Not just he was not a method actor he was a non actor and his biggest strength was that he knew that he is a very limited actor and so he hardly ever tried to rely on his acting skills to carry a film. Jeetendra stayed in the industry because of the following reasons-
Very professional and punctual- Jeetendra was a thorough profesional who always reported on time, did everything the directors told him, never wasted his producer’s money, and never delayed his shootings. Once a magazine asked him why he does all those senseless stuff in his films, to which he replied “I better embarass myself in front of audience rather than embarassing my audience”. He never did any exceptional masterpiece film but he did enough to keep his producer happy. He also made sure he was physically fit and agile and never looked out of shape in his whole career, which added to his longevity.
Reinventing himself- unlike Romantic hero Rajesh Khanna or Angry young man Amitabh, Jeetendra didn't had a set image. He has given hits in all genres and whenever he hit a roadblock he switched the gears. Like when he lost all his savings in Deedar E Yaar, he switched to South remake films and worked in 60 films in 5 years to earn back the lost money. He has hits in all genres including Spy Suspense drama (Farz), Romantic (Geet Gaya Pattharo ne, Khushboo, Jeene ki Raah), Action Masala (Farz aur Kanoon, Himmatwala), Social Drama (Meri Aawaz Suno, Parichay), Family Drama (Bidai, Swarg se Sundar, Aasha, Pyasa Sawan, Apnapan), Heroine centric films (Judai, Mang Bharo Sajna, Sindoor, Sanjog), Horror (Jaani Dushman, Nagin), etc. Unlike many actors he had no qualms doing multi starrer, heroine centric and second fiddle roles throughout his career.
Played it Safe- Jeetendra never went for excellence he looked for the safest route of success- remakes of successful south films. Since his breakthrough role in Farz (1967) which was a South remake, he owes all his major hits to South remakes from Bidai to Judai to Meri Aawaz Suno to Himmatwala, tohfa, Swarg se Sundar etc etc. more than half of his films are South remakes which were formulaic stuff and generated good profits making him a major star in the 80s when South remakes saw a massive boom.
Hanged his boots at the right time- Unlike Dharmendra and Mithun, who went on to do B grade films out of desperation to earn quick money, Jeetendra decided to hang his boots by 1997 when his career as a lead actor plummeted. He made way for his daughter Ekta to establish and run their production house, and he retired comfortably without dampening his overall legacy.