Home> Facts and Trivia > Stars > Burt Lancaster
Burt Lancaster Facts
| Sign | Scorpio |
| Born |
Nov 2, 1913 New York City, NY |
| Died |
Oct 20, 1994 Century City, CA |
| Age | Died at 81 |
| Total Facts | 107 |
His first TV role was a guest appearance on "Sesame Street" (1969) in 1969, reciting the alphabet.
His house burned down (as did many others) in the famous Bel Air - Brentwood fire of November 6, 1961.
His performance as J.J. Hunsecker in Sweet Smell of Success (1957) is ranked #61 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time.
His performance as J.J. Hunsecker in Sweet Smell of Success (1957) is ranked #76 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006).
His son Bill Lancaster's screenplay for The Bad News Bears (1976) was based on his experience being coached by his father. Bill had been disabled by polio as a child, and according to friend Joel Douglas - the son of Kirk Douglas - the 'Tatum O'Neal (I)' character in the film, the odd kid out, was Bill. The coach played by Walter Matthau was based on Burt, who was known for his grumpiness.
His son Jimmy was born with a foot deformity and as a baby had to wear a cast that had to be constantly changed. When daughter Joanna was born with the same deformity, they decided not to use a cast but to see if she would outgrow the deformity.
His son, Bill Lancaster, wrote the screenplay for The Bad News Bears (1976).
In 1947 he was offered the role of Stanley Kowalski in the original Broadway production of "A Streetcar Named Desire" after first choice John Garfield was rejected due to his demands for a ownership percentage of the play. He turned down the role that went to Marlon Brando and made him a legend.
In 1957 he requested a meeting with FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, who responded, "I will not greet Lancaster in view of his subversive associations.".
In 1961 he announced his intention to produce a biopic of Michelangelo, in which he would play the title role and possibly portray the painter as a homosexual although Michelanglo's sexuality unknown. However, he was forced to shelve this project due to the five-month filming schedule on The Leopard (1963). Later, Charlton Heston starred as Michelangelo in The Agony and the Ecstasy (1965) and denied that the painter had been gay, despite all evidence to the contrary.
In 1965 he turned down Charlton Heston's role as Major General Charles Gordon in Khartoum (1966), and Richard Burton's role in The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965).
In 1987 he joined Gregory Peck, Martin Sheen and Lloyd Bridges in narrating a television advertisement by People for the American Way, a liberal action group founded by Norman Lear, in opposition to President Ronald Reagan's appointment of Robert Bork to the Supreme Court.
In January 1980, he almost died during a routine operation to remove his gallbladder, when the operation, which should have lasted five hours, turned into an 11-hour ordeal. After the organ was removed, a team of doctors worked to repair an unusually small channel from the gallbladder to the intestines, although Lancaster later told a friend that a doctor had accidentally cut into a valve. A doctor reportedly got down on the floor to pray for the actor's life. Lancaster was in intensive care for 48-hours after the operation.
In July 1965, United Artists made a settlement with Lancaster to end is association with his production company, Hecht-Hill-Lancaster, which had financially floundered in the late 1950s due to a few flops and exorbitant spending, and wound up operations in 1959. The payoff amount was $920,954.85, approximately $5,223,000 in 2003 dollars. In 1964, part of the proposed settlement with UA had been for Lancaster to star in Khartoum (1966) but that role eventually was played by Charlton Heston.
In order to get his passport renewed in January 1954, he was forced to send a letter to the State Department in which he wrote, "I am not now a Communist. I never been a Communist and I am not in sympathy with the Communist movement.".
Irish-American.
Ironically, he was not a very good swimmer despite being an extremely versatile athlete from his days as a circus acrobat, and had to train with a professional swimming coach for his role in The Swimmer (1968), a role he took after asking his daughter Joanna what she thought of the script.
Joined Gregory Peck, James Stewart and Orson Welles in testifying against the colorization of old movies in the early 1980s.
Known for his liberal political sympathies, he was one of the Hollywood movie stars, along with Marlon Brando, Sammy Davis Jr., Charlton Heston, Sidney Poitier and Paul Newman, who participated in Martin Luther King's March on Washington in August 1963. He flew home from Europe, where he was making a film, to participate. He was a financial supporter of King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
Lancaster lost out on two roles he lobbied for to Marlon Brando (roles that helped make Brando a legend): that of Stanley Kowalski in 'A Streetcar Named Desire' (1951) and that of Don Vito Corleone in 'The Godfather' (1972).
Lancaster stood 6' 1" at his peak, as can be seen in Vera Cruz (1954) where he is clearly two inches shorter than his 6' 3" co-star Gary Cooper.
On the set of Ulzana's Raid (1972) Lancaster told actor Bruce Davison that he had undergone so much plastic surgery over the years that at the age of 58 the most real thing about him were his eyes. He also advised Davison not to become too publicly involved in the anti-Vietnam movement until he was more established in Hollywood.
One of his demands was that he have a high bar set up on sets and locations so he could perform acrobatics and stay in shape.
One of his favorite drinks was Aquavit. He also enjoyed martinis.
One of his first acting roles, if not his first professional role, was a part in the non-musical Broadway play "A Sound of Hunting" (1945) playing character "Sgt. Joseph Mooney". He co-starred in his first movie the next year (The Killers (1946)).
One of the very few humanitarian causes he publicly associated himself with was AIDS research. In 1985 he read out a letter from Rock Hudson announcing he was dying of AIDS, although there was later some controversy as to whether the letter had been written by Rock or his secretary (in a 2010 Paley Center for Media documentary about gay visibility on TV, writer Bruce Vilanch said that he had written the letter at Hudson's request). This was at a Hollywood dinner to raise awareness, which only a very few stars such as Elizabeth Taylor and Burt Reynolds dared attend. In 1988 there was a poster of Lancaster holding a rose and a caption urging people to be careful.
Participated in the March on Washington for Civil Rights on 28 August 1963, along with Charlton Heston, Marlon Brando and Bob Dylan.
Ranked #85 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list. [October 1997]
Replaced Sir Laurence Olivier as Dr Ernst Janning in Judgment at Nuremberg (1961). Lancaster had not been impressed when Olivier kept confusing him with Kirk Douglas while filming The Devil's Disciple (1959).
Shared a birthday with Luchino Visconti, who directed him in The Leopard (1963) and Conversation Piece (1974).
Shortly before his massive stroke in November 1990 Lancaster had discussed starring in a sequel to The Leopard (1963). Some of his friends had told him he would be making a big mistake.
Signed a letter in 1947 deploring the anti-communist witch hunts in Hollywood.
Son Billy was named after Lancaster's dead brother. His daughter Susan Elizabeth was named after his mother, Lizzie.
Son Jimmy was diagnosed as schizophrenic.
Starred in five films directed by John Frankenheimer.
Started out as a circus performer.
Suffered a severe stroke while visiting actor Dana Andrews, who was suffering from Alzheimer's Disease. Lancaster remained hospitalized until February 1991, and incapacitated and unable to speak until his death in October, 1994. [November 1990]
Suffered his first heart attack during the making of Cattle Annie and Little Britches (1981) in 1979.
Supported Tom Bradley's unsuccessful campaign for Mayor of Los Angeles in 1969.
Teamed up with director John Huston to make The Unforgiven (1960) as a left-wing response to John Ford's epic western The Searchers (1956).
Told Bruce Davison, his co-star in Ulzana's Raid (1972), of a practical joke he played on Kirk Douglas, who was several inches shorter than Lancaster: "I'll never forget the time we were getting ready for our big two-shot and I hid his lifts on him. He was so pissed!"
Took a pay cut to make Castle Keep (1969), which he intended to be the ultimate anti-war film and an allegory for the Vietnam conflict.
Turned down Clint Eastwood's role as Harry Callahan in Dirty Harry (1971). The plot some called fascist of the lawman who goes beyond the limits of the law to kill a marginalized criminal contradicted his belief in a collective responsibility for criminal and social justice and the protection of individual rights.
Turned down a $1-million offer to appear in the remake of Ben-Hur (1959). If he had accepted the offer, he would have beaten both Elizabeth Taylor (Cleopatra (1963)) as the first female star and Marlon Brando (The Fugitive Kind (1959)) as the first male star, to breach that million-dollar threshold.
Turned down the lead in Patton (1970) due to his anti-Vietnam War sympathies, but actively campaigned for the title role in "Patton" screenwriter Francis Ford Coppola's next movie, The Godfather (1972). He offered to do a screen test for the role of Don Corleone, and even though Paramount brass was interested in casting him, Coppola wanted Marlon Brando, and got him after Brando made his own "screen-test" (actually a video Coppola shot of him improvising a makeup for the old Don). Both George C. Scott and Brando won, and refused, Oscars for the roles.
Until undergoing emergency quadruple heart bypass surgery in 1983, he maintained the fantastic physical health he attained as an acrobat in his youth. He impressed many who knew him with his apparently enormous strength.
Voted "Man of the Year" by Aid for AIDS in 1987 for his extensive work on their behalf, including allowing his photograph to be used on their annual Christmas card.
Was Cecil B. DeMille's first choice to play "Samson" in Samson and Delilah (1949).
Was a big fan of the silent film The Unknown (1927), probably partially because the movie took place in a circus, and Burt himself spent a lot of time early in his life in a circus. He once said that no scene in any movie affected him as emotionally as the one in this movie in which Lon Chaney learns that Joan Crawford does not love him.
Was a close, longtime friend of Telly Savalas.