Danny DeVito Addresses Jack Nicholson’s Health Amid Fan Concerns

Danny DeVito has opened up about his friend Jack Nicholson and said the Oscar winner is doing ‘great.’

Nicholson, 87, was last seen in public during an appearance on the Saturday Night Live 50th anniversary show in February, and many fans were concerned he looked quite frail. 

DeVito, 80, spoke about his long friendship with Nicholson, while promoting the 50th anniversary re-release of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, their first film together. 

‘I just saw Jack a couple weeks ago — it was his birthday a month ago, and he’s great,’ the Taxi star told People.  

Looking back on the experience of making the groundbreaking 1975 film, DeVito said he and his fellow cast members — including Christopher Lloyd and Louise Fletcher — were “in awe” of Nicholson, who had already been building a reputation with films such as Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces, and Chinatown. 

‘We’re in the presence of this guy who’s really at his moment, where he was breaking out into the big time,’ DeVito said of his initial encounter. 

Danny DeVito has opened up about his friend Jack Nicholson and said the Oscar winner is doing ‘great. I just saw Jack a couple weeks ago — it was his birthday a month ago, and he’s great,’ the Taxi star told People 

‘There was no need for an icebreaker,’ the Emmy winner recalled.

‘He was immediately just so embracing…He started out exactly the way everybody else did, where he couldn’t get a job. It was like he came to Hollywood and he was going to just write and direct, and then comes along after the Corman stuff,’ he said of Nicholson’s start in low-budget thrillers such as The Terror and The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre.

‘He was in our milieu, and he was always just as open and genuine, and we all felt it immediately,’ DeVito said. 

‘Of course, he was doing it because he’s that way,’ the write and director explained. 

‘And he was also doing it because that had to be, because we had to be all joined at the hip in that movie, and we had such great performances.’

DeVito noted he and Nicholson eventually bonded over their shared New Jersey backgrounds. They were born in the same hospital and both had sisters who were hair dressers in the same local area. 

The two would go on to work together again on Goin’ South, which was directed by Nicholson, Terms of Endearment, Hoffa, which DeVito directed and the sci-fi comedy Mars Attacks.  

‘When I was a kid, I always heard about this really handsome guy from Neptune who went out to California and became a movie star,’ he recalled. 

Nicholson’s last public appearance was on  the Saturday Night Live 50th anniversary show in February;  Pictured in New York City in February

DeVito and Nicholson met when they worked on 1975’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. ‘We’re in the presence of this guy who’s really at his moment, where he was breaking out into the big time,’ DeVito said of the experience

Nicholson won his first Oscar for his portrayal of a rebellious convict sent to a psychiatric hospital, where he inspired rebellion against a dominating nurse;  Pictured in Los Angeles in 1976

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest was the first film since 1934’s It Happened One Night to sweep all five of the top Academy Awards; Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress for Fletcher, Best Director for Milos Forman, and Best Adapted Screenplay

DeVito was keeping that information to himself, but it was his friend and former roommate Michael Douglas, 80, who was producing the film, who spilled the beans. 

‘Jack came running around the corner: “Ahhhh! You’re from Asbury Park?”‘ he asked.

Nicholson received his first Oscar award for his portrayal of a rebellious convict sent to a psychiatric hospital, where he inspired rebellion against a dominating nurse. 

In fact One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest was the first film since 1934’s It Happened One Night to sweep all five of the top Academy Awards; Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress  for Fletcher, Best Director for Milos Forman, and Best Adapted Screenplay.