On this day in history, Aug. 20, 2017, 91-year-old Jerry Lewis died of natural causes at his home in Las Vegas, Nevada. One of the most well-known American comedians of the 1950s, '60s and well beyond, Lewis was born as either Jerome or Joseph Levitch in Newark, New Jersey in 1926, according to various sources.
Lewis filed for bankruptcy in 1988. His petition listed over $3 million in debts, including $2 million in Internal Revenue Service debt, tens of thousands in attorney fees, and medical bills. At the time of his death, his net worth was estimated to be between $10 million and $15.4 million.
He says he and his brothers Gary and Ron were not invited to the funeral. However, his brothers Scott and Chris were. But even the brothers who got invited to the funeral where shut out of the will. Lewis left his entire estate to his second wife and their adopted daughter, Danielle.
He retired from public life in early 1995 and died of acute respiratory failure resulting from emphysema at his Beverly Hills home on Christmas Day, 1995 (29 years to the day after his own mother died), at age 78.
In April of that year, Davis's lifelong performing friends paid tribute to him with a television special in his honor. A few weeks later, on May 16, 1990, Davis died in his home at age 64.
Inside Edition reports Suzan Lewis, who is homeless, was born out of wedlock in the 1950s after her mother, Lynn Dixon, had a three-year affair with the comedian. DNA tests show that there is an 88.7 percent certainty that she is his daughter, according to Inside Edition.
How old was Jerry Lewis when he married his 13 year old wife?
A public memorial service will be held today at Hernando Funeral Home in Hernando from 5 to 8 p.m. He will be laid to rest on Saturday in his hometown of Ferriday, Louisiana. Williams was Jerry Lee's second cousin once removed and married the singer in 1957 when she was only 13 years-old and he was 22.
TV evangelist Jimmy Swaggart, Lewis' cousin, told the more than 100 people inside Young's Funeral Home in Ferriday, Louisiana — the town where Lewis was born — that when Lewis died he “lost the brother I never had.” “We learned to play piano together,” Swaggart recalled.
It was 66 years ago today that Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis split professionally and relationally, exactly 10 years after they teamed up. The duo had already become drawn apart after 16 movies together, with the crooner thinking the goofball comic was controlling their work, which made the latter feel betrayed.
Eventually Lewis reconciled with his father in the early 80s and the two are now close. "It was tense after I got out of the service but I straightened myself out and everything is cool again," Lewis said. "We have a wonderful relationship. He's great.
Charles reportedly left $500,000 to each of his 12 children, and gave the rest of his estimated $75 million estate, and licensing rights to his music, to Ray Charles Enterprises. The foundation absorbed Ray Charles Enterprises after Charles' death.
Lewis was married seven times, including bigamous marriages and a marriage with his underage cousin. He had six children during his marriages. When Jerry Lee Lewis was 16, he married Dorothy Barton, the daughter of a preacher. Their union lasted for 20 months, from February 1952 to October 1953.
Did Jerry Lee Lewis have any children with his 13 year old wife?
They had two children. Their son, Steve Allen Lewis, drowned in a swimming pool accident when he was three; their daughter, Phoebe, lives in Lynchburg, Virginia. Myra Williams divorced Lewis after 13 years of marriage, claiming physical and emotional abuse. She has said that his drug use led to many of their problems.
Myra Gale Lewis Williams (née Brown; born July 11, 1944) is an American author, best known for her controversial marriage at the age of 13 to rock and roll musician Jerry Lee Lewis, who was her first cousin once removed and was 22 at the time.
Williams and Lewis divorced in 1970, with Williams filing on the grounds of adultery and abuse. But they stayed in touch over the years because of the bond they shared through their daughter, Phoebe Allen Lewis. The couple's son, Steve Allen Lewis, drowned at the age of 3.
In 1960, Davis had cemented his close friendship with Frank Sinatra, performing with him on stage in Las Vegas and co-starring with him in the film Ocean's 11. Frank was even the best man at Sammy's wedding that year.
