Jack Nicholson is one of the best on-screen actors Hollywood has ever had. He is one of the rare actors who have won three Oscars for his roles in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Terms of Endearment, and As Good as It Gets. He is known for his versatility as an actor and his hard work and dedication to the craft of acting. Additionally, he is also known to be popular with women due to his charismatic personality.
He has been linked with several actresses including Angelica Huston, Michelle Phillips, Jill St. John, Lara Flynn Boyle, and many other models. Nicholson seems to be the ultimate charmer when it comes to women. But one actress was aware of Nicholson’s seductive attitude towards women and had a unique tactic to shut him down that left him surprised.
Geena Davis Shut Down Jack Nicholson’s Advances, All Thanks to Dustin Hoffman
Geena Davis was a rising actress in Hollywood in the late 1970s and 80s. She got her big break in the 1982 romantic comedy Tootsie. Her agent made several arrangements for her to meet with casting directors and producers to cast her in future films. She met Jack Nicholson at that time who started to signal his interest towards her. She remembered her Tootsie co-star Dustin Hoffman’s advice, which came into play in how she dealt with her situation with Nicholson. She told The New Yorker,
“Say, “Well, you’re very attractive. I would love to, but it would ruin the sexual tension between us.” And I saved that advice away. After “Tootsie,” my modeling agent took me and a couple of other actor-slash-models to Hollywood to meet casting directors. He happened to know Jack Nicholson, and every single night Jack Nicholson had dinner with us. Then one day there was a note under the door that said, “Please call Jack Nicholson at this number.” I was, like, I can’t believe it!
So I said, “Hello, Mr. Nicholson. This is Geena the model. You called me?” He said, “Hey, Geena. When is it gonna happen?” I was, like, Oh, no—why didn’t I realize this is what it was going to be about? But it immediately came into my head what to say: “Uh, Jack, I would love to. You’re very attractive. But I have a feeling we’re going to work together at some point in the future, and I would hate to have ruined the sexual tension between us.” He was, like, “Oh, man, where’d you get that?” So it worked”
Davis clearly beat Nicholson at his own game and reminded him that not all women are smitten by his seductive charms. Hoffman’s word of advice did the trick and Davis avoided falling into the trap of Nicholson’s various flings and relationships.
Jack Nicholson Was Not a Faithful Husband, According to Angelica Huston
Among his various relationships throughout the years. Jack Nicholson’s longest relationship was with actress Angelica Huston. The pair dated for 17 years and lived together in the course of their relationship. Nicholson was reportedly not faithful to Huston and was caught by Houston several times, courting other women during their relationship. She talked about her relationship with Nicholson in her memoir Watch Me. She had this to say regarding Nicholson’s treatment of her (via Vanity Fair),
“I hadn’t really been aware of Jack’s reputation at first. It kind of grew over time, I think—that idea of Jack: he’s so baaad! Even though Warren Beatty was one of his best friends, I didn’t recognize Jack as a world-class philanderer at the time. For as prolific as he seems to have been, and as I have heard reported, he was actually quite discreet.
Occasionally, I’d find a piece of female apparel—once a jacket of mine turned up on a girl in the street—or I’d find some hand cream or a trinket might get left behind in the soap dish. Sometimes I’d take to wearing the jewelry to see if anybody would come up and claim it, but that never happened. When it became evident to me that Jack was not a faithful man, I didn’t know what I could do about that. There’s only so much that you can do”
It seems Nicholson did not love or care about Huston as much as she cared about him. There is no doubt that he is a great actor and this reason is why Huston fell for him in addition to his charisma. But it seems his hold over relationships is not as strong and he prefers to maintain a ‘no strings attached ‘ attitude when it comes to women.
Sources: The New Yorker, Vanity Fair
