Actor Jack Nicholson Didn't Know His Sister Was Actually His Biological Mother Until He Was 37

Feb 15, 2021 by apost team

Jack Nicholson is undeniably one of the most talented actors of our time. From films like "One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest" to "The Witches of Eastwick," his impressive portfolio with a plethora of diverse characters has arguably made him one of the most iconic actors in Hollywood. While Jack might have established a reputation for being calm and collected no matter his fame, a shocking revelation was made about him in the 1970s. His sister, June Nicholson, was actually his mother. And the people he thought to be his parents were actually his grandparents. 

Born on April 22, 1937, Jack Nicholson was raised in Manasquan, New Jersey by John and Ethel May Nicholson. John, who Jack that was his father, worked as a window dresser at a department store. His wife Ethel worked as a hairdresser and oil painter. June Nicholson, whom Jack grew up believing was his sister, who was 17-years his senior, was a showgirl and aspiring actor. Ethel and John also had another daughter, Lorraine, whom Jack thought was his sister as well. 

Jack's earlier years were quiet and predominantly uneventful. He was good in school, even earning himself a scholarship to attend college. He eventually turned it down because that would require "studying hard and working 20 hours a day earning tuition money."

"And, frankly, I was too lazy for that," Jack admitted in an interview with Cigar Aficionado. "I wasn't filled with a burning desire to make something of myself in those days. And since I was only 16, I figured I had plenty of time to go to college later, if I wanted. I certainly didn't want to be a lawyer or a bookkeeper. So I hung around Jersey for about a year. I made a little money at the racetrack, and I worked as a lifeguard at the beach one summer."

Still not sure what he wanted to do with his life, Jack would earn his living through dodgy forms, like playing the horses or shooting pool. While that lifestyle might have earned him his first car – a '47 Studebaker – he also worked as a part-time shop assistant at a toy store. June eventually grew concerned for Jack and his unstable lifestyle and talked him into getting himself a more suitable job. He then began working as an assistant at MGM Studios's animation department, where he met William Hanna and Joseph Barbera – the creators of the Tom & Jerry cartoons.

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June eventually grew concerned for Jack and his unstable lifestyle and talked him into getting himself a more suitable job. He then began working as an assistant at MGM Studios's animation department, where he met William Hanna and Joseph Barbera – the creators of the Tom & Jerry cartoons.

By then a young adult, Jack slowly began to grow out of puberty into a handsome man with a perfect face for the screen. Although he never aspired to be an actor, Joe Pasternak, an MGM producer, offered Jack a role in his pictures after spotting him running errands one day. Although Pasternak knew he wanted Jack, he still expected him to get acting lessons before officially hiring him. That's where Jack's connections, Hanna and Barbera, came in: thanks to their influence in the industry, the two managed to bag a theater apprenticeship at The Players Ring in Hollywood. The stint saw Jack make three more influential contacts, Bob Towne, Carole Eastman, and Roger Corman, who would help me excel in his career later on. 

In 1958, Jack landed his first role in the low-budget film "The Cry Baby Killer." In it, he portrayed a young teenager who becomes an outlaw after shooting somebody in self-defense. The job only earned him a few hundred bucks, but it proved to be the actor's foot in the door. In the following decade, Jack would become a repeat star in low-budget horror films like "The Terror" (1963), "Back Door to Hell" (1964), "Ride in the Whirlwind" (1965), and "The Shooting" (1966).

It wasn't until 1969 when Jack would finally make his breakthrough as George Hanson in the classic film "Easy Rider." His portrayal of the alcoholic lawyer from down south earned the actor an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actor and a devoted cult following. That following year, Jack starred in "Five Easy Pieces," which once again earned him an Academy Award nomination. From then on, it was stardom and fame for the up-and-coming actor. Although the career came almost by accident for Jack, he came to love it with a deep passion. That showed too. Throughout his entire career, the man has been nominated 13 times for an Oscar, won twice, and received his Lifetime Achievement Award from The American Film Institute in 1994. 

But his talent doesn't need awards and accolades for proof, as Jack's film career shows it isn't possible to pigeonhole him into just one type of role.  

"Actually, I'm none of them and all of them," the actor said. "There's a little bit of me, I suppose, in every part I play. As an actor you can't help inserting yourself, especially if you love acting."

By 1974, Jack had already established himself as a cultural icon in Hollywood. At the time, the film "Chinatown" was about to hit theaters, and Time magazine was working on a feature in honor of the talented actor. The piece was meant to praise and explore the life of Jack Nicholson, and journalists dug deep into his past to get the full picture. 

Right before its publication, the researchers called Jack to confirm the details of what they had found; his mother, they claimed, was actually his sister June. Ethel and John, on the other hand, were his grandparents and their daughter Lorraine his aunt. As for his father, he was still alive and presumed to be a man named Don Furcillo-Rose and lived in New Jersey. 

Shocked by the information, he requested the publication not to write about what they had found. While Time respected his wishes, Parade wrote their own piece on it in 1977. 

"Such is the price of fame," Jack sighed. "People start poking around in your private life, and the next thing you know your sister is actually your mother."

June had already passed away in 1963 to cancer. His grandparents were gone as well. The only family member he had left was Lorraine, who confirmed that what the journalists had found was true. As Nicholson revealed to the Rolling Stone magazine in 1986, he never actually met his biological father. His grandmother's husband was an alcoholic who was seldom around, but Jack would turn to his aunt's husband 'Shorty' as a father figure. Jack told the magazine that he felt grateful to have someone like him around and that a boy doesn't need much more than he had from a father.

"That, believe me, is as good a father as anybody’s ever going to get or need. I can be as hard on my family or friends as anybody — I’m fairly objective — but there’s nobody much that’s impressed me as much as Shorty," he said.

"Simple guy, but many is the poem I’ve written in my mind to the higher feelings he promoted in me — which he would have no ability whatsoever to articulate. If I sat down with Shorty in the spirit world or something and said, 'Look, Shorty, here’s what you really mean, as a prince of the world,' he’d look at me like I was talking a foreign language," Jack added. "

In Patrick McGilligan’s biography "Jack's Life", Jack wrote that Shorty was the first person he approached with the groundbreaking news. 

 “Shorty, this is the most [sic] thing I’ve ever heard,” Jack said, as quoted by InStyle. “A guy calls me on the phone, and says that my father is still alive, and that Ethel May wasn’t really my mother, that June was my mother.” 

At first, Shorty brushed off the claims as ridiculous and denied it all. However, it didn't take long before he finally passed the phone to his wife to tell Jack the truth. Lorraine wasn't able to confirm the information about his biological father, though. The actor even said he understood why his family chose to keep his real parents' identity a secret from him. June was only a teenager when she became pregnant, out of wedlock nonetheless, and in the middle of the great depression. It was never confirmed whether Don Furcillo-Rose was really Jack's father, but he didn't really care to find out. Instead, he was grateful to have been raised around strong women. 

Speaking of Ethel (whom he affectionally calls "Mud") he said,

"My basic model for women is an independent woman. There was no grandeur in that for me, because it was that way from the beginning. You know, here was Mud, and she carried everybody on her back like a tiny little elephant, and it didn’t seem to faze her. She marched right through it. They all had a great lot of style, and a lot of fun. The neighborhood idolized all of them."

While the revelation would come as a life-changing event for many, the actor insisted he did not find it "traumatizing."

"I'd say it was a pretty dramatic event, but it wasn't what I'd call traumatizing. After all, by the time I found out who my mother was I was pretty well psychologically formed. As a matter of fact, it made quite a few things clearer to me. If anything, I felt grateful."

Were you shocked to find out Jack Nicholson's family's dark secret? Let us know in the comments, and make sure you pass this along to your friends and family!