Burt Lancaster, Born November 2, 1913, Went From Circus Acrobat to Oscar Winner

Film still: Columbia Pictures trailer, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Burt Lancaster was born in New York on November 2, 1913. Before acting he worked as a circus acrobat, and that physical grace is visible in many of his early films. His screen debut was The Killers in 1946, and he was a star almost at once.

Photo: Hal Wallis Productions, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

In the 1950s he was in From Here to Eternity, the one with the beach kiss, and Sweet Smell of Success, in which he plays a vicious newspaper columnist. He won the Best Actor Oscar for Elmer Gantry in 1960. The range between those roles is what I find most impressive.

Photo: Nicholas Volpe, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

He also made European films. Luchino Visconti's The Leopard in 1963 gave him one of his best roles as a Sicilian prince watching his world disappear, and I would recommend it to anyone who has only seen him as an action hero.

Poster: United Artists, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Later work includes Atlantic City in 1980 and Field of Dreams in 1989, where he plays a former baseball player in a short, moving role. He died on October 20, 1994.

Photo: Marisa Rastellini, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

What is your favourite Lancaster performance? If you have not seen The Leopard, I think it deserves a quiet evening and a long viewing.