Hollywood Popular Artists

Sep 4th 2013, 16:52, by Kevin P. Sullivan

Jack Nicholson, a star whose presence has felt like one of the few constants in Hollywood for the past five decades, has reportedly retired from acting.

RadarOnline.com is citing "film insiders" in its story that the 76-year-old actor has quietly stepped away from acting for good. The three-time Academy Award winner last appeared in James L. Brooks' "How Do You Know" with Reese Witherspoon, Paul Rudd, and Owen Wilson.

The gossip site claims that the actor's memory loss has led him to decide to put acting behind him.

Over the course of his 50-year career, Nicholson has created dozens of memorable characters including R.P. McMurphy in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," the role for which he won his first Academy Award, Jake Gittes, the private detective who gets pulled into a bigger mystery than he suspects in "Chinatown," and Jack Torrance, the novelist suffering from writer's block and a severe case of the crazies in Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining."

Nicholson's legacy at the Oscars ceremony goes beyond his annual front-row seat. Nicholson won Academy Awards for his roles in "Terms of Endearment" and "As Good As It Gets" in addition to his first for "Cuckoo's Nest." He earned a total of 12 acting nominations in all, the most of any male actor.

Whether Radar's story gets some kind of official response from Nicholson's camp has yet to be seen. It's likely that Nicholson may have chosen to quietly step away from acting, like some of his contemporaries, Gene Hackman and Sean Connery for example, but claims that he's losing his memory will likely have to be responded to.

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