Oscar Actors: Lancaster, Burt–Background, Career, Awards, Filmography

Burt Lancaster Career Summary:

Burton Stephen Lancaster (November 2, 1913–October 20, 1994) was an American actor and producer. Initially known for playing tough guys with a tender heart, he went on to achieve success with more complex and challenging roles over a 45-year career in film.

He was a four-time nominee for the Best Actor Oscar (winning once), and won two BAFTA Awards.

Lancaster performed as a circus acrobat in the 1930s. After serving in World War II, the 32-year-old Lancaster landed a role in a Broadway play and drew the attention of a Hollywood agent.

His breakthrough role was the film noir The Killers in 1946 alongside Ava Gardner. A critical success, it launched both of their careers.

In 1953, Lancaster played the illicit lover of Deborah Kerr in the military drama From Here to Eternity. A box office smash, it won eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and landed a Best Actor nomination for Lancaster. In 1956, he starred in The Rainmaker, with Katharine Hepburn, earning a Best Actor Golden Globe nomination, and in Gunfight at the O.K. Corral in 1957, with frequent co-star Kirk Douglas.

During the 1950s, his production company, Hecht-Hill-Lancaster, was highly successful, with Lancaster acting in films such as: Trapeze in 1956, a box office smash in which he used his acrobatic skills; Sweet Smell of Success (1957), a dark drama today considered a classic; Run Silent, Run Deep (1958), a WWII submarine drama with Clark Gable; and Separate Tables (1958), a hotel-set drama which received seven Oscar nominations.

In the early 1960s, Lancaster starred in a string of critically successful films, each in very disparate roles. Playing a charismatic biblical con-man in Elmer Gantry in 1960 won him the Academy Award and the Golden Globe for Best Actor. He played a Nazi war criminal in 1961 in the all-star, war-crime-trial film, Judgment at Nuremberg.

Playing a bird expert prisoner in Birdman of Alcatraz in 1962, he earned the BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actor and his third Oscar nomination.

In 1963, Lancaster traveled to Italy to star as an Italian prince in the epic period drama The Leopard.

In 1964, he played a US Air Force General who, opposed by a Colonel played by Kirk Douglas, tries to overthrow the President in Seven Days in May. Then, in 1966, he played an explosives expert in the western The Professionals.

In 1970, Lancaster starred in the box-office hit, air-disaster drama Airport. He experienced a career resurgence in 1980 with the crime-romance Atlantic City, winning the BAFTA for Best Actor and landing his fourth Oscar nomination. Starting in the late 1970s, he also appeared in television mini-series, including the award-winning Separate but Equal with Sidney Poitier.

He continued acting into his late 70s, until a stroke in 1990 forced him to retire; four years later he died from a heart attack.

His final film role was in the Oscar-nominated Field of Dreams.

The American Film Institute ranks Lancaster as #19 of the greatest male stars of classic Hollywood cinema.

Lancaster was born on November 2, 1913, in Manhattan, New York, at his parents’ home at 209 East 106th Street, the son of Elizabeth (née Roberts) and mailman James Lancaster. Both of his parents were Protestants of working-class origin.

All four of his grandparents were immigrants from Northern Ireland to the U.S., from the province of Ulster; his maternal grandparents were from Belfast and were descendants of English immigrants to Ireland.

Lancaster grew up in East Harlem and spent much of his time on the streets. He developed interest and skill in gymnastics while attending DeWitt Clinton High School, where he was a basketball star. Before he graduated from DeWitt Clinton, his mother died of a cerebral hemorrhage.

Lancaster was accepted by New York University with an athletic scholarship, but subsequently dropped out.

At the age of 9, Lancaster met Nick Cravat with whom he developed lifelong partnership.  They learned to act in local theatre productions and circus arts at Union Settlement, one of the city’s settlement houses.

In the 1930s, they formed the acrobat duo Lang and Cravat and soon joined the Kay Brothers circus. However, in 1939, an injury forced Lancaster to give up the profession. He then found temporary work, first as salesman for Marshall Fields and then as singing waiter in restaurants.

Lancaster joined the U.S. Army in 1942 and performed with the Army’s 21st Special Services Division, one of the military groups organized to follow the troops on the ground and provide USO entertainment to keep up morale. He served with General Mark Clark’s Fifth Army in Italy from 1943 to 1945.

Lancaster returned to NY after his Army service. Initially unenthusiastic about acting, Lancaster was encouraged to audition for Broadway play by a producer who saw him in an elevator while he was visiting his then-girlfriend at work. The audition was successful and Lancaster was cast in Harry Brown’s “A Sound of Hunting” (1945). The show only ran three weeks, but his performance attracted the interest of a Hollywood agent, Harold Hecht.  Hecht promised him the opportunity to produce their own movies within five years of hitting Hollywood.

Through Hecht, Lancaster was brought to the attention of producer Hal B. Wallis, who signed him to non-exclusive eight-movie contract.

Lancaster’s first movie was in Lewis Allen’s Desert Fury for Wallis in 1947, where Lancaster was billed after John Hodiak and Lizabeth Scott. It was directed by

Then producer Mark Hellinger approached him to star in 1946’s The Killers, which was completed and released prior to Desert Fury. Directed by Robert Siodmak, it was a commercial and critical success, and launched Lancaster and his co-star Ava Gardner to stardom. It has since come to be regarded as a classic.

Hellinger used Lancaster again on Brute Force in 1947, a prison drama written by Richard Brooks and directed by Jules Dassin, which was also well received. Wallis released his films through Paramount, and so Lancaster and other Wallis contractees made cameos in Variety Girl in 1947.

Lancaster’s next film was a thriller for Wallis in 1947, I Walk Alone, co-starring Lizabeth Scott and a young Kirk Douglas, also under contract to Wallis.

In 1948, Lancaster had change of pace with the film adaptation of Arthur Miller’s All My Sons, made at Universal with Edward G. Robinson.

His third film for Wallis was an adaptation of Sorry, Wrong Number in 1948, with Barbara Stanwyck.

Hecht kept to his promise to Lancaster to turn producer. They formed Norma Productions, and did a deal with Universal to make a thriller in England, Kiss the Blood Off My Hands in 1948, with Joan Fontaine, directed by Norman Foster. It made a profit of only $50,000, but was critically acclaimed.

Back in Hollywood, Lancaster made another film noir with Siodmak, Criss Cross, in 1949. It was originally going to be produced by Hellinger and when Hellinger died, another took over. Tony Curtis made an early appearance.

Lancaster appeared in a fourth picture for Wallis, Rope of Sand, in 1949.

Norma Productions signed three-picture deal with Warner. The first was 1950’s The Flame and the Arrow, a swashbuckler movie, in which Lancaster drew on his circus skills. Nick Cravat had a supporting role and the film was huge commercial success, making $6 million. It was Warner’s most popular film of the year and established a new image for Lancaster.

Lancaster was borrowed by Fox for Mister 880 in 1950, a comedy with Edmund Gwenn. MGM put him in a popular Western, Vengeance Valley in 1951, then he went to Warners to play the title role in the biopic Jim Thorpe–All-American, also in 1951.

Norma signed a deal with Columbia to make two films through Norma subsidiary, Halburt. The first film was 1951’s Ten Tall Men, in which Lancaster played a member of the French Foreign Legion. Robert Aldrich worked on the movie as production manager.

The second was 1952’s The First Time, a comedy, the directorial debut of Frank Tashlin. It was the first of their productions in which he did not act.

In 1951, the actor-producer duo changed the company’s name to Hecht-Lancaster Productions. The first film under new name was swashbuckler, The Crimson Pirate, directed by Siodmak, which was extremely popular.

Lancaster changed pace again by doing straight dramatic part in 1952’s Come Back, Little Sheba, based on a Broadway hit, with Shirley Booth, produced by Wallis and directed by Daniel Mann.

Alternating with adventure films, he went into South Sea Woman in 1952 at Warners. Part of the Norma-Warners contract was that Lancaster had to appear in some non-Norma films, of which this was one.

In 1954, for his own company, Lancaster produced and starred in His Majesty O’Keefe, a South Sea island tale shot in Fiji. It was co-written by James Hill, who would soon become a part of the Hecht-Lancaster partnership.

Hecht and Lancaster left Warners for United Artists, for what began as a two-picture deal, the first of which was to be 1954’s Apache, starring Lancaster as a Native American.

Another Western in 1954, Vera Cruz, co-starring Gary Cooper and produced by Hill. Both films were directed by Robert Aldrich and were hugely popular.

United Artists signed Hecht-Lancaster to multi-picture contract, to make 7 films over two years. Their first was Marty in 1955, based on Paddy Chayefsky’s TV play starring Ernest Borgnine and directed by Delbert Mann. It won both the Best Picture Oscar and the Palme d’Or award at Cannes, and earned $2 million on a budget of $350,000.

Marty secured Hecht-Lancaster as one of most successful independent companies in Hollywood at the time. Marty star Ernest Borgnine was under contract to Hecht-Lancaster and was unhappy about his lack of upcoming roles, after getting seven lines in 1957’s Sweet Smell of Success and half of his pay for Marty. He eventually sued for breach of contract to gain back some of this money in 1957.

Directed by Lancaster

Without Hill, Hecht and Lancaster produced The Kentuckian in 1955, helmed by Lancaster in his directorial debut, and he also played a lead role. Lancaster disliked directing and only did it once more, The Midnight Man, 1974.

Lancaster made The Rose Tattoo in 1955, starring with Anna Magnani and Daniel Mann directing. It was very popular at the box office and critically acclaimed, winning Magnani an Oscar.

In 1955, Hill was made equal partner in Hecht-Lancaster, with name added to the production company. Hecht-Hill-Lancaster (HHL) released their first film Trapeze in 1956, with Lancaster performing his stunts. The film, co-starring Tony Curtis and Gina Lollobrigida, became the production company’s top box office success, and United Artists expanded its deal with HHL.

In 1956, Lancaster and Hecht entered the music industry with the companies Hecht-Lancaster & Buzzell Music and Calyork Music.

The HHL team impressed Hollywood with its success: Life wrote in 1957, “After the independent production of a baker’s dozen of pictures, it has yet to have its first flop … (They were also good pictures.).”

Lancaster made 2 films for Wallis to complete his eight film commitment for that contract: The Rainmaker (1956) with Katharine Hepburn; and Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957) with Kirk Douglas, huge commercial hit directed by John Sturges.

Lancaster re-teamed with Tony Curtis in 1957 for Sweet Smell of Success, co-production between Hecht-Hill-Lancaster and Curtis’ own company with wife Janet Leigh, Curtleigh Productions. The movie, directed by Alexander Mackendrick, was critical success but a commercial disappointment. Over the years it has come to be regarded as one of Lancaster’s greatest films.

HHL produced seven additional films in the late 1950s. Four starred Lancaster: Run Silent, Run Deep (1958), a Robert Wise directed war film with Clark Gable, which was mildly popular; Separate Tables (1958) a hotel-set drama with Kerr and Rita Hayworth (who married James Hill), which received an Oscar nomination for Best Picture and Oscar awards for lead actor David Niven and supporting actress Wendy Hiller, and was both a critical and commercial success; The Devil’s Disciple (1959), with Douglas and Laurence Olivier, which lost money (and saw Lancaster fire Mackendrick during shooting); and the Western The Unforgiven (1960), with Audrey Hepburn, which was a critical and commercial disappointment.

Three were made without Lancaster, all of which lost money: The Bachelor Party (1957), from another TV play by Chayefsky, and directed by Delbert Mann; Take a Giant Step (1959), about a black student; and Summer of the Seventeenth Doll (1960), from an Australian play, shot on location in Australia and Britain.

HHL served as the production company for the 1960–61 TV series Whiplash.

The Hecht-Hill-Lancaster Productions company dissolved in 1960 after Hill ruptured his relationship with both Hecht and Lancaster.[36]

Lancaster played the title role in Elmer Gantry (1960), written and directed by Richard Brooks for United Artists. The film received five Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Best Actor. Lancaster won the 1960 Academy Award for Best Actor, a Golden Globe Award, and the New York Film Critics Award for his performance.

Hecht and Lancaster worked together on The Young Savages (1961), directed by John Frankenheimer and produced by Hecht. Sydney Pollack worked as a dialogue coach.

Lancaster starred in Judgment at Nuremberg (1961) for Stanley Kramer, alongside Spencer Tracy, Richard Widmark and a number of other iconic stars. The film was both a commercial and critical success, receiving 11 Oscar nominations, including Best Picture.

He then did another film with Hecht and Frankenheimer (replacing Charles Crichton), Birdman of Alcatraz (1962), a largely fictionalized biography. In it he plays Robert Stroud, a federal prisoner incarcerated for life for two murders, who begins to collect birds and over time becomes an expert in bird diseases, even publishing a book. The film shows Stroud transferred to the maximum security Alcatraz prison where he is not allowed to keep birds and as he ages he gets married, markets bird remedies, helps stop a prison rebellion, and writes a book on the history of the U.S. penal system, but never gets paroled. The sympathetic performance earned Lancaster a Best Actor Oscar nomination, a BAFTA Award for Best Actor, and a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Dramatic Role. Hecht went on to produce five films without Lancaster’s assistance, through his company Harold Hecht Films Productions between 1961 and 1967, including another Academy Award winner, Cat Ballou, starring Lee Marvin and Jane Fonda.

Lancaster made A Child Is Waiting (1963) with Judy Garland, produced by Kramer and directed by John Cassavetes.

He went to Italy to star in The Leopard (1963) for Luchino Visconti, co-starring Alain Delon and Claudia Cardinale. It was one of Lancaster’s favorite films and big hit in France but failed in the U.S. the version released was truncated.)

He had a small role in The List of Adrian Messenger (1963) for producer-star Kirk Douglas, and then did two for Frankenheimer: Seven Days in May (1964), a political thriller with Douglas, and The Train (1964), a World War Two action film (Lancaster had Frankenheimer replace Arthur Penn days into filming).

Lancaster starred in The Hallelujah Trail (1965), a comic Western produced and directed by John Sturges which failed to recoup its large cost.

He had a big hit with The Professionals (1966), a Western directed by Brooks and also starring Lee Marvin.

In 1966, at age 52, Lancaster appeared nude in director Frank Perry’s The Swimmer (1968). Lancaster was terrified of the water because he did not know how to swim. He took swimming lessons from UCLA swim coach Bob Horn. The shoot was difficult and clashes between Lancaster and Perry led to Sydney Pollack shooting some scenes. The film was not released until 1968, when it proved to be a failure, though Lancaster remained proud of the movie and his performance.

In 1967, Lancaster formed new partnership with Roland Kibbee, who had worked as a writer on five Lancaster projects:

Through Norlan Productions, Lancaster and Kibbee produced The Scalphunters in 1968, directed by Sydney Pollack.

Flops

Lancaster followed it with another film from Pollack, Castle Keep in 1969, which was a big flop. So was The Gypsy Moths, for Frankenheimer, also in 1969.

Lancaster had one of the biggest successes of his career with Airport in 1970, starring alongside Dean Martin, Jean Seberg and Jacqueline Bisset. The film received 9 Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. It became one of 1970s biggest box-office hits and the highest-grossing Universal film to date.

He then went into a series of Westerns: Lawman in 1971, directed by Michael Winner; Valdez Is Coming in 1971, for Norlan; and Ulzana’s Raid in 1972, directed by Aldrich and produced by himself and Hecht. None were particularly popular but Ulzana’s Raid has become a cult film.

Lancaster made 2 thrillers, both 1973, Scorpio with Winner and Executive Action.

Lancaster returned to directing in 1974 with The Midnight Man, which he also wrote and produced with Kibee.

He made a second film with Visconti, Conversation Piece in 1974 and played the title role in the TV series Moses the Lawgiver, also in 1974.

Lancaster was one of many names in 1975’s 1900, directed by Bertolucci, and he had cameo in 1976’s Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull’s History Lesson for Robert Altman.

He played Shimon Peres in the TV movie Victory at Entebbe in 1977 and had supporting role in The Cassandra Crossing in 1976.

He made fourth and final film with Aldrich, Twilight’s Last Gleaming in 1977, and had the title role in 1977’s The Island of Dr. Moreau.

Lancaster was top-billed in Go Tell the Spartans in 1978, a Vietnam War film; Lancaster admired the script so much that he took a reduced fee and donated money to help the movie to be completed. He was in Zulu Dawn in 1979.

Lancaster began the 1980s with a highly acclaimed performance alongside Susan Sarandon in Atlantic City in 1980, directed by Louis Malle. The film received 5 Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and a Best Actor nomination for Lancaster.

He had key roles in Cattle Annie and Little Britches in 1981, The Skin in 1982 with Cardinale, Marco Polo, also in 1982, and Local Hero in 1983.

By now, Lancaster was mostly a character actor in features, as in The Osterman Weekend in 1983, but he was the lead in the TV movie Scandal Sheet in 1985.

He was in Little Treasure in 1985, directed by Alan Sharp, who had written Ulzana’s Raid; On Wings of Eagles for TV in 1986, as Bull Simons; 1986’s made for TV Barnum starred him in the title role; Tough Guys reunited him on the big screen with Kirk Douglas in 1986; Fathers and Sons: A German Tragedy in 1986 for German TV; 1987’s Control made in Italy; Rocket Gibraltar in 1988, and The Jeweller’s Shop in 1989.

His first critical success in awhile was Field of Dreams in 1989, in which he played a supporting role as Moonlight Graham. He was also in the miniseries The Betrothed in 1989.

Lancaster’s final performances included TV mini series The Phantom of the Opera (1990); Voyage of Terror: The Achille Lauro Affair (1990) as Leon Klinghoffer based on the 1985 Achille Lauro shiphijacking; and Separate But Equal (1991) with Sidney Poitier.

Frequent collaborators

Lancaster appeared in a total of 17 films produced by his agent, Harold Hecht. Eight of these were co-produced by James Hill. He also appeared in eight films produced by Hal B. Wallis and two with producer Mark Hellinger. Although Lancaster’s work alongside Kirk Douglas was mostly known as a successful pair of actors, Douglas, in fact, produced four films for the pair, through his production companies Bryna Productions and Joel Productions. Roland Kibbee also produced three Lancaster films, and Lancaster was also cast in two Stanley Kramer productions.

Kirk Douglas starred in seven films across the decades with Burt Lancaster: I Walk Alone (1948), Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957), The Devil’s Disciple (1959), The List of Adrian Messenger (1963), Seven Days in May (1964), Victory at Entebbe (1976) and Tough Guys (1986), which fixed the notion of the pair as something of a team in the public imagination. Douglas was always billed under Lancaster in these movies but, with the exception of I Walk Alone, in which Douglas played a villain, their roles were usually more or less the same size. Both actors arrived in Hollywood at about the same time, and first appeared together in the fourth film for each, albeit with Douglas in a supporting role. They both became actor-producers who sought out independent Hollywood careers.

John Frankenheimer directed 5 films with Lancaster:

1961’s The Young Savages (1961)
1962’s Birdman of Alcatraz (1962)
1964’s Seven Days in May
1964’s The Train
1969’s The Gypsy Moths

He was directed 4 times by Robert Aldrich, 3 times each by Robert Siodmak and Sydney Pollack, and twice each by Byron Haskin, Daniel Mann, John Sturges, John Huston, Richard Brooks, Alexander Mackendrick, Luchino Visconti, and Michael Winner.

Roland Kibbee wrote for seven Lancaster films. Lancaster used makeup veteran Robert Schiffer in 20 credited films, hiring Schiffer on nearly all of the films he produced.

Lancaster was vocal supporter of progressive and liberal political causes.[48] He frequently spoke out in support of racial and other minorities. As a result, he was often a target of FBI investigations. He was named in President Richard Nixon’s 1973 “Enemies List”.

A vocal opponent of the Vietnam War, he helped pay for the successful defense of a soldier accused of “fragging”, i.e. (murdering) another soldier during war-time.  In 1968, Lancaster actively supported the presidential candidacy of anti-war Senator Eugene McCarthy of Minnesota, and frequently spoke on his behalf during the Democratic primaries.

He campaigned for George McGovern in the 1972 presidential election.

In 1985, Lancaster joined the fight against AIDS after fellow movie star, Rock Hudson, contracted the disease. Lancaster delivered the bed-ridden Hudson’s last words at the Commitment to Life fundraiser at a time when the stigma surrounding AIDS was at its height. He was the only major male star who attended.

Of his political opinions, frequent co-star Tony Curtis said: “Here’s this great big aggressive guy that looks like a ding-dong athlete playing these big tough guys and he has the soul of—who were those first philosophers of equality?—Socrates, Plato. He was Greek philosopher with a sense that everybody was equal.”

Actor and SAG president Ed Asner said he showed everybody in Hollywood “how to be a liberal with balls”.

Hollywood Ten
In 1947, Lancaster signed a statement release by the National Council of the Arts, Sciences and Professions (NCASP) asking Congress to abolish the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). He was also a member of the short-lived Committee for the First Amendment, formed in support of the Hollywood Ten. He was one of 26 movie stars who flew to Washington in October 1947 to protest against the HUAC hearings. The committee’s Hollywood Fights Back broadcasts on ABC Radio Network were two 30-minute programs that took place on October 27 and November 2, 1947, during which committee members voiced their opposition to the HUAC hearings. Many members faced black-listing and backlash due to involvement in the committee. Lancaster was listed in anti-communist literature as a fellow traveler.

Civil Rights Movement
He and his second wife, Norma, hosted a fundraiser for Martin Luther King Jr. and the Student Diversity Leadership Conference (SDLC) ahead of the historic March on Washington in 1963.[57] He attended the march, where he was one of the speakers.[61][62] He flew in from France for the event, where he was shooting The Train, and flew back again the next day, despite a reported fear of flying.[57][63]

ACLU
In 1968, Lancaster was elected to serve as chairman of the Roger Baldwin Foundation, a newly formed fund-raising arm of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California. His co-chairs were Frank Sinatra and Irving L. Lichtenstein. In October 1968, he hosted a party at his home to raise money for the ACLU to use for the defense of the more than four hundred people at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. Throughout the years, he remained an ardent supporter and a fundraiser for the organization.

While serving as a member of the five-person ACLU Foundation ex committee, he cast the key vote to retain Ramona Ripston as executive director of the Southern California affiliate, a position she would build into a powerful advocacy force in Los Angeles politics. Ripston later recalled: “There was a feeling that a woman couldn’t run the ACLU foundation, nor have access to the books. The vote finally came down to two ‘yes’ and two ‘no.’ Who had the deciding vote? Burt. He had a scotch or two and finally he said, ‘I think she should be executive director.’ I always loved him for that.”[57]

When President George H. W. Bush derided Democratic candidate Michael Dukakis as a “card-carrying member of the ACLU”, Lancaster was one of the supporters featured in the organization’s first television campaign stating: “I’m a card-carrying member of the ACLU” and “No one agrees with every single thing they’ve done. But no one can disagree with the guiding principle—with liberty and justice for all.'” He also campaigned for Michael Dukakis in the 1988 United States presidential election.

Three Marriages

Lancaster guarded his personal life and attempted to keep it private despite his stardom. He was married three times and had five children.

His first marriage was to June Ernst, a trapeze acrobat. Ernst was the daughter of a renowned female aerialist and an accomplished acrobat herself. After they were married, he performed with her and her family until their separation in the late 1930s. It is not clear when they divorced. Contemporary reports listed 1940, but subsequent biographers have suggested dates as late as 1946, thus delaying his marriage to his second wife.

He met second wife Norma Anderson, a stenographer who substituted for ill actress in a USO production for troops in Italy. On seeing Lancaster in the crowd, she turned to an officer and asked, “Who is that good-looking officer and is he married?” The officer set up a blind date between the two. She was active in political causes with entire room in their Bel Air home devoted to major interest, the League of Woman Voters, crammed with printing presses and all the necessary supplies for mass mailings. She was life-long member of the NAACP. The couple held a fundraiser for Martin Luther King Jr. and the SCLC ahead of the 1963 March on Washington.

All five of his children were with Anderson: Bill (who became actor and screenwriter), James, Susan, Joanna (film producer), and Sighle (pronounced “Sheila”). However, it was a troubled marriage. The pair separated in 1966, and finally divorced in 1969.

In 1966, Lancaster began long-term relationship with hairdresser Jackie Bone, who worked on The Professionals. It was a tumultuous relationship, with Bone once smashing wine bottle over Lancaster’s head at dinner with Sydney Pollack and Peter Falk. They eventually split up after her religious conversion, which Lancaster believed he could not share with her.

His third marriage, to Susan Martin, lasted from September 1990 until his death in 1994.

He claimed he was romantically involved with Deborah Kerr during From Here to Eternity in 1953. However, Kerr stated that while there was spark of attraction, nothing ever happened.

He reportedly had an affair with Joan Blondell.

In her 1980 autobiography, Shelley Winters claimed to have had two-year affair with him.

In his Hollywood memoirs, friend Farley Granger recalled an incident when he and Lancaster had to come to Winters’ rescue when she had inadvertently overdosed on alcohol and sleeping pills. She broke up with him for “cheating on her with his wife” after she heard reports of his wife’s third or fourth pregnancy. Lancaster and Winters performed together in the 1949 radio play adaptation of The Killers. They appeared in 2 films together: The Young Savages, where she played his character’s former lover, and The Scalphunters.

Biographer Kate Buford in Burt Lancaster: An American Life, Lancaster was loyal to his friends and family. Old friends from his childhood remained his friends for life.

Despite Protestant background and upbringing,[citation needed] Lancaster identified as an atheist later in life.

As Lancaster aged, he became increasingly wracked with atherosclerosis, and  complications with a routine gall bladder operation in January 1980. After two minor heart attacks, he had to undergo an emergency quadruple coronary bypass in 1983. However, he continued acting. In 1988, Lancaster attended Congressional hearing in Washington, D.C. with former colleagues such as James Stewart and Ginger Rogers to protest against media magnate Ted Turner’s plan to colorize  black-and-white films from the 1930s and 1940s.

Lancaster’s acting career ended after the 77-year-old suffered stroke on November 30, 1990, which left him partially paralyzed and unable to speak.

Burt Lancaster died at his apartment in Century City, California, after suffering third heart attack at 4:50 am on October 20, 1994, at the age of 80.

His body was cremated, and his ashes were scattered under a large oak tree in Westwood Memorial Park which is located in Westwood Village, California. A small, square ground plaque amidst several others inscribed “BURT LANCASTER 1913–1994”, marks the location. As he had previously requested, upon his death no memorial or funeral service was held for him.

Lancaster has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, at 6801 Hollywood Boulevard.

Filmography and Awards

1946 The Killers Ole “Swede” Anderson With Ava Gardner
1947 Brute Force Joe Collins With Hume Cronyn
Desert Fury Tom Hanson With Lizabeth Scott
Variety Girl Himself With Mary Hatcher
1948 I Walk Alone Frankie Madison With Kirk Douglas
All My Sons Chris Keller With Edward G. Robinson
Sorry, Wrong Number Henry Stevenson With Barbara Stanwyck
Kiss the Blood Off My Hands William Earle “Bill” Saunders With Joan Fontaine
1949 Criss Cross Steve Thompson With Yvonne de Carlo
Rope of Sand Michael “Mike” Davis With Paul Henreid
1950 The Flame and the Arrow Dardo Bartoli With Virginia Mayo
Mister 880 Steve Buchanan With Dorothy McGuire
1951 Vengeance Valley Owen Daybright With Robert Walker
Jim Thorpe – All-American Jim Thorpe With Charles Bickford
Ten Tall Men Sergeant Mike Kincaid With Jody Lawrance
1952 The Crimson Pirate Capitan Vallo With Nick Cravat and Eva Bartok
Come Back, Little Sheba Doc Delaney With Shirley Booth
1953 South Sea Woman Master Gunnery Sgt. James O’Hearn With Virginia Mayo
From Here to Eternity 1st Sergeant Milton Warden New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actor
Three Sailors and a Girl Marine With Jane Powell
Uncredited
1954 His Majesty O’Keefe Captain David O’Keefe / Narrator With Joan Rice
Apache Massai With Jean Peters
Vera Cruz Joe Erin With Gary Cooper
1955 The Kentuckian Elias Wakefield (Big Eli) Director
Nominated—Golden Lion for Best Director
The Rose Tattoo Alvaro Mangiacavallo With Anna Magnani
1956 Trapeze Mike Ribble With Gina Lollobrigida and Tony Curtis
Silver Bear for Best Actor at Berlin[75]
The Rainmaker Bill Starbuck Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
1957 Gunfight at the O.K. Corral Marshal Wyatt Earp With Kirk Douglas
Laurel Award for Top Male Action Star
Sweet Smell of Success J.J. Hunsecker With Tony Curtis
1958 Run Silent, Run Deep, Lieutenant Commander Jim Bledsoe With Clark Gable
Separate Tables John Malcolm With Rita Hayworth, Wendy Hiller, Deborah Kerr and David Niven
1959 The Devil’s Disciple Reverend Anthony Anderson With Kirk Douglas and Laurence Olivier
1960 The Unforgiven Ben Zachary With Audrey Hepburn
Elmer Gantry Elmer Gantry Academy Award for Best Actor
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Laurel Award for Top Male Dramatic Performance
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
1961 The Young Savages ADA Hank Bell With Dina Merrill
Judgment at Nuremberg Dr. Ernst Janning With Spencer Tracy and Maximilian Schell
1962 Birdman of Alcatraz Robert Stroud BAFTA Award for Best Actor, Lead

Volpi Cup for Best Actor
Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—Laurel Award for Top Male Dramatic Performance
1963 A Child Is Waiting Dr. Matthew Clark With Judy Garland
The Leopard Prince Don Fabrizio Salina With Claudia Cardinale and Alain Delon
The List of Adrian Messenger Animal Rights Protester (cameo) With George C. Scott
1964 Seven Days in May General James Mattoon Scott With Kirk Douglas, Fredric March and Ava Gardner
Nominated—Laurel Award for Top Male Dramatic Performance
1965 The Train Paul Labiche With Jeanne Moreau
Nominated—Laurel Award for Top Male Action Performance
The Hallelujah Trail Colonel Thaddeus Gearhart With Lee Remick
1966 The Professionals Bill Dolworth With Lee Marvin
1968 The Scalphunters Joe Bass With Shelley Winters
Nominated—Laurel Award for Top Male Action Performance
The Swimmer Ned Merrill With Janice Rule
1969 Jenny Is a Good Thing Narrator
Castle Keep Maj. Abraham Falconer With Peter Falk
The Gypsy Moths Mike Rettig With Deborah Kerr
1970 Airport Mel Bakersfeld With Dean Martin
King: A Filmed Record… Montgomery to Memphis Himself
1971 Lawman Bannock Marshal Jared Maddox With Lee J. Cobb
Valdez Is Coming Marshal Bob Valdez With Susan Clark
1972 Ulzana’s Raid U.S. Cavalry Scout McIntosh With Bruce Davison
1973 Scorpio Cross With Alain Delon
Executive Action James Farrington With Robert Ryan
1974 The Midnight Man Jim Slade Co-Director
Conversation Piece The Professor David di Donatello for Best Actor
Fotogramas de Plata Award for Best Foreign Movie Performer
1976 1900 Alfredo Berlinghieri the Elder, With Robert De Niro
Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull’s History Lesson, Ned Buntline With Paul Newman
The Cassandra Crossing Colonel Stephen Mackenzie With Sophia Loren
1977 Twilight’s Last Gleaming General Lawrence Dell With Richard Widmark
The Island of Dr. Moreau Dr. Paul Moreau With Michael York
1978 Go Tell the Spartans Major Asa Barker With Craig Wasson
1979 Zulu Dawn Colonel Anthony Durnford With Peter O’Toole
1980 Atlantic City Lou Pascal BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor
David di Donatello for Best Actor
Fotogramas de Plata Award for Best Foreign Movie Performer
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Genie Award for Best Performance by a Foreign Actor
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
1981 Cattle Annie and Little Britches Bill Doolin, the Oklahoma outlaw With Amanda Plummer and Diane Lane
The Skin General Mark Cork With Marcello Mastroianni, Claudia Cardinale, Carlo Giuffrè
1983 Local Hero Felix Happer Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role
The Osterman Weekend CIA Director Maxwell Danforth With Rutger Hauer
1985 Little Treasure Delbert Teschemacher With Margot Kidder and Ted Danson
1986 Tough Guys Harry Doyle With Kirk Douglas
1987 Control Dr. Herbert Monroe With Ben Gazzara
1988 Rocket Gibraltar Levi Rockwell With Patricia Clarkson
The Jeweler’s Shop The Jeweler With Olivia Hussey
1989 Field of Dreams Dr. Archibald ‘Moonlight’ Graham With Kevin Costner

Television
Year Title Role Notes
1969 Sesame Street Himself Sequences on feelings, the alphabet, counting to 10 doing pushups[76]
1974 Moses the Lawgiver Moses Miniseries
1976 Victory at Entebbe Shimon Peres With Anthony Hopkins
1978 The Unknown War Narrator 20 episode USA-USSR archival documentary series on World War II
1982 Marco Polo Teobaldo Visconti (Pope Gregory X) Miniseries
The Life of Verdi Narrator (English version) Miniseries
1985 Scandal Sheet Harold Fallen With Robert Urich
Circus of the Stars Ringmaster/himself Variety Special[77]
1986 On Wings of Eagles Colonel Arthur D. “Bull” Simons Miniseries
Fathers and Sons: A German Tragedy Geheimrat Carl Julius Deutz Miniseries
Barnum Phineas Taylor “P.T.” Barnum With Hanna Schygulla
1989 Cops Narrator on pilot episode: “Broward County, Florida 1”
The Betrothed Cardinal Federigo Borromeo Miniseries
1990 The Phantom of the Opera Gerard Carriere Miniseries
Voyage of Terror: The Achille Lauro Affair Leon Klinghoffer With Eva Marie Saint
1991 Separate but Equal, John W. Davis Miniseries, (final appearance)

Box office ranking

Exhibitors voted Lancaster among the most popular stars:

Year US Rank UK Rank
1950 16th
1951 25th
1952 24th
1953 17th
1954 13th, 7th
1955 16th
1956 4th, 3rd
1957 15th 3rd
1958 20th
1960 19th
1961 11th
1962 10th