Jerry Lewis, US comedy legend, passes away at 91

LOS ANGELES, August 20 

Jerry Lewis, the high prince of low-brow comedy on stage and in movies as well as a fund-raising powerhouse with his annual Labor Day telethon, died on Sunday of “natural causes” at the age of 91.

“Famed comedian, actor and legendary entertainer Jerry Lewis passed away peacefully today of natural causes at 91 at his home in Las Vegas with his family by his side,” a statement from the Lewis family said.

Lewis, who rose to fame as goofy foil to suave partner Dean Martin and was a comic icon in France. He once summed up his career by saying “I’ve had great success being a total idiot” and said the key was maintaining a certain child-like quality.

Lewis was 87 when his last movie, “Max Rose”, came out in 2013, playing a jazz pianist. The son of vaudeville entertainers, Lewis became a star in the early 1950s as Martin's spastic sidekick in nightclubs, on television and in 

16 movies. At their height, they set off the kind of 

fan hysteria that once surrounded Frank Sinatra and the Beatles.  

— Reuters