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Like his Academy Award-winning character Elmer Gantry, Burt Lancaster was charismatic, compelling and slightly wicked. From his very first film, the strikingly stylish The Killers (1946), Lancaster cut a mysterious and seductive figure. Over the next fifty years, he lit up the screen, turning out thoughtful, vivid performances and collecting four Oscar nominations along the way. His rugged good looks and athletic physique made Burt Lancaster seem like a hero from the western frontier, but he was actually a city boy, born and bred on the streets of New York. In 1930 he left home with the circus to be an acrobat. A decade later he enlisted in the Army to serve in WWII. Returning from the war, Lancaster found work on the Broadway stage before being "discovered" by Hollywood's scouts. In the latter film, U.S. soldiers languish in their barracks in Honolulu marking time only days prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor. Lancaster plays Sgt. Milt Warden, who finds himself in an adulterous affair with his commanding officer's wife (played by Deborah Kerr). Their midnight rendezvous on the beach stirred audiences as one of the most passionate scenes ever caught on film. As Lancaster's and Kerr's bodies intertwine, waves crash on the shore and foam laps at their legs. Lancaster was recognized with his first Oscar nomination. He was in good company - Frank Sinatra turned in a career-saving performance and won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor; Donna Reed took home a statuette for Best Supporting Actress; Montgomery Clift and Deborah Kerr also were nominated. Riding on the success of From Here to Eternity, Lancaster directed The Kentuckian (1955). Two years later, the actor once again demonstrated his versatility in Sweet Smell of Success (1957) to create one of his most memorable roles. J.J. Hunsucker is a cold-hearted opportunist who makes and breaks reputations in his daily newspaper column. The character was a thinly veiled portrait of Walter Winchell, but Lancaster brought more style and bohemian chic than the outspoken journalist ever commanded. When Hunsucker's sister romances a musician who doesn't meet with his approval, the corrupt columnist enlists Sidney Falco (Tony Curtis), an unprincipled press agent, to break up the affair by any means necessary. Lancaster's dialogue is sharp and cynical, capturing New York's street-smart cynicism. Sweet Smell of Success stylizes reality into such a fashionable display that you'll want to study this film to speak the hipster lingo like these cool cats. The following year, Lancaster starred in two films that epitomized sophistication on the screen. Separate Tables (1958), adapted from Terence Rattigan's stage play, dared to challenge the Production Code by openly discussing sexuality. Lancaster and Rita Hayworth play a divorced couple desperately trying to re-ignite their romance at a seaside resort. Each guest at the hotel is caught in crisis, and as they strive for solutions, their separate lives become entangled. Again Lancaster helped guide fellow actors to Oscar-winning and nominated performances (David Niven and Wendy Hiller won and Deborah Kerr was nominated), while he was ignored for his effort. The Devil's Disciple (1959) was adapted from George Bernard Shaw's play; once more, Lancaster was surrounded by towering talent, namely Kirk Douglas and Sir Laurence Olivier. After acting in these ensemble films, Lancaster finally had the spotlight to himself in Elmer Gantry (1960). After experiencing an epiphany in a barroom, Gantry joins a religious revival. His hellfire-and-brimstone sermons rivet the crowds, and soon Elmer is the most popular and controversial preacher around. He's riding high until a woman from his past, a prostitute named Lulu (Shirley Jones), calls on him...and sets the ball in motion leading to an apocalyptic disaster. Lancaster's natural charisma brings credibility to the character with a winning smile and a knowing wink. The depiction of sex and religion had producers pulling their hair, but the film was released uncut with an adults-only warning. Luckily the studio opted not to edit the racy material because Lancaster shines; he finally received his just desserts and earned an Oscar for the film. As Brando and Dean were creating a new generation of bad boys, Burt Lancaster was portraying a thinking man's type of anti-hero. In Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), he dared to play a Nazi sympathizer, the one terrible unrepentant figure in an all-star cast that included Spencer Tracy, Judy Garland, Montgomery Clift, Marlene Dietrich and Oscar-winner Maximilian Schell. The release of the film coincided with the raising of the Berlin wall and Adolph Eichmann's trial. When Judgment premiered in Berlin, shocked German audiences sat in stunned silence, unable to respond to this cinematic indictment. In 1960, Hollywood witnessed a sea change. The classic days of studio production were over, supplanted by a new method of independently produced films. Lancaster, nearly a sure thing at the box office, chose a young unknown director to collaborate with. John Frankenheimer had cut his teeth in live television, where he proved himself a master of intelligent thrillers. Together, the proven star and neophyte director made The Young Savages (1961), a hard-hitting study of juvenile delinquency. The Lancaster-Frankenheimer production team returned to the Big House for Birdman of Alcatraz (1962), the true story of inmate Robert Stroud. When placed in solitary confinement for years on end, Stroud develops not only a love for his feathered friends, but also a clinical regimen for sick birds. Lancaster's compassionate convict brought him another Oscar nomination. While he played a professor who corroborated with the Nazis in Nuremberg, in The Train (1964), Lancaster had the chance to fight for freedom. He plays an inspector who helps the French Resistance by sabotaging his own locomotive. Together Lancaster and Frankenheimer enjoyed a prolific and successful decade, producing five films between 1961 and 1969. In the 1970s, the Golden Age of Hollywood let out one final gasp with a fad of all-star disaster films. Burt Lancaster appeared in Airport (1970), a film that led the trend and served as a blueprint for many big-budget blockbusters that followed. First Lancaster, as an airport manager, is caught by his wife in an affair with his assistant, then his brother-in-law, a pilot, discovers that he's impregnated one of his flight attendants - but these personal problems take a back seat when a mad bomber threatens a plane. Before the Airplane! parodies, this thriller was the real deal--the film created an atmosphere of terror that still stands up today. In addition, the star power keeps this ship airborne, with Dean Martin, Jean Seberg, Van Heflin and Helen Hayes among those aboard. Lancaster aged gracefully. After missing the mark with many of his films made during the '70s, he rebounded as a very different character in Atlantic City (1980). What was most striking was - the actor was old. He had aged, and unlike so many Hollywood stars, Lancaster didn't try to hide from the years. His face wrinkled and his voice grew hoarser, contrasting with his co-star, Susan Sarandon, who was born the very year he made his film debut! In the seedy seaside casino town of Atlantic City, Lancaster plays an aging heavy who becomes involved with a younger woman. Both Lancaster and Sarandon were nominated for Oscars. A decade later, Lancaster remained an imposing figure on film. He played a former baseball player who helps lead Kevin Costner to his Field of Dreams (1989). This film was Lancaster's Hollywood swan song; five years later he died at the age of 81. While Field of Dreams was an ode to the great American pastime, Burt Lancaster proved himself again and again as one of the great American heroes, a shining star through a tumultuous time in Hollywood and America. Each of Burt Lancaster's characters was intelligent and ambitious - and not afraid to be bad. list of films! |
