Jerry Lewis became famous through imitation, starting as a record mime and often borrowing from other performers in stage, TV, and film acts. Ironically, while he built his success on impersonation, Lewis resented and even hindered those who mimicked him, including Sammy Petrillo, whose career Jerry deliberately stalled. Lewis’s films frequently adapted or referenced earlier works, and he both paid homage to and borrowed from silent film greats. Despite many comedians and impersonators drawing on Lewis’s style, he typically treated them with suspicion or hostility. His professional life was marked by this contradiction: a legend made by imitation who disliked being imitated. The chapter also touches on his mysterious, never-released film, The Day the Clown Cried, adding to his enigmatic legacy.