Burt Lancaster - ©Theda Bara

The name I present to you in this post is that of American actor and film producer Burt Lancaster, one of Hollywood’s greatest icons.

Burt Lancaster won the Academy Award for Best Actor 1961, for his performance in the film “Elmer Gantry” (1960), the film’s title and the protagonist’s name, a traveling salesman who becomes involved with an evangelist, “Sister Sharon Falconer”, played by British actress Jean Merilyn Simmons (1929-2010), with whom he begins a romance until a woman appears claiming to be his wife.

In addition to the Oscar, Burt won two BAFTA awards: Best Foreign Actor in 1963 for “Birdman of Alcatraz” (1962), playing “Robert Franklin Stroud”, and Best Actor in 1982 for “Atlantic City” (1981), playing "“Lou”. He also won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Drama Film in 1961 for “Elmer Gantry” (1960).

The actor has a star on the Los Angeles Walk of Fame, located at 6801 Hollywood Boulevard, in the Motion Picture category.

Burt Stephen Lancaster was born on November 2, 1913, in Manhattan, New York, United States, and died on October 20, 1994, in Century City, Los Angeles, California, United States, at the age of 80.

Burt Lancaster was married three times. His first wife was Australian accountant June Wattle Ernst (1916-1977), from 1935 to 1946; his second marriage was to Colorado State Representative Norma Mari Anderson Lancaster (1917-1988), from 1946 to 1969; and finally, he married actress Susan Clifton Martin (1955-2024), from 1990 to 1994.

Burt Lancaster had five children, all from his second marriage to Norma Anderson. His firstborn was jazz musician Jimmy Lancaster (1946-), his second son was American screenwriter and actor William Henry Lancaster - Bill Lancaster (1947-1997), and he had three daughters: actress Susan Lancaster (1949-), and award-winning film producers Joanna Lancaster (1951-) and Sighle Lancaster (1954-).