The mystery of where Jack Nicholson went has an answer, and it involves a pair of slippers.
Michael Douglas supplied it on Monday, Oct. 26, 2026, at the Swansea Building Society Arena in Swansea, Wales, where the 82-year-old actor was promoting his first memoir, “One Helluva Ride.” Asked which co-star he never got the chance to work with, Douglas named Nicholson, 89 — his longtime friend, and the star of the film that won both men their first Oscars.
“I would have liked to have acted with Jack. He’s not working any more. He’s well. He has disappeared. I know that,” Douglas said.
“I still see him, but he is fine. He is up there by his house and walking around in his slippers. It happens. He deserves it. I understand,” he said, noting that Nicholson is a few years older than he is.
The Comeback a Director Had Teased
James L. Brooks, who directed Nicholson’s last film, had suggested otherwise, saying the actor was going through scripts and would be back on screen before long. Nicholson has never announced a retirement. In the 16 years since that film, he has not taken another acting role.
“How Do You Know,” the 2010 romantic comedy Brooks made with Reese Witherspoon, Paul Rudd and Owen Wilson, is still his last credit. In 2017 he was attached to an American remake of “Toni Erdmann” opposite Kristen Wiig, but he dropped out and the project was later scrapped.
The résumé he left behind is enormous. Wins for “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” 1983’s “Terms of Endearment” and 1997’s “As Good As It Gets” make him one of the most decorated actors in Academy history. He debuted in the low-budget 1958 film “The Cry Baby Killer,” broke through in 1969’s “Easy Rider,” which brought his first Academy Award nomination, and followed it with 1970’s “Five Easy Pieces.” Then came “Chinatown,” “The Shining,” “Prizzi’s Honor,” “Batman,” “A Few Good Men,” “About Schmidt,” “Something’s Gotta Give” and “The Departed.”
The Part Kirk Douglas Wanted
Douglas produced “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” in 1975 and had a decisive hand in casting Nicholson as Randle McMurphy. The film delivered Nicholson his first Academy Award, for best actor, and Douglas his first, for best picture, as its producer. Getting there meant telling his father, Kirk Douglas, that the lead was not his.
Michael Douglas has said he explained to his father that a career offers only a handful of great parts, and that this was one of them. “He didn’t say much. He understood it,” Douglas said of his father. He handed Kirk half of his producing deal, and his father later said it made him more money than any film he had made as an actor. Kirk was stunned by the finished picture, his son has said.
The two actors never worked together on screen; the 1975 drama was their only professional collaboration. Nicholson presented Douglas with the AFI Life Achievement Award in June 2009. “One Helluva Ride” has produced headlines beyond Nicholson, among them Douglas’ account of a secret romance with Kathleen Turner during the making of 1984’s “Romancing the Stone.”
He Surfaced Once, to Introduce Adam Sandler
Nicholson’s last appearance on camera came in February 2025, at the “Saturday Night Live” 50th anniversary special, where he stepped out briefly to introduce Adam Sandler’s musical performance. Sandler worked a greeting to him into the lyrics. Nicholson attended with his daughter Lorraine Nicholson, 36.
Lorraine Nicholson posted a rare photo of her father for his 89th birthday, April 22. Nicholson lives in Beverly Hills and is the father of six: Jennifer, with ex-wife Sandra Knight; Caleb, with Susan Anspach; Honey, with Winnie Hollman; Tessa, with Jennine Gourin; and Lorraine and Ray, with Rebecca Broussard. He was married to Knight, an actor and painter, for six years and divorced in 1968.
Why He Stopped, in His Words
Unconfirmed reports in 2013 tied Nicholson’s retreat to memory loss. He pushed back in an interview that year, saying he had not retired.
“The movie business is the greatest business but I only want to do films that move people, films about emotions and people,” he said.