The film netted Nicholson his third nomination for Best Actor and elevated him from an acclaimed cult favorite to one of America’s most well-known actors.

By that time, Nicholson had begun a romantic relationship with Huston’s daughter, Anjelica, an actress and the third generation of a famous Hollywood family. They soon become one of the most prominent couples in Hollywood, endlessly scrutinized by the media and seen as the perfect blend of class, talent, and cool.

Nicholson finally took home Oscar gold in 1975 for his portrayal of mental patient Randle McMurphy in Milos Forman’s acclaimed drama One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. In addition to Nicholson’s Best Actor statue, the film scored four other major awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress (Louise Fletcher), and Best Adapted Screenplay. The film marked the high point of Nicholson’s career during the 1970s. He went on to make several poorly received films in the latter half of the decade, including the 1976 Western The Missouri Breaks, co-starring Marlon Brando, and a film adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s final novel, The Last Tycoon (1976), starring Robert De Niro.

Nicholson kicked off the 1980s with a manic, sometimes terrifying performance as a novelist driven insane in Stanley Kubrick’s film adaptation of Stephen King’s novel The Shining. Aside from such critical disappointments as The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981) and The Witches of Eastwick (1987), co-starring Cher, Susan Sarandon, and Michelle Pfeiffer, Nicholson won enormous acclaim throughout the next 10 years. He earned an Oscar nomination for his supporting role in Reds (1981), starring Warren Beatty (who also wrote and directed the film) and Diane Keaton. In 1983, Nicholson took home his second Academy Award, this time for Best Supporting Actor, for his portrayal of the womanizing ex-astronaut Garrett Breedlove in Terms of Endearment, starring Shirley MacLaine and Debra Winger. He garnered two more Oscar nods for Best Actor for Prizzi’s Honor (1985) and Ironweed, co-starring Meryl Streep. Other films included Heartburn, also with Streep, and Broadcast News, starring Albert Brooks, William Hurt, and Holly Hunter.

In 1989, a gleefully wicked Nicholson appeared as The Joker in Tim Burton’s blockbuster hit Batman, co-starring Michael Keaton and Kim Basinger. Nicholson’s merchandising deal for the movie reportedly helped net him close to $50 million. The next year, Nicholson had considerably less success with The Two Jakes, a sequel to Chinatown that he produced, directed, and starred in alongside Harvey Keitel and Meg Tilly.

After working for a total of only two weeks on the set of A Few Good Men (1992), Nicholson scored an Oscar nomination for his supporting role as the menacing Marine colonel Nathan Jessup.