Burton Stephen Lancaster (November 2, 1913 – October 20, 1994) was an American actor. Initially known for playing tough guys with a tender heart, he went on to achieve success with more complex and challenging roles over a 45-year career in films and television series. He was a four-time nominee for theAcademy Award for Best Actor (winning once), and he also won twoBAFTA Awards and oneGolden Globe Award for Best Lead Actor. TheAmerican Film Institute ranks Lancaster as#19 of thegreatest male stars of classic Hollywood cinema.^[1]

Burt Lancaster
Lancaster inDesert Fury in 1947
Born	Burton Stephen Lancaster (1913-11-02)November 2, 1913 New York City, U.S.
Died	October 20, 1994(1994-10-20) (aged 80) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Resting place	Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park and Mortuary
Occupations	Actor film producer
Years active	1935–1991
Political party	Democratic
Spouses	June Ernst ​ ​ (m. 1935;div. 1946)​ Norma Anderson ​ ​ (m. 1946;div. 1969)​ Susan Martin ​ ​ (m. 1990)​
Children	5; includingBill
Military career
Allegiance	United States
Branch	United States Army
Service years	1943–1945
Rank	Technician fifth grade
Unit	21st Special Services Division
War	World War II

Lancaster performed as a circus acrobat in the 1930s. At the age of 32, and after serving inWorld War II, he landed a role in a Broadway play and drew the attention of a Hollywood agent. His appearance in film noirThe Killers in 1946 alongsideAva Gardner was a critical success and launched both of their careers. In 1948, Lancaster starred alongsideBarbara Stanwyck in the commercially and critically acclaimed filmSorry, Wrong Number, where he portrayed the husband to her bedridden invalid character. In 1953, Lancaster played the illicit lover ofDeborah Kerr in the military dramaFrom Here to Eternity. A box office smash, it won eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and landed a Best Actor nomination for Lancaster.

Later in the 1950s, he starred inThe Rainmaker (1956), withKatharine Hepburn, earning a Best Actor Golden Globe nomination, and in 1957 he starred inGunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957) with frequent co-starKirk Douglas. During the 1950s, his production company,Hecht-Hill-Lancaster, was highly successful, with Lancaster acting in films such as:Trapeze (1956), a box office smash in which he used his acrobatic skills and for which he won theSilver Bear for Best Actor;Sweet Smell of Success (1957), a dark drama today considered a classic;Run Silent, Run Deep (1958), a WWII submarine drama withClark Gable; andSeparate Tables (1958), a hotel-set drama which received seven Oscar nominations.

In the early 1960s, Lancaster starred in a string of critically successful films, each in very disparate roles. Playing a charismatic biblical con-man inElmer Gantry in 1960 won him the Academy Award and the Golden Globe for Best Actor. He played a Nazi war criminal in 1961 in the all-star, war-crime-trial film,Judgment at Nuremberg. Playing a bird expert prisoner inBirdman of Alcatraz in 1962, he earned the BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actor and his third Oscar nomination. In 1963, Lancaster traveled to Italy to star as an Italian prince inVisconti's epic period dramaThe Leopard. In 1964, he played a US Air Force General who, opposed by a Colonel played by Douglas, tries to overthrow the President inSeven Days in May. Then, in 1966, he played an explosives expert in the westernThe Professionals. Although the reception of his 1968 filmThe Swimmer was initially lackluster upon release, in the years after it has grown in stature critically and attained acult following.

In 1970, Lancaster starred in the box-office hit, air-disaster dramaAirport. In 1974, he again starred in aVisconti film,Conversation Piece. He experienced a career resurgence in 1980 with the crime-romanceAtlantic City, winning the BAFTA for Best Actor and landing his fourth Oscar nomination. Starting in the late 1970s, he also appeared in television mini-series, including the award-winningSeparate but Equal withSidney Poitier. He continued acting into his late 70s, until a stroke in 1990 forced him to retire; four years later he died from a heart attack. His final film role was in the Oscar-nominatedField of Dreams.

Lancaster was born on November 2, 1913, in New York City, at his parents' home at 209 East 106th Street, the son of Elizabeth (née Roberts) and mailman James Lancaster.^[2] Both of his parents wereProtestants of working-class background. All four of his grandparents wereScots-Irish immigrants from the province ofUlster, Ireland. His maternal side was fromBelfast, the descendants ofEnglish dissenters who had colonized Ireland as part of thePlantation of Ulster.^[2]

Lancaster grew up inEast Harlem, New York City. He developed a great interest and skill in gymnastics while attendingDeWitt Clinton High School, where he was a basketball star. Before he graduated from DeWitt Clinton, his mother died of acerebral hemorrhage. Lancaster was accepted byNew York University with an athletic scholarship, but dropped out.^[3]

At the age of 9, Lancaster metNick Cravat with whom he developed a lifelong partnership.^[4] Together, they learned to act in local theatre productions and circus arts atUnion Settlement, one of the city's oldest settlement houses.^[4] In the 1930s, they formed the acrobat duoLang and Cravat and soon joined the Kay Brothers circus. However, in 1939, an injury forced Lancaster to give up the profession, with great regret. He then found temporary work, first as a salesman forMarshall Fields and then as a singing waiter in various restaurants.^[5]

After the United States enteredWorld War II, Lancaster joined theUnited States Army in January 1943 and performed with the Army's 21stSpecial Services Division, one of the military groups organized to follow the troops on the ground and provideUSO entertainment to keep up morale. He served in theFifth Army in Italy under GeneralMark Clark from 1943 to 1945.^[6] He was discharged October 1945 and was an entertainment specialist with the rank oftechnician fifth grade.^[7]

Lancaster returned to New York after his Army service. Although initially unenthusiastic about acting, Lancaster was encouraged to audition for a Broadway play by a producer who saw him in an elevator while he was visiting his then-girlfriend at work.^[8] The audition was successful and Lancaster was cast inHarry Brown'sA Sound of Hunting (1945). The show only ran three weeks, but his performance attracted the interest of a Hollywood agent,Harold Hecht. Lancaster had other offers but Hecht promised him the opportunity to produce their own movies within five years of hitting Hollywood.

Through Hecht, Lancaster was brought to the attention of producerHal B. Wallis. Lancaster left New York and moved to Los Angeles. Wallis signed him to a non-exclusive eight-movie contract.

Lancaster's first filmed movie wasDesert Fury for Wallis in 1947, where Lancaster was billed afterJohn Hodiak andLizabeth Scott. It was directed byLewis Allen.^[9][10]

Then producerMark Hellinger approached him to star in 1946'sThe Killers, which was completed and released prior toDesert Fury. Directed byRobert Siodmak, it was a great commercial and critical success^[11][12] and launched Lancaster and his co-starAva Gardner to stardom. It has since come to be regarded as a classic.^[13][14]

Hellinger used Lancaster again onBrute Force in 1947, a prison drama written byRichard Brooks and directed byJules Dassin. It was also well received.^[9] Wallis released his films through Paramount, and so Lancaster and other Wallis contractees made cameos inVariety Girl in 1947.

Lancaster's next film was a thriller for Wallis in 1947,I Walk Alone, co-starring Lizabeth Scott and a youngKirk Douglas, who was also under contract to Wallis.Variety listed it as one of the top grossers of the year, taking in more than $2 million.^[15]

In 1948, Lancaster had a change of pace with the film adaptation ofArthur Miller'sAll My Sons, made atUniversal Pictures withEdward G. Robinson. His third film for Wallis was an adaptation ofSorry, Wrong Number in 1948, withBarbara Stanwyck.

Hecht kept to his promise to Lancaster to turn producer. The two of them formed a company, Norma Productions, and did a deal with Universal to make a thriller about a disturbed G.I. in London,Kiss the Blood Off My Hands in 1948, withJoan Fontaine and directed by Norman Foster. It made a profit of only $50,000, but was critically acclaimed.^[15]

Back in Hollywood, Lancaster made another film noir with Siodmak,Criss Cross, in 1949. It was originally going to be produced by Hellinger and when Hellinger died, another took over.Tony Curtis made an early appearance.

Lancaster appeared in a fourth picture for Wallis,Rope of Sand, in 1949.

Norma Productions signed a three-picture deal withWarner Bros. The first was 1950'sThe Flame and the Arrow, a swashbuckler movie, in which Lancaster drew on his circus skills. Nick Cravat had a supporting role and the film was a huge commercial success, making $6 million. It was Warners' most popular film of the year and established an entirely new image for Lancaster.^[16]

Lancaster was borrowed by20th Century Fox forMister 880 in 1950, a comedy crime romance film withEdmund Gwenn. MGM put him in a popular Western,Vengeance Valley in 1951,^[17] then he went to Warners to play the title role in the biopicJim Thorpe – All-American, also in 1951.

Norma signed a deal withColumbia Pictures to make two films through a Norma subsidiary, Halburt. The first film was 1951'sTen Tall Men, where Lancaster was a member of theFrench Foreign Legion.Robert Aldrich worked on the movie as a production manager.

The second was 1952'sThe First Time, a comedy which was the directorial debut ofFrank Tashlin. It was meant to star Lancaster but he wound up not appearing in the film – the first of their productions in which he did not act.^[18]

In 1951, the actor/producer duo changed the company's name to Hecht-Lancaster Productions. The first film under the new name was another swashbuckler: 1952'sThe Crimson Pirate, directed by Siodmak. Again, co-starring Nick Cravat, it was extremely popular. Taking the premise of The Flame and the Arrow a step further, it allowed the pair to, not only emphasise the absurdity of the story with more spectacle and comical situations but to demonstrate they were able to perform their own circus skills-based stunts without relying onstuntmen quite as much a most Hollywood stars. As if to down play this, Lancaster himself speaks to the audience in the opening scene over footage of Lancaster performing a dangerous rope swing from one of his pirate ship's masts to the other. "…in a pirate world, believe only what you see." The footage is then reversed to show a near impossible backwards swing to the first mast again, from which he proclaims "No, believe HALF of what you see."

Lancaster changed pace once more by doing a straight dramatic part in 1952'sCome Back, Little Sheba, based on a Broadway hit, withShirley Booth, produced by Wallis and directed byDaniel Mann.

Alternating with adventure films, he went intoSouth Sea Woman in 1952 at Warners. Part of the Norma-Warners contract was that Lancaster had to appear in some non-Norma films, of which this was one.^[19]

In 1954, for his own company, Lancaster produced and starred inHis Majesty O'Keefe, a South Sea island tale shot in Fiji. It was co-written by James Hill, who would soon become a part of the Hecht-Lancaster partnership.^[20]

Hecht and Lancaster left Warners forUnited Artists, for what began as a two-picture deal, the first of which was to be 1954'sApache, starring Lancaster as a Native American.^[21][22]

They followed it with another Western in 1954,Vera Cruz, co-starringGary Cooper and produced by Hill. Both films were directed byRobert Aldrich and were hugely popular.

United Artists signed Hecht-Lancaster to a multi-picture contract, to make seven films over two years.^[23] These included films in which Lancaster did not act. Their first wasMarty in 1955, based onPaddy Chayefsky's TV play starringErnest Borgnine and directed byDelbert Mann. It won both theBest Picture Oscar and thePalme d'Or award atCannes and Borgnine anBest Actor Oscar. It also earned $2 million on a budget of $350,000.^[24]Vera Cruz had been a huge success, butMarty secured Hecht-Lancaster as one of the most successful independent production companies in Hollywood at the time.^[25]Marty star Borgnine was under contract to Hecht-Lancaster and was unhappy about his lack of upcoming roles, especially after only receiving some seven lines in 1957'sSweet Smell of Success and half of his normal pay forMarty.^[26] He eventually sued for breach of contract to gain back some of this money in 1957.^[27]

Without Hill, Hecht and Lancaster producedThe Kentuckian in 1955. It was directed by Lancaster in his directorial debut, and he also played a lead role. Lancaster disliked directing and only did it once more, on 1974'sThe Midnight Man.^[28]

Lancaster still had commitments with Wallis, and madeThe Rose Tattoo for him in 1955, starring withAnna Magnani and Daniel Mann directing. It was very popular at the box office and critically acclaimed, winning Magnani an Oscar.^[29]

In 1955, Hill was made an equal partner in Hecht-Lancaster, with his name added to the production company.Hecht-Hill-Lancaster (HHL) released their first filmTrapeze in 1956, with Lancaster performing many of his own stunts. The film, co-starringTony Curtis andGina Lollobrigida, went on to become the production company's top box office success, and United Artists expanded its deal with HHL.^[30]

In 1956, Lancaster and Hecht partnered withLoring Buzzell and entered the music industry with the music publishing companiesLeigh Music,Hecht-Lancaster & Buzzell Music,Calyork Music andColby Music and the record labelsCalyork Records andMaine Records.^[31]

The HHL team impressed Hollywood with its success; asLife wrote in 1957, "[a]fter the independent production of a baker's dozen of pictures, it has yet to have its first flop ... (They were also good pictures.)."^[32] In late 1957, they announced they would make ten films worth $14 million in 1958.^[33]

Lancaster made two films for Wallis to complete his eight-film commitment for that contract:The Rainmaker (1956) withKatharine Hepburn, which earned Lancaster a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor; andGunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957) with Kirk Douglas, which was a huge commercial hit directed byJohn Sturges.

Lancaster re-teamed withTony Curtis in 1957 forSweet Smell of Success, a co-production between Hecht-Hill-Lancaster and Curtis' own company with wifeJanet Leigh, Curtleigh Productions. The movie, directed byAlexander Mackendrick, was a critical success but a commercial disappointment. Over the years it has come to be regarded as one of Lancaster's greatest films.^[34]

HHL produced seven additional films in the late 1950s. Four starred Lancaster:Run Silent, Run Deep (1958), aRobert Wise directed war film withClark Gable, which was mildly popular;Separate Tables (1958) a hotel-set drama with Kerr andRita Hayworth (who married James Hill), which received an Oscar nomination for Best Picture and Oscar awards for lead actorDavid Niven and supporting actressWendy Hiller, and was both a critical and commercial success;The Devil's Disciple (1959), with Douglas andLaurence Olivier, which lost money (and saw Lancaster fire Mackendrick during shooting);^[35] and the WesternThe Unforgiven (1960), withAudrey Hepburn, which was a critical and commercial disappointment.^[36]

Three were made without Lancaster, all of which lost money:The Bachelor Party (1957), from another TV play by Chayefsky, and directed by Delbert Mann;Take a Giant Step (1959), about a black student; andSummer of the Seventeenth Doll (1960), from an Australian play, shot on location in Australia and Britain. Lancaster was originally announced as the lead forDoll but did not appear in the final film.^[37]

The Hecht-Hill-Lancaster Productions company dissolved in 1960 after Hill ruptured his relationship with both Hecht and Lancaster. Hill went on to produce a single additional film,The Happy Thieves, in a new production company, Hillworth Productions, co-owned with his wifeRita Hayworth.

Lancaster played the title role inElmer Gantry (1960), written and directed by Richard Brooks for United Artists. The film received five Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Best Actor. Lancaster won the1960 Academy Award for Best Actor, a Golden Globe Award, and theNew York Film Critics Award for his performance.

Hecht and Lancaster worked together onThe Young Savages (1961), directed byJohn Frankenheimer and produced by Hecht.Sydney Pollack worked as a dialogue coach.

Lancaster starred inJudgment at Nuremberg (1961) forStanley Kramer, alongsideSpencer Tracy,Richard Widmark and a number of other stars. The film was both a commercial and critical success, receiving eleven Oscar nominations, including Best Picture.

He then did another film with Hecht and Frankenheimer (replacingCharles Crichton),Birdman of Alcatraz (1962), a largely fictionalized biography. In it he playsRobert Stroud, a federal prisoner incarcerated for life for two murders, who begins to collect birds and over time becomes an expert in bird diseases, even publishing a book. The film shows Stroud transferred to the maximum security Alcatraz prison where he is not allowed to keep birds and as he ages he gets married, markets bird remedies, helps stop a prison rebellion, and writes a book on the history of the U.S. penal system, but never gets paroled.

The sympathetic performance earned Lancaster a Best Actor Oscar nomination, a BAFTA Award for Best Actor, and a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Dramatic Role. Hecht went on to produce five films without Lancaster's assistance, through his company Harold Hecht Films Productions between 1961 and 1967, including another Academy Award winner,Cat Ballou, starringLee Marvin andJane Fonda.

Lancaster madeA Child Is Waiting (1963) withJudy Garland. It was produced by Kramer and directed byJohn Cassavetes.^[38]

He went to Italy to star inThe Leopard (1963) forLuchino Visconti, co-starringAlain Delon andClaudia Cardinale. It was one of Lancaster's favorite films and was a big hit in France but failed in the US (though the version released was much truncated).^[39]

He had a small role inThe List of Adrian Messenger (1963) for producer/star Kirk Douglas, and then did two for Frankenheimer:Seven Days in May (1964), a political thriller with Douglas, andThe Train (1964), a World War Two action film (Lancaster had Frankenheimer replaceArthur Penn several days into filming).

Lancaster starred inThe Hallelujah Trail (1965), a comic Western produced and directed byJohn Sturges which failed to recoup its large cost.^[40]

He had a big hit withThe Professionals (1966), a Western directed by Brooks and also starringLee Marvin.

In 1966, at the age of 52, Lancaster appeared nude in directorFrank Perry's filmThe Swimmer (1968), in what the criticRoger Ebert called "his finest performance".^[41] Prior to working onThe Swimmer, Lancaster was terrified of the water because he did not know how to swim. In preparation for the film, he took swimming lessons fromUCLA swim coach Bob Horn.^[42] Filming was difficult and clashes between Lancaster and Perry led toSydney Pollack coming in to do some filming.^[43] The film was not released until 1968, when it proved to be a commercial failure, though Lancaster remained proud of the movie and his performance.

In 1967, Lancaster formed a new partnership withRoland Kibbee, who had already worked as a writer on five Lancaster projects:Ten Tall Men,The Crimson Pirate,Three Sailors and a Girl (in which Lancaster made a cameo appearance),Vera Cruz, andThe Devil's Disciple.

Through Norlan Productions, Lancaster and Kibbee producedThe Scalphunters in 1968, directed by Sydney Pollack.

Lancaster followed it with another film from Pollack,Castle Keep in 1969, which was a big flop. So wasThe Gypsy Moths, for Frankenheimer, also in 1969.^[44]

Lancaster had one of the biggest successes of his career withAirport in 1970, starring alongsideDean Martin,George Kennedy,Van Heflin,Helen Hayes,Maureen Stapleton,Barbara Hale,Jean Seberg, andJacqueline Bisset. TheRoss Hunter film received nine Academy Award nominations, including one for Best Picture. It became one of the biggest box-office hits of 1970 and, at that time, reportedly the highest-grossing film in the history ofUniversal Pictures.

He then went into a series of Westerns:Lawman in 1971, directed byMichael Winner;Valdez Is Coming in 1971, for Norlan; andUlzana's Raid in 1972, directed by Aldrich and produced by himself and Hecht. None were particularly popular butUlzana's Raid has become a cult film.^[45]

Lancaster did two thrillers, both 1973:Scorpio with Winner andExecutive Action.

Lancaster returned to directing in 1974 withThe Midnight Man, which he also wrote and produced with Kibee.

He made a second film with Visconti,Conversation Piece in 1974 and played the title role in the TV seriesMoses the Lawgiver, also in 1974.

Lancaster was one of many names in 1975's1900, directed byBernardo Bertolucci, and he had a cameo in 1976'sBuffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson forRobert Altman.

He playedShimon Peres in the TV movieVictory at Entebbe in 1977 and had a supporting role inThe Cassandra Crossing in 1976. He made a fourth and final film with Aldrich,Twilight's Last Gleaming in 1977, and had the title role in 1977'sThe Island of Dr. Moreau.^[46]

Lancaster was top-billed inGo Tell the Spartans in 1978, aVietnam War film; Lancaster admired the script so much that he took a reduced fee and donated money to help the movie to be completed. He was inZulu Dawn in 1979.^[47]

Lancaster began the 1980s with a highly acclaimed performance alongsideSusan Sarandon inAtlantic City in 1980, directed byLouis Malle. The film received five Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and a Best Actor nomination for Lancaster.

He had key roles inCattle Annie and Little Britches in 1981,The Skin in 1982 with Cardinale,Marco Polo, also in 1982, andLocal Hero in 1983.

By now, Lancaster was mostly a character actor in features, as inThe Osterman Weekend in 1983, but he was the lead in the TV movieScandal Sheet in 1985.

He was inLittle Treasure in 1985, directed byAlan Sharp, who had writtenUlzana's Raid;On Wings of Eagles for TV in 1986, asBull Simons; 1986's made for TVBarnum starred him in the title role;Tough Guys reunited him on the big screen with Kirk Douglas in 1986;Fathers and Sons: A German Tragedy (in GermanVäter und Söhne – Eine deutsche Tragödie) in 1986 for German TV; 1987'sControl made in Italy;Rocket Gibraltar in 1988, andThe Jeweller's Shop in 1989.

His first critical success in a while wasField of Dreams in 1989, in which he played a supporting role asMoonlight Graham. He was also in the miniseriesThe Betrothed in 1989.

Lancaster's final performances included TV miniseriesThe Phantom of the Opera (1990);Voyage of Terror: The Achille Lauro Affair (1990) asLeon Klinghoffer based on the 1985MS Achille Lauro hijacking incident;^[48] andSeparate But Equal (1991) withSidney Poitier.

Lancaster appeared in a total of seventeen films produced by his agent,Harold Hecht. Eight of these were co-produced byJames Hill. He also appeared in eight films produced byHal B. Wallis and two with producerMark Hellinger. Although Lancaster's work alongside Kirk Douglas was known as that of a successful pair of actors, Douglas, in fact, produced four films for the pair, through his production companies Bryna Productions and Joel Productions. Roland Kibbee also produced three Lancaster films, and Lancaster was also cast in twoStanley Kramer productions.

Kirk Douglas starred in seven films across the decades with Burt Lancaster:I Walk Alone (1948),Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957),The Devil's Disciple (1959),The List of Adrian Messenger (1963),Seven Days in May (1964),Victory at Entebbe (1976) andTough Guys (1986), which fixed the notion of the pair as something of a team in the public imagination. Douglas was always billed under Lancaster in these movies but, with the exception ofI Walk Alone, in which Douglas played a villain, their roles were usually more or less the same size. Both actors arrived in Hollywood at about the same time, and first appeared together in the fourth film for each, albeit with Douglas in a supporting role. They both became actor-producers who sought out independent Hollywood careers.

John Frankenheimer directed five films with Lancaster:The Young Savages (1961),Birdman of Alcatraz (1962),Seven Days in May (1964),The Train (1964), andThe Gypsy Moths (1969).

He was directed four times byRobert Aldrich, three times each byRobert Siodmak andSydney Pollack, and twice each byByron Haskin,Daniel Mann,John Sturges,John Huston,Richard Brooks,Alexander Mackendrick,Luchino Visconti, andMichael Winner.

Roland Kibbee wrote for seven Lancaster films. Lancaster used makeup veteran Robert Schiffer in twenty credited films, hiring Schiffer on nearly all of the films he produced.

Lancaster was a vocal supporter of progressive and liberal political causes.^[49] He frequently spoke out in support of racial and other minorities. As a result, he was often a target of FBI investigations.^[50][51] He was named in PresidentRichard Nixon's 1973 "Enemies List".^[52]

A vocal opponent of theVietnam War, he helped pay for the successful defense of a soldier accused of "fragging" (i.e., murdering) another soldier during war-time.^[53] In 1968, Lancaster actively supported the presidential candidacy of anti-war SenatorEugene McCarthy ofMinnesota, and frequently spoke on his behalf during theDemocratic primaries.^[54]

Lancaster was also active inanti-death penalty activism.^[55] He campaigned heavily forGeorge McGovern in the1972 United States presidential election.^[56]

In 1985, Lancaster joined the fight against AIDS after fellow movie starRock Hudson contracted the disease.^[57] Lancaster delivered Hudson's last words at the Commitment to Life fundraiser at a time when the stigma surrounding AIDS was at its height.^[58][59]

Of his political opinions, frequent co-starTony Curtis said: "Here's this great big aggressive guy that looks like a ding-dong athlete playing these big tough guys and he has the soul of—who were those first philosophers of equality?—Socrates,Plato. He was a Greek philosopher with a sense that everybody was equal."^[59]

Actor andSAG presidentEd Asner said he showed everybody in Hollywood "how to be a liberal with balls".^[59]

In 1947, Lancaster reportedly signed a statement release by theNational Council of Arts, Sciences and Professions (NCASP) asking Congress to abolish theHouse Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC).^[50] He was also a member of the short-livedCommittee for the First Amendment, formed in support of theHollywood Ten. He was one of 26 movie stars who flew to Washington in October 1947 to protest against the HUAC hearings.^[50] The committee'sHollywood Fights Back broadcasts onABC Radio Network were two 30-minute programs that took place on October 27 and November 2, 1947, during which committee members voiced their opposition to the HUAC hearings.^[60][61] Many members faced blacklisting and backlash due to their involvement in the committee. Lancaster was listed in anti-communist literature as afellow traveler.^[62]

He and his second wife, Norma, hosted a fundraiser forMartin Luther King Jr. and theStudent Diversity Leadership Conference (SDLC) ahead of the historicMarch on Washington in 1963.^[59] He attended the march, where he was one of the speakers.^[63][64] He flew in from France for the event, where he was shootingThe Train, and flew back again the next day, despite a reportedfear of flying.^[59][65]

On August 28, 1963, at theMarch on Washington Lancaster "read the speech thatJames Baldwin was supposed to make," because (asMalcolm X said in a speech delivered in Detroit at the King Solomon Baptist Church in late 1963) "they wouldn't let Baldwin get up there because they know Baldwin is liable to say anything."^[66]

In 1968, Lancaster was elected to serve as chairman of theRoger Baldwin Foundation, a newly formed fund-raising arm of theAmerican Civil Liberties Union of Southern California. His co-chairs wereFrank Sinatra andIrving L. Lichtenstein. In October 1968, he hosted a party at his home to raise money for theACLU to use for the defense of the more than four hundred people arrested at the1968 Democratic National Convention.^[59] Throughout the years, he remained an ardent supporter and a fundraiser for the organization.

While serving as a member of the five-person ACLU Foundation executive committee, he cast the key vote to retainRamona Ripston as executive director of the Southern California affiliate, a position she would build into a powerful advocacy force in Los Angeles politics. Ripston later recalled: "There was a feeling that a woman couldn't run the ACLU foundation, nor have access to the books. The vote finally came down to two 'yes' and two 'no.' Who had the deciding vote? Burt. He had a scotch or two and finally he said, 'I think she should be executive director.' I always loved him for that."^[59]

When PresidentGeorge H. W. Bush derided Democratic candidateMichael Dukakis as a "card-carrying member of the ACLU", Lancaster was one of the supporters featured in the organization's first television advertising campaign stating: "I'm a card-carrying member of the ACLU" and "No one agrees with every single thing they've done. But no one can disagree with the guiding principle—with liberty and justice for all.'"^[67] He also campaigned forMichael Dukakis in the1988 United States presidential election.^[68]

Lancaster guarded his personal life and attempted to keep it private despite his stardom. He was married three times and had five children.

His first marriage was to June Ernst, atrapeze acrobat. Ernst was the daughter of a renowned female aerialist and an accomplished acrobat herself. After they were married, he performed with her family and her until their separation in the late 1930s. When they divorced is unclear. Contemporary reports listed 1940, but subsequent biographers have suggested dates as late as 1946, delaying his marriage to his second wife.^[69]

He met second wife Norma Anderson (1917–1988) when the stenographer substituted for an ill actress in a USO production for the troops in Italy. Reportedly, on seeing Lancaster in the crowd on her way to town from the airport, she turned to an officer and asked, "Who is that good-looking officer and is he married?" The officer set up a blind date between the two for that evening.^[69] They married in 1946. Norma was active in political causes with an entire room in their Bel Air home devoted to her major interest, the League of Woman Voters, crammed with printing presses and all the necessary supplies for mass mailings.^[69]

She was a life-long member of theNAACP. The couple held a fundraiser forMartin Luther King Jr. and theSouthern Christian Leadership Conference ahead of the 1963March on Washington.^[70] All five of his children were with Anderson:Bill (who became an actor and screenwriter), James, Susan, Joanna (who worked as a film producer), and Sighle (pronounced "Sheila"). It was a troubled marriage. The pair separated in 1966, and divorced in 1969.

In 1966, Lancaster began a long-term relationship with hairdresser Jackie Bone, who worked onThe Professionals. The relationship was tempestuous, with Bone once smashing a wine bottle over Lancaster's head at a dinner withSydney Pollack andPeter Falk. Reportedly, they eventually split up after her religious conversion, which Lancaster believed he could not share with her.^[69]

His third marriage, to Susan Martin, lasted from September 1990 until his death in 1994.

According to biographer Kate Buford inBurt Lancaster: An American Life, Lancaster was devotedly loyal to his friends and family. Old friends from his childhood remained his friends for life.^[71]

Some media outlets and authors have written that Lancaster was bisexual, and had relationships with both men and women.^[72][73][74] Friends said he claimed he was romantically involved withDeborah Kerr during the filming ofFrom Here to Eternity in 1953.^[75] However, Kerr stated that while there was a spark of attraction,^[76] nothing ever happened. He reportedly had an affair withJoan Blondell.^[77]

In her 1980 autobiography,Shelley Winters claimed to have had a two-year affair with him, during which time he was considering separation from his wife. In his Hollywood memoirs, friendFarley Granger recalled an incident when Lancaster and he had to come to Winters' rescue one evening when she had inadvertently overdosed on alcohol and sleeping pills.^[78] She broke up with him for "cheating on her with his wife" after she heard reports of his wife's third or fourth pregnancy.^[79]

Despite hisProtestant background and upbringing,^[80] Lancaster identified as anatheist later in life.^[81]

As Lancaster reached his 60s, he began to be affected bycardiovascular disease. In January 1980, he had complications from a routinegall bladder operation (that he barely survived). In 1983, following two minor heart attacks, he underwent an emergency quadruplecoronary bypass. He continued to act, however, and to engage in public activism. In 1988, he attended a congressional hearing in Washington, DC, with former colleagues who includedJames Stewart andGinger Rogers to protest against media magnateTed Turner's plan tocolorize various black-and-white films from the 1930s and 1940s. On November 30, 1990, when he was 77, a stroke left him partiallyparalyzed and largely unable to speak, ending his acting career.

Lancaster died at his apartment inCentury City, Los Angeles, after having a third heart attack at 4:50 am on October 20, 1994.^[82] His body was cremated, and his ashes were scattered under a large oak tree inWestwood Memorial Park, which is located inWestwood Village, California. A small, square ground plaque amid several others, inscribed "Burt Lancaster 1913–1994", marks the location. As he had requested, no memorial or funeral service was held for him.

The centennial of Lancaster's birth was honored at New York City'sFilm Society of Lincoln Center in May 2013 with the screening of 12 of the actor's best-known films, fromThe Killers toAtlantic City.^[83]

Lancaster has a star on theHollywood Walk of Fame, at 6801 Hollywood Boulevard.^[84]

Lancaster was nominated for the Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role in 1954 forFrom Here to Eternity, in 1961 forElmer Gantry, in 1964 forBirdman of Alcatraz, and in 1982 forAtlantic City. He won the Oscar in 1961. Lancaster's leading role in Luchino Visconti's 1963 canonicalThe Leopard began a series of roles with important European art film directors that included roles in Bernardo Bertolucci's1900 and Louis Malle'sAtlantic City as well as Visconti'sConversation Piece.

For a number of years exhibitors voted Lancaster among the most popular stars:

Spanish music groupHombres G released an album namedLa cagaste, Burt Lancaster (You messed up, Burt Lancaster) in 1986.

Thomas Hart Benton painted a scene fromThe Kentuckian as part of the film's marketing. Lancaster posed for the painting, also known asThe Kentuckian.^[85]

• Burt Lancaster at theAmerican Film Institute Catalog
• Burt Lancaster atIMDb  
• Burt Lancaster at theTCM Movie Database 
• Burt Lancaster at theInternet Broadway Database 
• Literature on Burt Lancaster
• "The Rainmaker", a poem for Lancaster