Jack Nicholson surprised viewers with a rare appearance for Saturday Night Live’s 50th anniversary special on Sunday (16 February).
The reclusive actor and Hollywood icon is rarely seen in public and was only spotted for the first time in years in a rare family photo last month.
However, he joined a host of celebrities to celebrate the comedy sketch show’s 50th year anniversary over the weekend.
The 87-year-old was joined by his daughter Rebecca Broussard, 34. From his seat in the audience, The Shining star introduced a performance by Adam Sandler. The actors starred in 2003 film Anger Management together.
“Ladies and gentleman, Adam Sandler,” Nicholson, who was wearing New York Yankees beret and purple tinted shades, said. “Yeah, baby! Let’s hear it for Jack, baby,” Sandler said before singing his ballad and ode to SNL.
“Jack made it out tonight. Love you, brother,” he added.
Although Nicholson had not been seen for years, actor Carol Kane provided an update on the star last year as she confirmed they were still in touch.
“Not a lot, but we keep at it. I make sure to check in on him, and thank goodness he’s still answering my calls, she told The Independent.
“Oh, he’s still Jack,” she said when asked if the actor was doing ok.
For The Independent last year, Geoffrey Macnab explored Nicholson’s unexplained absence from public life.
“There was a time when the actor was spotted everywhere: in nightclubs, on chat shows, at basketball matches, at movie premieres. No more,” wrote Macnab. “The actor has performed a vanishing act. It is 14 years since his last movie, the rapidly forgotten romcom How Do You Know. One of his friends, music producer Lou Adler, told the WTF podcast that Nicholson now prefers to spend his time ‘sitting under a tree and reading a book.’”
He continued: “It’s arguably a deserved (if unofficial) retirement. Nicholson can justifiably claim to be the greatest, most charismatic and versatile of all the stars of his era. ‘He was the king and is still the king, really,’ Oscar-winning producer Jeremy Thomas tells me. ‘He was the people’s king…’”
Other surprise appearances at Sunday’s SNL event included Ryan Reynolds, who joked about the scandal involving his wife Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni.
Meanwhile, earlier in the weekend, Will Ferrell and Ana Gasteyer encouraged beefing rappers Kendrick Lamar and Drake to “hug it out” as they reprised their roles as music teachers the Culps.
