Nicholson bio shows Joker’s life

Tara Ison writes:

Former Times staff writer Dennis McDougal makes a similar concession in "Five Easy Decades," his biography of the man he calls the "Biggest Movie Star in Modern Times"; he cleverly Teflons himself against charges of superficiality by asserting the unknowableness of his subject, arguing that, in part, Nicholson’s determined elusiveness has kept the public enthralled for 50-odd years. "The remarkable facts of Jack’s life," McDougal writes, "are so mired with the fictions — both deliberate and unintentional — that just getting him into focus is a rigorous yet hypnotic exercise."

As a result, perhaps, his book is a comprehensive and entertaining crazy quilt of quotations, trivia and behind-the-scenes Hollywood lore, a hold-no-punches paean that’s slight on analysis but rich in All Things Jack.

Born in Neptune City, N.J., McDougal reports, John Joseph Nicholson Jr.’s actual birth date and paternity are unknown. It’s also unclear when Nicholson discovered the shape-shifting roles of the women who raised him: His "older sister" and "mother" were, in fact, his mother and grandmother.

Virtually fatherless, young Nicholson developed a desperate reliance on female attention and approval. Too small to score on the high school basketball court, he learned instead the scoring tricks of the class clown.