Jerry Lewis

Comedian Bob Hope can't concentrate on his script when Dean Martin, left, and Jerry Lewis get started on their own comedy high jinks, May 5, 1949.

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Actors from left, Jerry Lewis, Pierre, and Dean Martin, clown for the camera July 13, 1950, in a Hollywood press agent's version of an old Chines proverb.

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Actor-comedian Jerry Lewis, dressed for his role in "Sailor Beware," entertains on the movie set in Hollywood, Calif., 1951.

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Among the celebrities attending the premiere of "The Story of Will Rogers" at the Beverly Hills Theatre in Hollywood are, from left, Janet Leigh, Tony Curtis, Patti Lewis and Jerry Lewis on July 15, 1952.

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Jerry Lewis and his wife, singer Patti, share an impromtu performance at Brown's Hotel in Loch Sheldrake, N.Y., in June 1955.

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Jerry Lewis, top right, his wife, singer Patti, and their children Gary, 10, and Ronnie, 6, return to Hollywood, July 1955.

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Jerry Lewis is shown in the projection and cutting room of his Hollywood home on July 29, 1960.

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Jerry Lewis, in scene from the film,"The Nutty Professor," in 1963.

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Jerry Lewis performs as a clown at the 38th Gala de L'Union des Artistes at the Cirque d'Hiver in Paris, France, April 24, 1971. Watching in the background are, from left, Italian film director and producer Vittorio de Sicca, opera singer Maria Callas, unidentified woman, Italian actress Gigliola Cinmetti and French singer Hughes Aufray.

Dean Martin, left, and Jerry Lewis appear together on Lewis's annual telethon for the Muscular Dystrophy Association in Las Vegas, Nev., Sept. 7, 1976. Martin's surprise appearance reunites the comedy duo after 20 years.

Jerry Lewis talks during rehearsal for the musical comedy revue "Hellzapoppin" in New York in October 1976.

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Jerry Lewis, left, and French actress Catherine Deneuve, are shown at the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France, May 24, 1979.

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Jerry Lewis hams it up for the camera as he pretends to examine his bride's wedding ring at their marriage ceremony in Key Biscayne, Fla., Feb. 13, 1983. Lewis married 32-year-old SanDee Pitnick, a Las Vegas dancer, in a small private ceremony.

Dean Martin, left, laughs after former partner Jerry Lewis, right, presented the famed entertainer with a giant cake in honor of his 72nd birthday at Bally's in Las Vegas June 8, 1989.

Jerry Lewis makes his opening remarks at the 25th Anniversary of the Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon fundraiser in Los Angeles, Sept. 2, 1990.

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Jerry Lewis laughs as he fields questions from the media at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Pasadena, Calif., Nov. 28, 1995. Lewis is starring in the national touring production of the Broadway musical "Damn Yankees."

Telethon co-hosts Ed McMahon, left, and Jerry Lewis celebrate the record $50.5 million total collected at the end of the nearly 22-hour muscular dystrophy telethon Sept. 1, 1997, in Los Angeles. It was the telethon's 32nd year.

Jerry Lewis, right, and telethon anchor Ed McMahon, prepare to close the 38th annual Jerry Lewis Telethon for the Muscular Dystrophy Association, Sept. 1, 2003, in Los Angeles.

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Jerry Lewis, left, and Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., at a news conference on the National Pain Care Policy Act at the Capitol, Sept. 14, 2004, in Washington.

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Goldie Hawn, left, Jerry Lewis and Geraldine Chaplin pose after the Golden Camera media awards ceremony in Berlin, Germany, Feb. 9, 2005. The annual award is given by German Axel Springer publishing company.

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