Burton Stephen Lancaster (November 2, 1913 – October 20, 1994) was an American actor and producer. 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 film and, later, television. He was a four-time nominee for the Academy Award for Best Actor (winning once), and he also won two BAFTA Awards and one Golden Globe Award for Best Lead Actor. The American Film Institute ranks Lancaster as #19 of the greatest male stars of classic Hollywood cinema.Lancaster performed as a circus acrobat in the 1930s. After serving in World War II, the 32-year-old Lancaster landed a role in a Broadway play and drew the attention of a Hollywood agent. His breakthrough role was in the film noir The Killers in 1946 alongside Ava Gardner. A critical success, it launched both of their careers. In 1953, Lancaster played the illicit lover of Deborah Kerr in the military drama From 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 in The Rainmaker (1956), with Katharine Hepburn, earning a Best Actor Golden Globe nomination, and in 1957 he starred in Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957) with frequent co-star Kirk Douglas. During the 1950s, his production company, Hecht-Hill-Lancaster, was highly successful, with Lancaster acting in films such as: Trapeze in 1956, a box office smash in which he used his acrobatic skills and for which he won the Silver 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 with Clark Gable; and Separate 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 in Elmer 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 in Birdman 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 in the epic period drama The Leopard. In 1964, he played a US Air Force General who, opposed by a Colonel played by Douglas, tries to overthrow the President in Seven Days in May. Then, in 1966, he played an explosives expert in the western The Professionals.
In 1970, Lancaster starred in the box-office hit, air-disaster drama Airport. He experienced a career resurgence in 1980 with the crime-romance Atlantic 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-winning Separate but Equal with Sidney 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-nominated Field of Dreams.
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Some of their strengths
Burt Lancaster has many admirable traits.
Based on spiritual traditions from around the world, they are someone who can be described as Hardworking, Loyal, Generous, Optimistic, Adventurous, Energetic, and Creative.
Intense and Passionate
According to Mysticism’s Astrology tradition, Burt Lancaster is someone who is an intense, passionate, and intuitive person who is fiercely independent, authentic and direct when engaging with others. A person who is a bit of a "lone wolf".
Warm and Caring
Based on Daoism’s Ba-Zi or ‘Chinese Zodiac’ tradition, people who know Burt Lancaster well know them as someone who can be warm, caring, and compassionate, like a lamp or torch.
Ambitious and Forceful
According to Hinduism’s Jyotisha or ‘Vedic Astrology’ tradition, many would also describe Burt Lancaster as someone who is ambitious, hard-working, determined, and intelligent.
A person who has a knack for identifying opportunities, has amazing concentration and focus, who can work independently, who likes starting new things, and who is somewhat of an intellectual.
Charismatic and Playful
Based on the Mayan Tzolk’in or ‘Mayan Astrology’ tradition, Burt Lancaster is someone who is used to being the center of attention, and who has a playful approach to dealing with life.
They are also someone who is altruistic, tolerant, and sophisticated, and who tends to be a perfectionist who is always working to try and make everything and everyone better.
Mysterious and Methodical
According to Judaism’s Kabbalah tradition, Burt Lancaster tends to be someone who can come across as mysterious and intense, who can be a complex thinker who is methodical and intuitive, and who can overcome challenges that most others would not be able to.
Some of Burt Lancaster's challenges
While Burt Lancaster has many strengths, nobody is perfect. They also have some challenging traits they need to manage.
For example, Burt Lancaster can be Stubborn, Impulsive, Complicated, Brusque, Suspicious, Careless, and Relentless.
Complicated and Brusque
One of Burt Lancaster's key challenges is that they are someone who can be complicated and gruff with others.
Relentless and Inflexible
Burt Lancaster is someone who can be relentless, obsessive, and inflexible, who can be confrontational with work colleagues, can have difficulty communicating feelings and be somewhat reclusive, and who can be self-destructive, overindulgent, and extravagant.
Sensitive and Aggressive
Finally, Burt Lancaster also can be too "touchy-feely", have a hard time expressing feelings, be too aggressive and headstrong, and be too unforgiving of others' mistakes.