! There isn't anything more frightening to a golfer when he's coming down the stretch than to hear Nicklaus' footsteps behind him. Nicklaus can sink a four-mile putt on the 18th hole with more consistency, under that kind of pressure, than anybody who ever lived.

Q 12

PLAYBOY: What is your worst fault?

Jack Lemmon: Ha! I'm a very compulsive person. I have a tremendous amount of nervous energy and everything is on tap. If I'm really excessive, it's about emotion, but I can't help it. I let emotions ruin me if I'm not very careful. I have probably cried at more comedies than anyone who ever lived. When something is done well, really well, I cry. I have sat in comedies in a theater or in a movie and seen a scene and the actors are doing it so brilliantly, it moves me and I cry.

Actors are lucky. They can be a little sadder than the average person under any circumstance, or under circumstances that would never bother the average person. By the same token, they can appreciate and see things--that other people won't see--that are quite beautiful. They retain a capacity for excitement. Sensitivity and intelligence go hand in hand. I never met a really good actor who was dumb.