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Jerry Lewis takes a beating in life.

alledanalledan Member Posts: 19,541
edited September 2002 in General Discussion
LONDON (AP) - Comedian Jerry Lewis, suffering recently from severe back pain and other health problems, collapsed backstage at a charity show and was unable to perform, the show's master of ceremonies said Monday.

Steven Alan Green, MC at the High on Laughter benefit at the Palladium theater, announced to the audience that Lewis, 76, would not be able to participate because he was unwell.

"I saw him collapse backstage out of the corner of my eye," Green said Monday. "He was watching the screen clips of an earlier show of his behind the stage when he just sat back. I hope it's nothing too serious."

The show was raising money for Turning Point Scotland, a drug and alcohol treatment group.


News reports said Lewis was treated in an ambulance behind the theater and then driven to an unidentified hospital.

Lewis' wife SanDee (known as Sam), reached by The Associated Press in Las Vegas, said he was not hospitalized and was in London to receive an award.

"He has not taken ill. There is no change in his condition," she said.

Lewis has suffered back pain so severe that until a recent treatment he was unable to sleep, began losing his eyesight and couldn't walk more than a few feet.

A battery powered pulse generator that delivers electronic impulses to his spinal cord now stops the pain.

He had a bout with spinal meningitis two years ago and was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis, an increase of fibrous tissue in the lungs, last year. His lungs may take another year to heal completely, and he has gained weight from a steroid prescribed to treat the condition. He also suffers from diabetes.

Lewis, who starred along with Dean Martin in more than a dozen comedy classics in the 1940s and '50s, is also well-known for hosting annual fund-raising telethons for the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

Comments

  • IconoclastIconoclast Member Posts: 10,515 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I wish him no ill; he has done a lot to help the unfortunate - far more than the average entertainment egotist. But if this means I don't have to listen to him ever again, it still is fifty years too late. His jokes were so dumb, even my dog fell asleeep.
  • n/an/a Member Posts: 168,427
    edited November -1
    I seen him on the telethon, and had to look a few times to really see who it was...... He is so fat, he must go over 300 pounds now.. doesnt even look like Jerry..
    I have never cared for him or his "sense of humor" but wish him no harm... Hope he gets over this..


    Lil' Stinker's Opinion
  • njretcopnjretcop Member Posts: 7,975
    edited November -1
    I would like to add my opinion to the others who feel that he was not that funny. Never liked his movies or his politics. When he applied for French citizenship, he really turned me off.

    I wish ill health on no man.........I will pray for his recovery. I too, was shocked when I saw him on the telethon.

    Charlie

    "It's the stuff dreams are made of Angel"NRA Certified Firearms InstructorMember: GOA, RKBA, NJSPBA, NJ area rep for the 2ndAMPD. njretcop@copmail.com

    Edited by - njretcop on 09/09/2002 09:59:11
  • offerorofferor Member Posts: 8,625 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    I'm not sorry to have missed him on the telethon in that condition, and I was surprised at his weight on news clips this morning. He's an old style comedian, of course, but as a kid I found a few of his movies funny, particularly one in which he plays a male nurse and has to push a woman in a wheelchair who keeps talking about her weak, weak kidneys. Pretty soon his legs are crossed from having to go to the bathroom. Finally they approach a huge fountain, he gets a horrified look on his face, and runs.

    That, and maybe a couple of the Martin/Lewis films, were funny Jerry. He was also great in Robert DeNiro's movie KING OF COMEDY, wherein he did a serious acting turn as a Johnny Carson type late night host being hounded and stalked and finally kidnapped by DeNiro's wacko Rupert Pupkin. I wish him no ill either. Anybody remember when he briefly tried to open a chain of movie theaters? Anyway, I hope he's able to slim down soon, after the steroids, because all that weight has got to make things harder. He looks more like Jackie Gleason at the moment. Oh well, being mistaken for The Great One isn't the worst thing that could happen to a guy either.

    - Life NRA Member
    "If cowardly & dishonorable men shoot unarmed men with army guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary...and not by general deprivation of constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
  • interstatepawnllcinterstatepawnllc Member Posts: 9,390
    edited November -1
    Perhaps zee French can help heem, oui?
  • redcedarsredcedars Member Posts: 919 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Beleive it or not, the oh so cosmo, oh soooo sooophisticated French think Jerry Lewis is the FUNNIEST GUY ON EARTH! He is a NATIONAL HERO in France!

    I haven't found him that humorous since I was about 12 years old. He did do a great bit in the King of Comedy. And he has done so much for charity.... Hope he recovers fully, even if I don't watch the telethon.

    redcedars
  • DancesWithSheepDancesWithSheep Member Posts: 12,938 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Igynoclast: Ditto.

    Why does man kill? He kills for food. But not only for food; frequently, he must have a beverage.
  • kgnovumkgnovum Member Posts: 594 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I wish him well. I've had the back pain most of my life and just went through a 3 month ordeal finally fixed by surgery. It was horrible and I feel for the guy. Never watched him much or paid any attention to him - but I know he's raised a lot of money for MS - so I gotta give him credit. My prayers are with him as they would be with anyone else.
  • armed_ femalearmed_ female Member Posts: 1,222 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    reference to his weight...he is taking steriods...if you have ever taken them you know that they make you swell up...
    yeah his movies are dumb now, as a kid I thought he was funny..and someday when I have a lot of time I will explain why I don't like him and why I haven't watched a telethon in over 20years...because I was once a volunteer here for MDA and found out a lot of things I did not like about Jerry Lewis...

    Gun Control is Hitting Your Target!
  • lokdok1lokdok1 Member Posts: 383 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Jerry Lewis did telethons for kids for as long as I can remember, but in the last decade it made me wonder why he was still doing them.He was cocky and seemed annoyed to be there, his actions were perfunctory, he acted "french" maybe thats why he wanted to become a french citizen.

    If you don't know your rights, you dont't have any
  • He DogHe Dog Member Posts: 51,593 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    No one loves the French quite so well as the French. No one loves Jerry Lewis but the French. A match made in Heaven!

    A balanced diet is a cookie in each hand
  • allen griggsallen griggs Member Posts: 35,696 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Jerry Lewis' sense of humor is so stupid that I can't believe he made money with it. Now and then I will catch one of his movies on AMC and can only stand 5 minutes of it. What a moron. I believe I have heard that in the '50s he was the biggest movie star in the country, hard to believe. I do feel sorry for his medical predicament, hopefully he has plenty of money with which to get treatment.
  • Judge DreadJudge Dread Member Posts: 2,372 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    He acted so long at being a jerk he ended being one .....
    that is a confirmation of the statement try hard at it you can do it thing...

    I hated the SOB acting..... also he treated his children like s**t in real life....

    Give me someone to hate more than Bin Laden he is it !

    JD

    400 million cows can't be wrong ( EAT GRASS !!! )
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