American actor (1913–1994) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Burt Lancaster (November 2, 1913 - October 20, 1994), was an American actor and producer.
Burt Lancaster | |
|---|---|
in Desert Fury (1947) | |
| Born | Burton Stephen Lancaster November 2, 1913 |
| Died | October 20, 1994 (aged 80) Los Angeles, California, U.S.A. |
| Cause of death | Heart attack |
| Education | DeWitt Clinton High School |
| Alma mater | New York University |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 1945–1991 |
| Spouse(s) | June Ernst (m.1935–1946; divorced) Norma Anderson (m.1946–1969; divorced) Susan Martin (m.1990–1994; his death) |
| Children | 5; including Bill |
Lancaster was born in New York. After working in a circus, he began his career in Hollywood with The Killers (1946), with Ava Gardner. Next was Brute Force (1947), in which he played Joe Collins, an inmate who plans to rebel against the prison authorities.
In the 1950s, he continued to have success in films such as The Flame and the Arrow (1950), Jim Thorpe -- All-American (1951), The Crimson Pirate (1952), From Here to Eternity (1953), The Rose Tattoo (1955), and The Devil's Disciple (1959).
The decade of the 1960s was one of the best for Lancaster. He starred in Elmer Gantry (1960), and won an Oscar for his role. In Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), he played Dr. Ernst Janning, a Nazi doctor on trial for crimes against humanity. In Birdman of Alcatraz (1962), he played Robert Franklin Stroud, a man who spent most of his life in prison.
Other major films were Il gattopardo (1963), The List of Adrian Messenger (1963), The Swimmer (1968), Airport (1970), and Scorpio (1973). In The Island of Dr. Moreau (1977), he played the evil scientist Dr. Paul Moreau who experiments with human beings.
He won two Academy Awards. One of them was for his leading role in Elmer Gantry.
Lancaster had various jobs in European film and television. They included Gruppo di famiglia in un interno (1974), Novecento (1976), The Cassandra Crossing (1976), La pelle (1981), with Marcello Mastroianni, Il giorno prima (1987), La bottega dell'orefice (1989), and the TV mini-series Väter und Söhne - Eine deutsche Tragödie (1986).
Titles included Hollywood productions as Apache (1954), Vera Cruz (1954), Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957), The Unforgiven (1960), The Professionals (1966), Lawman (1971), and Valdez Is Coming (1971).
He also had few starring roles in television including Marco Polo (1982) (mini-series), Barnum (1986), and the TV miniseries On Wings of Eagles (1986). In On Wings of Eagles, he played Lieutenant Colonel Arthur E. 'Bull' Simons, a retired military officer who led the rescue of kidnapped civilians in the Middle East.
His three last jobs were in TV films The Phantom of the Opera (1990), Voyage of Terror: The Achille Lauro Affair (1990), and Separate But Equal (1991), with Sidney Poitier.
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