Trivia of Burt Lancaster

Trivia of Burt Lancaster

*In his youth he wanted to be an opera singer, as he had a good soprano voice, but when he was 17 he lost it when his voice broke.He worked as a circus acrobat since his late teens and following war service and acting on Broadway.

*Was a fan of the silent film The Unknown (1927), most likely because it 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.

*He was nearly 33 when he appeared in his first movie, The Killers (1946).

*Felt intimidated by co-star Montgomery Clift on the set of From Here to Eternity (1953) due to Clift's great talent.Montgomery Clift told friends he thought Burt Lancaster was a terrible actor and "a big bag of wind" (an attitude perhaps fuelled by his resentment over having to take second billing.

*Allegedly showed up at a Hollywood Oscar party in the late 1950s wearing a G-string and spray-painted gold, resembling an Academy Award statuette after a similar stunt had been done by Rock Hudson and Vera-Ellen.

*He was not close friends with Kirk Douglas, as was often perceived. Their "friendship" was largely fabricated by the publicity-wise Douglas; in reality, they were very competitive with each other and sometimes privately expressed a mutual personal disdain despite mutual respect for the other's acting talents.He and Kirk Douglas acted together in seven films: Victory at Entebbe (1976), Tough Guys (1986), Seven Days in May (1964), The List of Adrian Messenger (1963), I Walk Alone (1947), Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957) and The Devil's Disciple (1959).

*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.