Birth Name: Burton Stephen Lancaster
           Birth: Nov 2, 1913 - New York City, NY
         Death:   Oct 20, 1994
Occupation: Actor
      
Rugged, athletic and handsome, Burt Lancaster enjoyed phenomenal success from his first film, The Killers, through to his last, Field of Dreams -- all told, a career spanning over four decades. Boasting an impressively wide range, he delivered thoughtful, sensitive performances across a spectrum of genres: from film noir to westerns to melodrama, he commanded the screen with a presence and power matched by only a handful of stars.
Lancaster was born November 2, 1913 in New York City. As a child he exhibited considerable athletic and acrobatic prowess, and at the age of 17 joined a circus troupe, forming a duo with the diminutive performer Nick Cravat (later to frequently serve as his on-screen sidekick). He eventually joined the army, and after acting and dancing in a number of armed forces revues he decided to pursue a dramatic career. Upon hiring an agent, Harold Hecht, Lancaster made his Broadway debut in A Sound of Hunting, a role which led to a contract with Paramount. Because the release of his
first picture, Desert Fury, was delayed, he initially came to the attention of audiences in 1946's The Killers, a certified classic of film noir. It remained the genre of choice in several of his subsequent projects, including 1947's Brute Force and 1948's I Walk Alone.
After starring as Barbara Stanwyck's cheating husband in Sorry, Wrong Number, Lancaster and his manager formed their own production company, Hecht-Lancaster, the first notable star-owned venture of its kind -- more were to follow, and they contributed significantly to the ultimate downfall of the old studio system. Its formation was a result of Lancaster's conscious effort to avoid "beefcake" roles, instead seeking projects which spotlighted his versatility as a performer. While the company's first effort, the war melodrama Kiss the Blood Off My Hands, was not a success, they
were nonetheless able to secure enough financial backing to break off completely from the mainstream Hollywood system. Still, Lancaster also continued appearing in studio productions; in 1949, he reunited with The Killers director Robert Siodmak at Universal for another excellent noir, Criss Cross, followed by Rope of Sand. He also signed a non-exclusive contract with Warner Bros., where he and Hecht produced 1950's The Flame and the Arrow, a swashbuckler which was his first major box office success.
After producing Ten Tall Men with Hecht, Lancaster starred in the MGM western Vengeance Valley, followed by the biopic Jim Thorpe, All American. With Siodmak again directing, he next headlined the 1952 adventure spoof The Crimson Pirate, followed by Daniel Mann's Come Back, Little Sheba opposite Oscar-winner Shirley Booth. A minor effort, South Sea Woman, followed in 1953 before Lancaster starred in the Fred Zinnemann classic From Here to Eternity, earning a "Best Actor" Academy Award nomination for his performance and, in his beachside rendezvous with
co-star Deborah Kerr, creating one of the most indelible images in film history. Another swashbuckler, His Majesty O'Keefe, followed, and under director Robert Aldrich the actor headlined a pair of westerns, Apache and Vera Cruz. Finally, in 1955 Lancaster realized a long-held dream and helmed his own film, The Kentuckian; reviews were negative, however, and he did not return to the director's chair for another two decades.
Again working with Mann, Lancaster co-starred with another Oscar winner, Anna Magnani, in 1955's The Rose Tattoo. Opposite Tony Curtis, he appeared in the 1956 hit Trapeze, and with Katherine Hepburn headlined The Rainmaker later that same year. Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, a blockbuster featuring Lancaster as Wyatt Earp, followed, as did the acclaimed The Sweet Smell of Success. With Clark Gable, Lancaster starred in 1958's Run Silent Run Deep, followed by Separate Tables, one of seven pictures he made opposite Kirk Douglas. For 1960's Elmer Gantry, he won an Academy Award for his superb portrayal of the title character, a disreputable evangelist, and a year later co-starred in Judgment at Nuremberg. Under John Frankenheimer, Lancaster next portrayed The Birdman of Alcatraz, earning "Best Actor" honors at the Venice Film Festival for his sympathetic turn as prisoner Robert Stroud, an expert in bird disease. For John Cassavetes, he starred in 1963's A Child Is Waiting, but the picture was the victim of studio interference and poor distribution.
To secure financing for his planned historical epic Il Gattopardo, Italian filmmaker Luchino Visconti needed to cast an international superstar in the lead role; Lancaster actively campaigned for the part, and delivered one of the strongest performances of his career. Released in 1963, it was a massive success everywhere but in the U.S., where it was brutally edited prior to release. After two hit movies with Frankenheimer, the 1964 political thriller Seven Days in May and the 1965 war drama The Train, Lancaster starred in the western The Hallelujah Trail, followed by the 1966 smash The
Professionals. A rare series of flops -- The Swimmer, Castle Keep, and The Gypsy Moths -- rounded out the decade, but by 1970 he was back at the top of the box office with Airport.. Still, Lancaster's star was clearly dimming, and he next appeared in a pair of low-budget westerns, Lawman and Valdez Is Coming. After an underwhelming reunion with Aldrich, 1972's Ulzana's Raid, he attempted to take matters into his own hands, writing and directing 1974's The Midnight Man in collaboration with Roland Kibbee, but it too failed to attract much attention.

  For Visconti, Lancaster next starred in 1975's Gruppo di Famiglia in un Interno. Remaining in Europe, he also appeared in Bernardo Bertollucci's epic 1900. Neither resuscitated his career, nor did Robert Altman's much-panned Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson.
  Lancaster languished in a number of television projects before appearing in 1978's Go Tell the Spartans, which despite critical acclaim failed to catch on. In 1980, however, he delivered a stunning turn as an aging gangster in Louis Malle's excellent Atlantic City, a performance which earned "Best Actor" honors from the New York critics as well as an Academy Award nomination. Also highly acclaimed was a supporting role in the 1983 Bill Forsyth gem Local Hero. Heart trouble sidelined him for all of 1984, but soon Lancaster was back at full steam, teaming one last time with Douglas for 1986's Tough Guys. Several more TV projects followed before he returned to feature films with 1988's little-seen Rocket Gibraltar and the 1989 blockbuster Field of Dreams. In 1991, Lancaster made his final appearance in the telefilm Separate But Equal; he died October 20, 1994.

1991 Separate But Equal [TV]  Actor [Starring]
1991 Separate But Equal, Part 1 [TV]  Actor
1991 Separate But Equal, Part 2 [TV]  Actor
1990 The Jeweller's Shop  Actor
1990 Voyage of Terror: The Achille Lauro Affair [TV]  Actor [Starring]
1990 The Phantom of the Opera [TV]  Actor [Starring]
1989 Field of Dreams   Actor [Starring]
1988 Race to Oblivion [doc]  Actor
1988 Rocket Gibraltar   Actor [Starring]
1988 Vaeter und Soehne
                   aka Fathers and Sons [1986]
                   aka Sins of the Fathers [1986] (U.S. title) Actor
1987 Control [TV]
                   aka Controle (French title) Actor [Starring]
1986 On Wings of Eagles [TV]  Actor
1986 Tough Guys  Actor [Starring]
1986 Barnum [TV]  Actor
1985 Little Treasure  Actor [Starring]
1985 Scandal Sheet [TV]  Actor [Starring]
1983 Local Hero Surrealism / Actor [Starring]
1983 The Osterman Weekend  Actor
1981 Cattle Annie and Little Britches   Actor [Starring]
1981 La Pelle
                   aka The Skin Actor [Starring]
1980 Atlantic City
                   aka Atlantic City, U.S.A. [1981] Actor [Starring]
1979 Zulu Dawn   Actor [Starring]
1979 Arthur Miller on Home Ground [doc]  Actor [Starring]
1978 Go Tell the Spartans   Actor [Starring]
1977 The Island of Dr. Moreau  Actor [Starring]
1977 Twilight's Last Gleaming
                   aka Nuclear Countdown  Actor [Starring]
1977 Exploring the Unknown [TV] [doc]  Actor
1976 Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson  Actor
1976 The Cassandra Crossing  Actor [Starring]
1976 Novecento
                   aka 1900 (U.S. title)
                   aka Nineteen Hundred  Actor [Starring]
1976 Victory at Entebbe [TV]   Actor [Starring]
1976 America at the Movies [doc]  Actor
1975 Moses [TV]  Actor [Starring]
1975 Ali: The Man Behind the Myth [doc]
                   aka Ali The Man: Ali The Fighter  Actor [Starring]
1974 The Midnight Man   Screenwriter / Actor [Starring] / Director / Producer
1974 Gruppo di Famiglia in un Interno
                   aka Conversation Piece [1975] (U.S. title)
                   aka Violence et passion (French title) Actor [Starring]
1973 Scorpio   Actor [Starring]
1973 Executive Action  Actor [Starring]
1972 Ulzana's Raid   Actor [Starring]
1972 The Fighter [TV]  Actor
1971 Valdez Is Coming   Actor [Starring]
1971 Lawman  Actor [Starring]
1970 King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to
              Memphis [doc]  Actor
1970 Airport Actor [Starring]
1969 Castle Keep  Actor [Starring]
1969 The Gypsy Moths  Actor [Starring]
1969 Jenny is a Good Thing  Actor
1968 The Swimmer  Actor [Starring]
1968 The Scalphunters   Actor [Starring]
1966 The Professionals  Actor [Starring]
1965 The Hallelujah Trail   Actor [Starring]
1965 The Train
                   aka Il Treno
                   aka Le Train (U.S. title) Actor [Starring]
1964 Seven Days in May  Actor [Starring]
1963 A Child Is Waiting  Actor [Starring]
1963 Il Gattopardo
                   aka Le guépard (French title)
                   aka The Leopard (U.S. title)  Actor [Starring]
1963 The List of Adrian Messenger   Actor
1962 Birdman of Alcatraz  Actor [Starring]
1961 Judgment at Nuremberg  Actor [Starring]
1961 The Young Savages   Actor [Starring]
1960 The Unforgiven  Actor [Starring]
1960 Elmer Gantry   Actor [Starring]
1959 The Devil's Disciple   Actor [Starring]
1958 Separate Tables  Actor [Starring]
1958 Run Silent, Run Deep Actor [Starring]
1957 Gunfight at the O.K. Corral  Actor [Starring]
1957 Sweet Smell of Success  Actor [Starring]
1956 Trapeze   Actor [Starring]
1956 The Rainmaker  Actor [Starring]
1955 The Kentuckian   Actor [Starring] / Director
1955 The Rose Tattoo  Actor [Starring]
1954 Apache   Actor [Starring]
1953 South Sea Woman Actor [Starring]
1953 Three Sailors and a Girl   Actor
1953 Vera Cruz Actor [Starring] / Co-producer
1953 From Here to Eternity  Actor [Starring]
1953 His Majesty O'Keefe   Actor [Starring]
1952 The Crimson Pirate  Actor [Starring]
1952 Come Back, Little Sheba   Actor [Starring]
1951 Jim Thorpe - All American
                   aka Man of Bronze Actor [Starring]
1951 Vengeance Valley   Actor
1951 Ten Tall Men Actor [Starring]
1950 The Killer That Stalked New York
                   aka Frightened City  Actor
1950 The Flame and the Arrow   Actor [Starring]
1950  Mister 880   Actor
1949 Rope of Sand  Actor
1948 Criss Cross   Actor [Starring]
1948 All My Sons  Actor [Starring]
1948 I Walk Alone  Actor [Starring]
1948 Sorry, Wrong Number   Actor [Starring]
1948 Kiss the Blood off My Hands
                   aka Blood On My Hands  Actor [Starring]
1947 Variety Girl    Actor
1947 Brute Force   Actor [Starring]
1947 Desert Fury    Actor [Starring]
1946 The Killers   Actor [Starring]
                                                                
Best Actor (nom)  From Here to Eternity  1953  Academy
Best Actor (win)  From Here to Eternity  1953 New York Film Critics Circle
Competing Film  The Kentuckian 1955 Venice Film Festival
Best Male Performance Trapeze 1956 Berlin International Film Festival
Best Actor (win)  Elmer Gantry 1960 Academy
Best Actor (win)  Elmer Gantry 1960 New York Film Critics Circle
Best Actor (nom) Birdman of Alcatraz 1962 Academy
Best Foreign Actor (win) Birdman of Alcatraz 1962 British Academy Awards
Volpi Cup for Best Actor (win)  Birdman of Alcatraz 1962 Venice Film Festival
Best Actor (nom) Ulzana's Raid 1972 New York Film Critics Circle
Best Actor (nom) Atlantic City 1981 Academy
Best Actor (win) Atlantic City 1981 British Academy Awards
Best Actor (win) Atlantic City 1981 New York Film Critics Circle