In the spotlight…..

Burt Lancaster 1913 -1994   ….the “thinking man’s tough guy”

When Burt Lancaster died on January 20th, 1994, there was no funeral, no memorial and no fanfare. He wanted it that way. But the world quietly wept and the circus stopped for a moment to remember the acrobat who became a star. There is just a small stone in a small cemetery to say he was here among us but his films stand in testament to his talent. Burt Lancaster not only gave life to the roles he played on the screen but he also gave them heart…and, in doing so, stole ours as well.
                 

"Little Dutch"

Burton Stephen Lancaster was born in New York City on November 2, 1913. He was the third of five children born to postal clerk Jim Lancaster and his wife, Lizzie (the youngest, little Frances, died just after her first year during a diphtheria epidemic). Jim was a gentle man, a “fun dad”, who planned day trips to the local amusement parks on his rare days off. He left the discipline to Lizzie who kept a firm rein on her boisterous youngsters.  Lizzie Roberts Lancaster died when Burt was only 16 but he credited her, the Union Settlement House and the local library with keeping him out of jail. Growing up on the rough-and-tumble streets of East Harlem, it was his love of home, books and classical music that kept him out of trouble. Burt often remarked “Deep down I’m a frustrated opera singer”.
                                
 

Burt the acrobat

He attended DeWitt Clinton High School but spent his free time working out at the Settlement House developing his gymnastic and acrobatic skills. That is where he met Nick Cravat who would be come a circus partner and a life-long friend. In 1930 Burt earned a basketball scholarship to New York University but by the spring of 1932 he had enough of college life and decided he wanted to join the circus. In 1932 Burt and Nick took off in a Model T Ford with a bankroll of $30. They billed themselves “Lang and Cravat” but looked more like Mutt and Jeff. Burt was 6’2” and Nick was barely 5 feet tall. The duo spent 7 years doing circuses, carnivals and vaudeville.

...with the Ernst Family Circus..June is in back.

In 1935 Burt married June Ernst, another gymnast. Burt claimed she was “the only woman in America who could do horizontal bar tricks”. But the marriage only lasted 3 years before they parted in a friendly divorce. In late 1935 Burt left the act for a short time to join the Federal Theater Project of the WPA set up by President Roosevelt to aid unemployment during the depression. It was his first introduction to formal acting instruction although he had been in plays at the Settlement House. He went back to the act but fate decided otherwise when he suffered a badly cut hand. The doctor advised him to give up working for awhile until the hand healed properly or suffer the amputation of at least one finger.

Burt moved to Chicago and worked at a succession of odd jobs including one as a singing waiter in a nightclub where he did a mean rendition of “Old Man River”. When Uncle Sam called him up for duty in 1942, he was assigned to Special Services where his duties were acting, writing  and directing a revue called “Stars and Gripes”. The regiment was on tour in Italy when Burt met Norma Anderson who was working with a USO show, It was love at first sight for both of them and when he got home in September of 1945, he immediately called and asked her out for lunch.
                          

...with Sam Levene in "A Sound of Hunting"

Norma was working in New York City for a radio producer, Raymond Knight. Burt arrived at the Royalton Building in full uniform but, when he was in the elevator, he felt someone staring at him. It was Jack Mahlor, a Broadway scout looking for someone to play the role of a sergeant in “A Sound of Hunting”. He saw where Burt was headed and called Knight’s office to ask Lancaster to audition for the part. To Burt’s surprise, he got the job. When the play closed after 23 performances, Burt had very good reviews. It was the beginning of a new career.
                   

...with Hal Wallis

Sam Levene, Burt’s co-star in the play, took him to see Harold Hecht who was starting up his new talent agency. It was another close friendship that would last for years. With Hecht’s help, Burt was signed to a 7 year contract with Hall Wallis. The contract obligated Burt to two films a year with Wallis and the option to do one film on his own. So he took off for Hollywood while Norma stayed back in New York. There was also trouble in paradise over Norma’s drinking..  With the next Wallis picture not yet on the schedule, Burt took advantage of his option to do “The Killers” for Mark Hellinger.

When the picture was released in August, 1946 Burt Lancaster went from unknown obscurity to instant stardom. And, just for a little while he forgot what his mother taught him. Burt bought his director a Cadillac, rented a beach house overlooking the Pacific Palisades and began a brief but torrid affair with Marlene Dietrich. Meanwhile, back in New York City Norma Anderson was having a baby.
                           

Burt and all the kids!

Burt had learned she was pregnant just as he started the film for Hellinger. He was trying to get up enough money so Norma could have an abortion but that was not an option for Norma, whose religion forbid it. Baby James was born on June 30, 1946. The little one came into the world with a malformed foot and the need for surgery.  On December 28th, 1946  Burt and Norma were married quietly in Yuma, Arizona. The studio announced the nuptials describing the bride as a “young war widow with a small son”. The family quickly grew with William (1947), Susan (1949), Joanne (1951) and Sighle-Ann (1954).
                                   

Burt with Joan Fontaine in "Kiss the Blood Off My Hands"

“Kiss the Blood Off My Hands” in 1948 starring Burt and Joan Fontaine was the first film launched by the new production company of Hecht and Lancaster (later Hill-Hecht-Lancaster) that produced over 20 feature films before it was dissolved in 1959. One of their big successes was “Marty” in 1955. It swept the Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director (Delbert Mann), Best Actor (Ernest Borgnine) and Best Screenplay (Paddy Chayefsky).  “Kiss…” also marked the end of Burt’s film noir phase and began his quest for what he called “stretch” roles. Hecht-Lancaster signed a six picture deal with Universal and Burt took time off to join Nick Cravat on a two week tour with the Cole Brothers Circus!
                                      

Burt and Nick in "The Crimson Pirate"

While the entire decade (1950-1959) was a busy time for Burt, 1953 was a signature year, His role as Sgt. Milt Warden in “From Here to Eternity” won him a first Oscar nomination (he lost to Gary Cooper for “High Noon”)and became a major turning point in his career. Burt finally made his first circus movie “Trapeze” with Tony Curtis in 1956 and also the critically acclaimed “The Rainmaker” with Kate Hepburn who won a Best Actress Oscar for the role.
                         

Burt and Tony Curtis in "Trapeze"

The 1960s unleashed both critical acclaim for his films and tragedy in his private life. Burt won his first Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal of “Elmer Gantry”. He made 17 films including “The Unforgiven”, “Birdman of Alcatraz”, “Judgement at Nuremberg”, “Seven Days in May” and “The Train” that received critical approval. But In January, 1961 his brother Jim collapsed on the “Birdman…” set and died of a heart attack. In September his father, 85, who had been living with Burt for four years, died at home the same way. In November the Lancaster house burned to the ground in what was then called the worst fire in Southern California history. Only his sister Jane was left in Burt’s immediate family (brother Will had died of a heart attack in 1945).
                           

Burt and Alain Delon in "The Leopard"

The next summer Burt took his family to Italy while he
filmed “The Leopard”. But Norma’s drinking was getting out of control. It wasn’t an after-five occurrence now. Often she was falling down drunk in the afternoon. Young Billy, 17, eloped with Ernie Kovac’s daughter and quit high school to be a father. The other children soon left the house to live separate lives at school or on their own. Finally, in 1969, Burt and Norma ended their 22 ½ year marriage. After the divorce, Burt would begin a long-term relationship with divorcee Jackie Bone in a rented beach house in Malibu.

Burt with Jackie Bone

During the 1970s Burt continued to support liberal causes just as he did the civil rights movement of the 60s and the fight against the HUAC. He was on Nixon’s list of 575 “enemies” along with Gene Hackman, Norman Lear, Hugh Hefner and Paul Newman. The FBI had Burt tagged as a possible “leftist homosexual” but with absolutely no proof except that his personal secretary was gay. They also decried his term as president of the American Civil Liberties Union.

..in "Atlantic City" 1980

By the late 1970s Burt could feel the years ganging up on him. He still jogged and exercised vigorously every day but was now doing it with a reconstructed knee. In January, 1980 after “Atlantic City’ wrapped he went into the hospital for routine gall bladder surgery. But something went terribly wrong during surgery and he almost died. But he picked up his fourth Oscar nomination and number of other film awards for that picture. On August 26,1983 he underwent quadruple heart bypass surgery. He kidded with reporters “I feel great….I have been leading the life of a saint…no smoking, no drinking, no sex….but I cheat a little”.
                            

...in "Field of Dreams" 1989

Then he met Susie Martin on the set of an ABC-made for television movie “Scandal Sheet” and suddenly felt young again. The romance blossomed and soon Burt and Susie were constant companions (he was 71 and she was 42 and not yet divorced). After Norma died in 1988 and Susie’s divorce was final, Burt married her in a quiet family wedding on September 10, 1990.
      

Burt weds Susie!

But only two months after their marriage, Burt suffered a cerebral stroke that left him partially paralyzed and unable to speak coherently.

His last performance as John W. Davis in “Separate but Equal” , a made-for-television movie aired that spring and won an Emmy as Best Mini-Series of 1991. Burt lived another 3 years under Susie’s gentle care before a heart attack, a family nemesis, finally took him on October 20, 1995.
                

The grave...	...and the stone in Westwood Memorial Park, Los Angeles, California

Hollywood and the circus took a moment to remember Burt Lancaster… a acrobat who became a star…and then they went on. That’s the way he would have wanted it.

For more on Burt Lancaster see Arabella's notes

Filmography