Reports from Hollywood claim that Jack Nicholson has quietly ended his long and illustrious movie career because he can’t remember his lines any more.

Yet the star, still the most nominated performer in the history of the Academy Awards, has been responsible for many memorable lines over his 50-year career.

Here, we celebrate ten of his very best.

10. The Witches of Eastwick (1987)

“I’m just your average horny little devil.”

George Miller’s broad fantasy found its perfect antihero in Nicholson. The actor’s devilish charm made him the ideal choice for the role of Daryl van Horne, the actor displaying his comic talents in a performance that doesn’t so much see him dominate the film as walk off with it under his arm.

Video Loading

9. Little Shop of Horrors (1960)

“No novocaine – it dulls the senses!”

One of the actor’s earliest roles saw Nicholson play a creepily enthusiastic patient in Roger Corman’s cult classic. With a sinister laugh, Nicholson suggests he’d rather go to the dentist than anywhere, before demanding to proceed without painkillers so he can feel the drill burrowing in.

Video Loading

8. Chinatown (1974)

“I goddamn near lost my nose – and I like it. I like breathing through it. And I still think you’re hiding something.”

Nicholson’s PI Jake Gittes meets his match in Faye Dunaway’s femme fatale in Roman Polanski’s LA noir, suffering a nasty injury for spying on her cheating husband. Nominated for a Best Actor Oscar, Jack had to settle for winning a Golden Globe instead.

Video Loading

7. Easy Rider (1969)

“You know…this used to be a hell of a good country.”

Dennis Hopper’s seminal road movie gave Nicholson his big Hollywood break, the actor replacing the originally cast Rip Torn as biker George Hanson. The film, which portrays the counterculture movement in the late Sixties, saw Nicholson earn the first of 12 career Academy Award nominations.

Video Loading

6. The Departed (2006)

“I don’t want to be a product of my environment. I want my environment to be a product of me.”

Another Academy nod came in Martin Scorsese’s twisting crime thriller, which saw Nicholson in a high-profile supporting role as Boston mob boss Frank Costello. In a film of great performances, Nicholson’s stands out, a role he inhabits with scenery-chewing relish.

Video Loading

5. Batman (1989)

“Where does he get those wonderful toys?”

By the late Eighties, Nicholson was such a huge star he was able to negotiate a cut of the profits from Tim Burton’s take on the Caped Crusader, a savvy move that netted him a reported $60 million in the process. Few would argue that he deserved it for a flamboyant performance that utterly dominates the film.

Video Loading

4. As Good as it Gets (1997)

“You make me want to be a better man.”

James L. Brooks’ much-loved romantic comedy saw Nicholson win his second Best Actor Oscar. As misanthropic OCD sufferer Mervin Udall, he begins a tentative romance with Helen Hunt’s single mother, leading to him offering the best compliment he can possibly give her.

Video Loading

3. One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest  (1976)

“What do you think you are, crazy or something? Well, you’re not! You’re not!”

Jack’s first Oscar win was for his role as one of cinema’s most unlikely heroes in Milos Forman’s adaptation of Ken Kesey’s influential novel. As petty criminal Randle P.McMurphy leads an uprising in a mental institution, Nicholson delivers a truly incendiary screen performance.

Video Loading

2. The Shining (1980)

“Heeeere’s Johnny!”

The climax of Stanley Kubrick’s horror classic sees Nicholson’s possessed novelist Jack Torrance pursuing a terrified Shelley Duvall through the Overlook Hotel. In the film’s most iconic moment, he hacks a hole in the bathroom door, leering through and delivering one of the most famous ad-libs in movie history.  

Video Loading

1. A Few Good Men (1992)

“You can’t handle the truth!”

Rob Reiner’s electrifying courtroom drama sees Nicholson’s Colonel Jessup crack under questioning from Tom Cruise’s persistent attorney. Angrily justifying his role in ordering the unlawful killing of a wayward marine, Nicholson snarls the above line, once voted the most memorable movie quote ever.

Video Loading