Jack Nicholson

In the 1989 Batman movie, Nicholson played the psychotic murderer and villain, The Joker. The film was an international smash hit, and a lucrative percentage deal earned him a percentage of the box office gross estimated at $60 million to $90 million.[50] Nicholson said that he was "particularly proud" of his performance as the Joker: "I considered it a piece of pop art," he said.

Nineteen years before millennials were mesmerized by Heath Ledger's iconic depiction of The Joker in "The Dark Knight," Generation X-ers were similarly blown away by Nicholson's performance in the same role in "Batman." Although some have argued that Nicholson's Joker has been overshadowed by Ledger's updated take, it's almost impossible to imagine Ledger having the comfort to stray from Cesar Romero's campy precedent (to say nothing of Mark Hamill doing likewise in the Batman animated series) without Nicholson clearing the way for them.

A wildly divisive take on the world of Batman and Gotham City, this is Jack’s ‘rock star’ performance. You know, his cinematic equivalent of Mick Jagger or Freddie Mercury in full flight on stage as front men for, respectively, their bands The Rolling Stones and Queen.

Jack is nothing short of utterly magnetic and iconic as The Joker in Tim Burton’s take on the material. Comedic and utterly psychotic at the same time, one simply can’t take their eyes off him for every nanosecond he is on screen. This is the role that truly pushed the actor into ‘iconic’ status as far as the world in general was concerned.

Given the source material, Nicholson could have really made the supercriminal a cartoon, but for all his antics, he really gets across the characters mix of anarchy, avarice, jealousy, cruelty, and sick humor -- all while his face is stuck in perma-grin. No wonder he got top billing over hero Michael Keaton.

Jack Nicholson described the Joker as “a psychopathic, mass-murdering, schizophrenic clown with zero empathy,” and said that playing the role was so disturbing that he “slept an average of two hours a night” during filming.

Before Heath Ledger, Jack proved that a super-villain could be campy, scary, funny, and brilliant all at once.

In his career choices, Nicholson has deftly shifted from riskier projects to more commercial ones. This one most obviously falls into the latter category, as the actor brings comics’ most famous villain to theaters like never before. As the Joker, Nicholson manages to handily outshine co-star Michael Keaton and establish the definitive version of the Clown Prince of Crime, at least until Heath Ledger inhabited the role in 2008 for The Dark Knight

Jack as The Joker in Tim Burton's 1989 Batman stole the movie with an energetically hammy performance.

It might look cartoonishly over-played compared to Heath Ledger's sinister anarcho-grunge turn, but there's a reason Jack Nicholson's turn as the Joker was considered the seminal interpretation of the Batman villain, especially considering Cesar Romero's interpretation as a trilling campfest in Ronald McDonald pancake make-up. Nicholson plays it for comedic effect, with enough of a subtle threat of violence to set your teeth on edge.

Michael Keaton had top billing in director Tim Burton’s 1989 film Batman, but Jack Nicholson was the real star in his role as “The Joker.” Nicholson earned critical praise and played a key role in the film’s huge box-office and home video bonanza. He also earned an estimated $60 million in royalties from the movie.

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.