Jack Nicholson Update Revealed by Danny DeVito

Danny DeVito shared a rare update on his close friend Jack Nicholson.

The two worked together on One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest fifty years ago and have remained friends since.

Ahead of the fiftieth anniversary of the film, DeVito told PEOPLE that “I just saw Jack a couple weeks ago—it was his birthday a month ago, and he’s great.”

Nicholson, who is now 88, has mostly shied away from public appearances in recent years. Formerly ubiquitous courtside at Los Angeles Lakers games and red-carpet events, the actor is now rarely seen. However, he did make a highly-touted appearance during Saturday Night Live‘s 50th anniversary special in February.

DeVito and Nicholson would later work together again several times, including the 1978 comedy Goin’ South, the 1983 Best Picture winner Terms of Endearment, the 1992 biopic Hoffa, and Tim Burton’s 1996 sci-fi comedy Mars Attacks!.

Speaking with PEOPLE, DeVito shared how he and the other actors in Cuckoo’s Nest were “in awe” of Nicholson’s acting ability.

“We’re in the presence of this guy who’s really at his moment, where he was breaking out into the big time,” he said. “He was immediately just so embracing…He started out exactly the way everybody else did, where he couldn’t get a job. It was like he came to Hollywood and he was going to just write and direct, and then Easy Rider comes along after the Corman stuff… So he was in our milieu, and he was always just as open and genuine, and we all felt it immediately.”

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest went on to be one of three films in history to claim all five major Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay.