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 Burt Lancaster
Birthday: November 2, 1913
Birth
Place: New York, New York, USA
Height: 6' 1"
Below
is a complete filmography (list of movies he's appeared in) for
Burt Lancaster. If you have any corrections or additions, please email
us at corrections@actorsofhollywood.com.
We'd also be interested in any trivia or other information you have.
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| Biography
Burt Lancaster was one of five children born to a New York City postal worker. He was a tough street kid who took an early interest in gymnastics. He joined the circus as an acrobat and worked there until he was injured. It was in the Army during WW II that he was introduced to the USO and acting. His first film was The Killers (1946), and that made him a star. He was a self-taught actor who learned the business as he went along. He set up his own production company in 1948 with Harold Hecht and James Hill to direct his career. He played many different roles in pictures as varied as The Crimson Pirate (1952), From Here to Eternity (1953), Elmer Gantry (1960) and Atlantic City (1980).His production company, Hecht-Hill-Lancaster, produced the such films as Paddy Chayefsky's Marty (1955) (Oscar winner 1955) and The Catered Affair (1956). In the 1980s he appeared as a supporting player in a number of movies, such as Local Hero (1983) and Field of Dreams (1989). However, it will be the sound of his voice, the way that he laugh, and the larger-than-life characters he played that will always be remembered.
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Movie
Credits
Trivia
- Chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (#100). [1995]
- Graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School in New York [1930]
- Ranked #85 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list. [October 1997]
- Started out as a circus performer.
- Father of actor/writer Bill Lancaster.
- Was a close, longtime friend of Kirk Douglas.
- Was a big fan of the silent film The Unknown (1927), probably partially because the movie took place in a circus, and Burt himself spent a lot of time early in his life in a circus. He once said that no scene in any movie affected him as emotionally as the one in this movie in which Lon Chaney learns that Joan Crawford does not love him.
- Suffered a severe stroke while visiting actor Dana Andrews, who was suffering from Alzheimer's Disease. Lancaster remained hospitalized until February 1991, and incapacitated and unable to speak until his death. [November 1990]
- Was 'Cecil B. Demille' 's first choice to play Samson in Samson and Delilah (1949).
- One of his favorite drinks was Aquavit. He also enjoyed martinis.
- 5 children: Jimmy, Bill, Susan, Joanna and Sighle.
- Son Jimmy was diagnosed as schizophrenic.
- According to Kate Buford in her biography "Burt Lancaster: An American Life," he felt competitive with Marlon Brando, who achieved stardom playing Stanley Kowalski on Broadway, a role Lancaster turned down. A Top 10 box-office success in the early 1960s, it was this sense of competition with Brando, who was known as both an actor's actor and a major movie star, that led Lancaster to plunge into art films and riskier fare such as Luchino Visconti's Gattopardo, Il (1963), in order to prove himself as an actor and be known as an artist rather than just a movie star. After this refocusing of his career, he slipped out of the Top 10 and never again was a major box office attraction.
- Descended from Irish Protestants from Ulster who emigrated to the United States in the 1880s.
- Known for his liberal political sympathies, he was one of the Hollywood movie stars, along with Marlon Brando, Sammy Davis Jr., Charlton Heston, Sidney Poitier and Paul Newman, who participated in Martin Luther King's March on Washington in August 1963. He flew home from Europe, where he was making a film, to participate. He was a financial supporter of King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
- In 1947 he was offered the role of Stanley Kowalski in the original Broadway production of "A Streetcar Named Desire" after first choice John Garfield was rejected due to his demands for a ownership percentage of the play. He turned down the role that went to Marlon Brando and made him a legend.
- He was voted the 39th Greatest Movie Star of all time by Entertainment Weekly.
- One of his demands was that he have a high bar set up on sets and locations so he could perform acrobatics and stay in shape.
- He admitted that an odd thing always happened to him on a movie set. He would complain about everything, sometimes very loudly. By the end of the shoot however, the crews loved him and hated to see him go, despite his complaints. He never understood why that happened.
- He was an infamous ladies man in Hollywood, which eventually irritated his wife, Norma, enough for her to leave him.
- Until undergoing emergency quadruple heart bypass surgery in 1983, he maintained the fantastic physical health he attained as an acrobat in his youth. He impressed many who knew him with his apparently enormous strength.
- Felt intimidated by co-star Montgomery Clift on the set of From Here to Eternity (1953) due to Clift's great talent.
- Despite his enduring stardom, he surprisingly only placed in Quigley Publications' Top 10 Poll of Money-Making Stars twice: #4 in 1956 and #10 in 1963. The annual poll of movie exhibitors ranks the top stars in terms of box-office drawing power. Even more surprisingly, his friend and co-star Kirk Douglas never made the list during his career.
- Robert Altman wanted Lancaster for the role of Ned Buntline in Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson (1976) because he had the "stature" of a great movie star but was "able to play that as a kind of bullshitter", which was what Altman conceived the character to be: "He understood totally the bullshit factor and what he was playing." Buntline, a real-life writer of nickel Westerns, had invented Buffalo Bill Cody as a western hero; Altman knew that Lancaster had invented himself as a star, a new kind of star that had revolutionized the movies in the 1950s.
- His son Bill Lancaster's screenplay for The Bad News Bears (1976) was based on his experience being coached by his father. Bill had been disabled by polio as a child, and according to friend Joel Douglas--the son of Kirk Douglas--the Tatum O'Neal character in the film, the odd kid out, was Bill. The coach played by Walter Matthau was based on Burt, who was known for his grumpiness.
- Came up with 0,000 of his own money to complete Go Tell the Spartans (1978) after the production ran out of money with five days left to shoot. The shooting schedule already had been pared from 40 to 31 days to save money.
- After placing tenth place in the Motion Picture Herald poll of most popular box-office stars in 1962, he dropped to 18th place in 1963 and never again appeared on the list.
- Allegedly showed up at a Hollywood Oscar party in the late 1950s wearing a G-string and spray-painted gold, resembling an Academy Award statuette.
- Was forced by United Artists to make four films for 0,000 a picture in the 1960s: The Young Savages (1961), Birdman of Alcatraz (1962), The Train (1964) and The Hallelujah Trail (1965) rather than his normal fee of 0,000, because of cost overruns at his production company, Hecht-Hill-Lancaster, for which he was personally responsible.
- In January 1980, he almost died during a routine operation to remove his gallbladder, when the operation, which should have lasted five hours, turned into an 11-hour ordeal. After the organ was removed, a team of doctors worked to repair an unusually small channel from the gallbladder to the intestines, although Lancaster later told a friend that a doctor had accidentally cut into a valve. A doctor reportedly got down on the floor to pray for the actor's life. Lancaster was in intensive care for 48-hours after the operation.
- He made a great deal of money off of Airport (1970), which was a huge hit, due to a 10% profit participation once the movie hit million. (the film grossed .3 million in North America alone). Lancaster said that the movie was "the worst piece of junk ever made."
- Told Bruce Davison, his co-star in Ulzana's Raid (1972), of a practical joke he played on Kirk Douglas, who was several inches shorter than Lancaster: "I'll never forget the time we were getting ready for our big two-shot and I hid his lifts on him. He was so pissed!"
- His first TV role was a guest appearance on "Sesame Street" (1969) in 1969, reciting the alphabet.
- A self-described atheist, Lancaster had turned down the role in the remake of Ben-Hur (1959) played by Charlton Heston, but followed in Heston's footsteps when he played the title role in Moses the Lawgiver (1975) (TV), the -million TV epic produced by Britain's ATV-ITC and Italy's RAI Television. When a reporter asked him if he was following in Heston's sandal-clad steps, Lancaster replied, "If Charlton was trapped in biblical films, it was his own fault - he accepted the limitation." Though Lancaster claimed he was an atheist, some of his friends doubted him.
- Turned down the lead in Patton (1970) due to his anti-Vietnam War sympathies, but actively campaigned for the title role in "Patton" screenwriter Francis Ford Coppola's next movie, The Godfather (1972). He offered to do a screen test for the role of Don Corleone, and even though Paramount brass was interested in casting him, Coppola wanted Marlon Brando, and got him after Brando made his own "screen-test" (actually a video Coppola shot of him improvising a makeup for the old Don). Both George C. Scott and Brando won, and refused, Oscars for the roles.
- An unabashed political liberal, chairman of the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Southern California and an active campaigner for George McGovern in the 1972 Presidential election, Lancaster was one of the 575 people named on President Richard Nixon's 1973 "Enemies List," along with fellow actors Gene Hackman and Paul Newman, "Playboy" magazine publisher Hugh M. Hefner and TV producer Norman Lear.
- Helped pay for the defense of Private Billy Dean Smith, an African American soldier accused of 'fragging' two officers in Vietnam in 1971. Lancaster gave ,000 to his defense attorneys to hire ballistics experts to testify at his court-martial. Smith was acquitted.
- Was cast in Old Gringo (1989) but was informed by Columbia when he arrived in Mexico City for rehearsals in December 1988 that he was being replaced with Gregory Peck, as the insurance for him was too high. He sued Columbia for his .5-million fee, and made an out-of-court settlement.
- Had tried to raise financing for four years for Hector Babenco's film of Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), based on the novel by Manuel Puig, after Babenco gave him the novel in 1981 at the NY Film Critics Society Ceremony. Lancaster was to have played the role of Molina, the gay hairdresser who shares a cell with Valentin, a political prisoner. However, Lancaster had a heart attack in June 1983, and subsequently a quadruple-bypass operation, and at the age of 70, he was essentially uninsurable. He had to withdraw from roles in Maria's Lovers (1984), Gorky Park (1983), Firestarter (1984) and the TV mini-series "A.D." (1985) (mini). The film was later made for less than million with William Hurt in the role Lancaster wanted to play. Hurt won a Best Actor Oscar as Molina.
- Turned down a -million offer to appear in the remake of Ben-Hur (1959). If he had accepted the offer, he would have beaten both Elizabeth Taylor (Cleopatra (1963)) as the first female star and Marlon Brando (The Fugitive Kind (1959)) as the first male star, to breach that million-dollar threshold.
- In July 1965, United Artists made a settlement with Lancaster to end is association with his production company, Hecht-Hill-Lancaster, which had financially floundered in the late 1950s due to a few flops and exorbitant spending, and wound up operations in 1959. The payoff amount was 0,954.85, approximately ,223,000 in 2003 dollars. In 1964, part of the proposed settlement with UA had been for Lancaster to star in Khartoum (1966) but that role eventually was played by Charlton Heston.
- Was named the #19 greatest actor on the 50 Greatest Screen Legends by the American Film Institute
- During World War II, he served as a member of the Special Services branch, entertaining troops. He was stationed in Italy for much of the war.
- He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located at 6801 Hollywood Blvd.
- Suffered his first heart attack during the making of Cattle Annie and Little Britches (1981) in 1979.
- He and Kirk Douglas acted together in 7 movies: Victory at Entebbe (1976) (TV), Tough Guys (1986), Seven Days in May (1964), The List of Adrian Messenger (1963), I Walk Alone (1948), Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957) and The Devil's Disciple (1959)
- Lancaster lost out on two roles he lobbied for to Marlon Brando (roles that helped make Brando a legend): that of Stanley Kowalski in 'A Streetcar Named Desire' (1951) and that of Don Vito Corleone in 'The Godfather' (1972) .
- He was not as good of a friend with Kirk Douglas as was often perceived. The closeness of their friendship was largely fabricated by the publicity-wise Douglas, while, in reality, Lancaster was often cruel and dismissive to Douglas.
- One of the very few humanitarian causes he publicly associated himself with was AIDS research. In 1985 he read out a letter from Rock Hudson announcing he was dying of AIDS, although there was later some controversy as to whether the letter had been written by Rock or his secretary. This was at a Hollywood dinner to raise awareness, which only a very few stars such as Elizabeth Taylor and Burt Reynolds dared attend. In 1988 there was a poster of Lancaster holding a rose and a caption urging people to be careful.
- Was considered for the role of Jason Colby in "Dynasty II: The Colby's."
- Luchino Visconti wanted to cast Laurence Olivier in the title role of the Italian prince in "The Leopard" (1963), but his producer overruled him. The producer insisted on a box office star to justify the lavish production's high budget and essentially forced Visconti to accept Burt Lancaster. A decade later, the two Oscar-winning actors competed again for the role of another Italian prince, Mafia chieftain Don Corleone, in "The Godfather" (1972), ultimately losing out to Marlon Brando.
- Shared a birthday with Luchino Visconti, who directed him in "Leopard, The" and "Conversation Piece".
- Died the very same year as his long-time friend, circus acrobat partner and frequent co-star Nick Cravat.
- His performance as J.J. Hunsecker in "Sweet Smell of Success" (1957) is ranked #76 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006).
- Frequently compared with the Dutch actor Sir Dirk Bogarde. Both achieved stardom in purely commercial films, then deliberately broke away from their images to star in artistic films and in so doing lost their box office popularity. Both actors were directed twice to great effect by Luchino Visconti - Lancaster in Gattopardo, Il (1963) and Gruppo di famiglia in un interno (1974), Bogarde in Caduta degli dei, La (1969) and Morte a Venezia (1971).
- Attended Visconti's funeral in Rome in March 1976.
- His performance as J.J. Hunsecker in "Sweet Smell of Success" (1957) is ranked #61 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time.
- Lancaster stood 6' 1" at his peak, as can be seen in Vera Cruz (1954) where he is clearly two inches shorter than the 6' 3" 'Gary Cooper' .
Naked Photos of Burt Lancaster are available at MaleStars.com. They
currently feature over 65,000 Nude Pics, Biographies, Video Clips,
Articles, and Movie Reviews of famous stars. |
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