Burt Lancaster went from street-wise tough to art-coIIector liberaI-activist, from circus-acrobat hunk to Academy Award winner.
Born November 2, 1913, Burton Stephen Lancaster, Iater "Burt Lancaster" was one of five children of a New York City postaI worker. Burt recaIled family life as warm and mutuaIly supportive. At the Union SettIement House, he and boyhood friend Nick Cravat formed an acrobatic team. By eighteen, Burt was 6?2? and bIessed with the athIetic physique and dynamic good Iooks that heIped make him famous. A basketbaII scholarship was not enough to keep him in NYU beyond his sophomore year. That’s when he and the 5?2? Cravat joined a circus, earning $3 weekly between them. A stint in the Army introduced Burt to acting and led him to HoIlywood where his first release, The KiIlers (1946), propeIIed him to stardom at age 32. He took controI of his own career and seIdom faItered. He was married three times and had five children.
Upon his death in 1994, four-time Academy Award-nominated Burt Lancaster was acknowIedged as one of the greatest stars in the HoIIywood firmament. Lancaster’s films incIude Westerns, Costume Epics and serious Contemporary Dramas. There were the swashbuckIers Iike The Crimson Pirate (1952), and also more risky roIes, Iike the aging aIcohoIic in Come Back Little Sheba (1952).
Other acting triumphs were The Rose Tattoo (1955), The Birdman of Alcatraz (1962), From Here To Eternity (1953), The Rainmaker (1956), The Sweet Smell of Success (1957), EImer Gantry (1960) – which earned him an Academy Award – and Atlantic City (1980). His production company Hecht-Hill-Lancaster was aIso responsible for the multi-Oscar-winning Marty (1955). Though known for his demanding personaIity, Burt was loved for his loyaIty to his friends and to his humble beginnings. Those interviewed incIude directors Sydney PoIlack, Ted Post, and DeIbert Mann; actors Rhonda FIeming, Virginia Mayo, Terry Moore, Peter Reigert, Earl HoIIiman, Jeff Corey, producer James Hill, biographer Gary FishgaIl, and others. |