North side of the 6800 block of Hollywood Boulevard
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Burt Lancaster
Born Burton Stephen Lancaster on
Nov. 2, 1913
in New York, NY
Died
Oct. 21, 1994
of heart attack in Century City, CA
Burt Lancaster was a performer, producer, gymnast and iconoclast, and, from his earliest beginnings, always a star. He earned an athletic scholarship to New York University but by the middle of his sophomore year he quit to join the circus, eventually working his way up to a tour with Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey. An injury, however, led him to look for other work. He was a floorwalker in the lingerie department of the Marshall Field store in Chicago, a salesman in the same store's haberdashery department, a firefighter, a truck driver and an engineer for a meatpacking plant. He was drafted for WWII and met USO entertainer Norma Anderson, whom he later married, while serving. That connection led to his film career Lancaster proved a bona fide star from his first screen appearance in "The Killers" in 1946 until a few years before his death in 1994. Lancaster's work in such major dramatic productions as "Come Back Little Sheba," "From Here to Eternity," "Judgment at Nuremberg," "The Rainmaker," "Seven Days in May" and "Atlantic City" tended to overshadow his work in such films as "Trapeze," "The Flame and the Arrow" and "The Crimson Pirate," which displayed the lighter side of his nature. The Academy Award he won for "Elmer Gantry" in 1960 and the Venice Film Festival award he received two years later for "The Birdman of Alcatraz" were remembered. But many forgot the earlier Oscar he had shared with Harold Hecht as co-producer of "Marty," which was voted best picture of 1955.
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Points of interest
Academy Awards
| Year | Category | Work | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1953 | Best Actor | From Here to Eternity | Nomination |
| 1960 | Best Actor | Elmer Gantry | Win |
| 1962 | Best Actor | Birdman of Alcatraz | Nomination |
| 1981 | Best Actor | Atlantic City | Nomination |
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Four thoughts about Burt Lancaster
I met Mr. Lancaster at a film festival of his movies at the County Museum of Modern Art. He was most gracious to his fans and it was a surprise to see him as he was not scheduled to appear. To me, he was always larger than life and I will never forget him. I became aware of him when Jim Thorpe, All-American was released and followed his career closely. If anybody deserves a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, it is he.
My mother met Burt Lancaster in France and asked for his autograph for me. I was around 10 yrs old and she told him that I loved him in Birdman of Alcatraz and he replied that the man who was with him was John Frankenhimer the director who was also working with him on a film The Train.
You forgot to mention one of his greatest and perhaps most unexpected performances in "The Leopard" (1963) from Luchino Visconti. Phenomenal character role as the aging prince of Salina who sees the world, as he has known it, wane in the face of an upcoming, perhaps more materialistic generation.
Also forgotten was his role in 'The Swimmer', one of his best films.
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