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Chris Lemmon Talks About Dad; How To Get Naked At Long Wharf

Chris Lemmon, musician, actor and teacher, loves talking about his dad, actor Jack Lemmon.

His 2005 memoir, A Twist of Lemmon, was a personal portrait of his father — one of Hollywood’s most beloved figures — who died of cancer in 2001 at the age of 76. The two-time Oscar winner for Mister Roberts and Save the Tiger is also known for his roles in The Apartment, Days of Wine and Roses, The Great Race, The Odd Couple, Irma La Douce and most joyously, in Some Like It Hot in which he starred opposite Tony Curtis and Marilyn Monroe. (Lemmon based his character of Daphne on his bigger-than-life mother, “GG,” which stands for “Gorgeous Grandma,” Lemmon says).

Lemmon will present his solo show, now simply called Twist of Lemmon, Sept. 14 at the University of New Haven’s Bucknall Theater in the Dodds Building on the main campus (300 Boston Post Road).

“He was a genuinely good man and cared about other people,” Lemmon says. “My dad cared very deeply about his work, the message it portrayed. He would go a great period of time not taking big commercial offers because he didn’t believe in the material and the message of the movie.”

Lemmon also teaches a UNH course this fall titled The Golden Age of Hollywood — Life Beyond the Silver Screen. He admits that many young people don’t have the same response to the movie legends such as Jimmy Cagney, Gregory Peck “or Jack Lemmon, for that matter.”

“Or, if you can believe it, I’ve had kids not know who Marilyn Monroe was. But they get what they were about.”

And speaking of Marilyn …

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Edward Chin-Lyn