Remembering Jack Lemmon 20 years after his death with seven great films

Throughout his varied and celebrated career, actor Jack Lemmon, who died 20 years ago Sunday, appeared in more than 60 films, including “Some Like It Hot,” “Mister Roberts” and “Save the Tiger.”

In order of release date, here are seven of two-time Academy Award winner Lemmon’s best films.

“Mister Roberts” (1955): Restless and in desperate need of shore leave, the dispirited crew of the U.S. Navy cargo ship Reluctant spend the last days of World War II in the “backwater” areas of the Pacific Ocean. The crew’s vindictive captain (James Cagney) seems determined to spend the remaining days of World War II terrorizing the men, but his executive officer, Lt. Doug Roberts (Henry Fonda) refuses to submit to the enemy, both at home and away. With the help of his bunkmate Ensign Frank Thurlowe Pulver (Lemmon), Roberts secures shore leave for the men and a transfer to the front for himself. Lemmon won best supporting actor at the Academy Awards for his role. “Mister Roberts” is available on YouTube.

“Some Like It Hot” (1959): After witnessing a gang-related shootout, two male musicians ( Tony Curtis and Lemmon) “drag up” and join an all-female band led by singer Sugar Kane (Marilyn Monroe) to escape discovery. “Some Like It Hot” is available on Amazon Prime Video.

“The Apartment” (1960): Bud Baxter (Lemmon), a lonely insurance salesman, attempts to further his career by letting higher-ups at his company use his apartment for a series of romantic trysts. But the plot thickens when Baxter stumbles into a romance of his own. “The Apartment” is available on “YouTube.”

“The Great Race” (1965): The devious Professor Fate (Lemmon), the great Leslie (Curtis) and the brilliant Maggie Dubois (Natalie Wood) go head to head in a globe-spanning automobile race in this action-packed comedy. “The Great Race” is available Hulu.

“The Odd Couple” (1968): Sports writer Oscar Madison (Walter Matthau) invites his soon-to-be-divorced friend Felix Ungar (Lemmon) to share his apartment while he finds a new place to live. But only a week into their arrangement, both are near their wit’s end. “The Odd Couple” is available on Amazon Prime Video.

“Save the Tiger” (1973): Harry Stoner (Lemmon), a disillusioned war veteran running a fashion company in Los Angeles, finds his morals tested as the fate of his business threatens to fall further into obscurity. Lemmon won best actor at the Academy Awards for his role, his second career statuette. “Save the Tiger” is available on YouTube and Pluto TV.

“Missing” (1982): Based on Thomas Hauser’s “The Execution of Charles Horman: An American Sacrifice,” the film follows Ed Horman (Lemmon) as he attempts to find his journalist son (John Shea), missing after a coup d’etat in Chile. “Missing” is available on Amazon.

An earlier version of this story misstated the cast of “The Odd Couple,” due to a reporter’s error.