Episode Details

Jack Nicholson made madness look effortless. The raised eyebrows, the wolfish grin, the explosions of rage in The Shining and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest all seemed spontaneous. They were not. Behind the wildness was one of the most disciplined and calculating actors in Hollywood history.

This episode traces Nicholson from his New Jersey childhood — where he discovered his "sister" was actually his mother — through his years in Roger Corman B-movies and his rise as the definitive screen presence of the 1970s.

• He discovered at age thirty-seven that his "sister" was actually his mother and his "parents" were his grandparents
• He won three Academy Awards across a career spanning over fifty years
• He spent years in low-budget Roger Corman films before Easy Rider made him a star overnight
• He holds the record for the most Oscar-nominated male actor in history with twelve nominations