inated for an Academy Award for Best Actor in a Sup-
porting Role. He also won praise for his understated
role as a Texas border patrolman in Tony Richard-
son’sThe Border(1982).
Nicholson appeared next as an aging playboy
in James Brooks’s bittersweetTerms of Endearment
(1983), based on a 1975 novel by Larry McMurtry.
The film was one of the most critically and commer-
cially successful of the decade and earned Nicholson
an Academy Award for Best Actor in a Supporting
Role. It was his second Oscar.
Famed director John Huston’s black comedy
Prizzi’s Honor(1985) starred Nicholson as a hit man
smitten with another paid killer, played by Kathleen
Turner. Based on a 1982 novel by Richard Condon,
the film brought Nicholson another nomination for
an Academy Award for Best Actor. However, it was
Huston’s daughter (and Nicholson’s companion)
Anjelica Huston who took home the film’s only
Oscar—for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.
Nicholson took two important roles in 1987, be-
ginning with his portrayal of Daryl Van Horne in the
satanic comedyThe Witches of Eastwick(1987). Based
on the 1984 novel by John Updike, the film also
starred Cher, Susan Sarandon, and Michelle Pfeiffer.
Nicholson played a radically different character—a
guilt-ridden, alcoholic drifter—in the Depression-
eraIronweed(1987), based on a 1983 novel by Wil-The Eighties in America Nicholson, Jack 709
Jack Nicholson gives a thumbs up sign as he arrives with co-star Anjelica Huston and director John Huston at the premiere ofPrizzi’s
Honorin 1985.(AP/Wide World Photos)