June Frances Nicholson: What happened to Jack Nicholson’s mother?

June Frances Nicholson is popular as the mother of legendary actor Jack Nicholson. June Frances Nicholson’s son is one of Hollywood’s most celebrated actors of all time. He has received numerous accolades throughout his five decades career including three Academy Awards, for Best Actor for One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and As Good as It Gets, and for Best Supporting Actor for Terms of Endearment. He was Oscar-nominated for Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces, The Last Detail, Chinatown, Reds, Prizzi’s Honor, Ironweed, A Few Good Men, and About Schmidt.

June Frances Nicholson: Bio Summary

Who is  Jack Nicholson’s mother?

June Frances Nicholson was born on November 5, 1918, in  Pittsfield, Massachusetts, United States to her parents  Ethel May Nicholson and John Joseph Nicholson. June Frances is famous as the mother of celebrated Hollywood actor Jack Nicholson. He was born on April 22, 1937, in Neptune City, New Jersey, the son of a showgirl, June Frances Nicholson (stage name June Nilson). Jack Nicholson’s mother was of Irish, English, German, and Welsh descent.

While comparing himself to the playwright Eugene O’Neill, whom he had the honor to play in the film Reds: “I’m not saying I’m as dark as he was … but I am a writer, I am Irish, I have had problems with my family.”

Jack Nicholson thought his mother was his sister

Jack Nicholson has always thought June Frances Nicholson was his sister and Ethel May Nicholson his mother. In 1974, the actor’s movie Chinatown was opening in theaters and Time Magazine chose to do a cover story on him.  A reporter who was working on the story for the Magazine called Nicholson up to verify some facts that would be in the article; among the information the reported wanted to verify, was the fact that the person who he’d thought was his sister, June Nicholson, was in fact his mother. 

Jack Nicholson at that time knew nothing about this, so denied it.  At this point his “sister” was dead, and so was his “mother”, dying in 1963 and 1970 respectively.

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Though he told the reporter that it was not true, Jack wanted to probe further to understand what was going on. The actor rang his “brother-in-law”, Shorty, the husband of his supposed other sister who was, in fact, his aunt, to verify the claim. 

Shorty who also knew nothing about this, told Nicholson that it wasn’t true and they ended the conversation.  Several hours later though, he got a phone call from Shorty: “Jack, it’s Shorty, I’m gonna put Lorraine on the phone.  I just want to say one thing – she’s been crying all night.  Here she is.” 

Lorraine, who he now found out was his aunt, not his sister, then told him his mother was in fact the deceased June, who he had thought was his sister and the woman he had thought was his mother, was in fact his grandmother. Nicholson was 37 years old at this point and both his real mother and the woman he had thought was his mother, were already dead;  both women had chosen not to tell him the truth about his birth.

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The reason for keeping such a piece of vital information was that his mother, Nicholson’s real mother June Frances Nicholson, had gotten pregnant with him at the age of 16. June’s mother wanted June to continue to pursue her promising dancing career, thus she would take care of Jack posing as his mother, with June as his sister.

Biographer Patrick McGilligan revealed in his book Jack’s Life that Eddie King (originally Edgar A. Kirschfeld), June’s manager, may have been Nicholson’s biological father, rather than Donald Furcillo. Other sources suggest June Nicholson was unsure of the father’s identity, Jack still doesn’t know who his father is but doesn’t care to find out either. His mother, June Frances Nicholson married Italian-American showman Donald Furcillo (stage name Donald Rose; 1909–1997) in 1936, before realizing that he was already married.

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What happened to Jack Nicholson’s mother June Frances Nicholson?

 On finding out, the “A Few Good Men” actor said it was “a pretty dramatic event, but it wasn’t what I’d call traumatizing … I was pretty well psychologically formed”. Jack Nicholson also said he is glad they kept this secret to their graves, “I didn’t have to deal with it with them. They were dead.”; “I am that kind of person-what do I feel-and had the tools to know what I feel. Gratitude. I’ve often said about them: Show me any women today who could keep a secret, confidence, or an intimacy to that degree, you got my kind of gal.”

Jack Nicholson’s mother June Frances Nicholson passed away on July 31, 1963. She was 45 years old at the time of her death. Jack Nicholson even spent time with his “sister”, who was his mother, at the hospital just before she passed away in 1963. 

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The actor was filming one of his first movies at the time and shooting in Mexico, so he had to leave her as he desperately needed the money and it was his first major film. June Frances Nicholson’s last words to his son were “Should I wait?” and he said “No” and left.  She died shortly thereafter succumbing to cancer; Jack got the call when he arrived in Mexico on location.