Question 1

True or false: Jack Nicholson has won three Academy Awards for acting, including two for Best Actor.

Accepted Answer

True. He won Best Actor for 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' and 'As Good as It Gets,' plus Best Supporting Actor for 'Terms of Endearment.'

Question 2

True or false: He originally wanted to be a professional basketball player before acting.

Accepted Answer

False. Nicholson never pursued basketball; he worked as an office boy for MGM's animation department and studied acting instead.

Question 3

True or false: Jack Nicholson was born in New Jersey, not in New York City.

Accepted Answer

True. Nicholson was born on April 22, 1937, in Neptune City, New Jersey, and raised there, not in NYC as often assumed.

Question 4

True or false: He directed 'The Shining' but Stanley Kubrick took over during production.

Accepted Answer

False. Kubrick solely directed 'The Shining.' Nicholson never directed a Kubrick film; he directed 'Drive, He Said' and 'The Two Jakes.'

Question 5

True or false: He turned down the role of Hannibal Lecter in 'The Silence of the Lambs'.

Accepted Answer

False. The role went to Anthony Hopkins. Nicholson was considered for other roles but never officially offered Lecter; it's a persistent rumor.

Question 6

True or false: Jack Nicholson is a voracious reader and once owned a rare bookshop in Los Angeles.

Accepted Answer

True. He co-owned the Mermaid Tavern, a rare book and manuscript shop in L.A. for years, reflecting his deep literary interests.

Question 7

True or false: He was the first actor to refuse an Academy Award nomination.

Accepted Answer

False. Nicholson never refused an Oscar nomination; he's been nominated 12 times. George C. Scott and Marlon Brando famously refused theirs.

Question 8

True or false: Nicholson's childhood was marked by the discovery that his 'sister' was actually his mother.

Accepted Answer

True. In 1974, a reporter revealed that the woman he thought was his sister, June, was his biological mother; his grandparents raised him as their son.

Jack Nicholson Trivia Questions