[.ca] Burt Lancaster: An American Life (ISBN 0306810190)

From Amazon.com:
If you have any serious interest in movies, you've got to read NPR pundit Kate Buford's sharp-eyed, meticulous, intelligent account of Burt Lancaster's life and work. The most inward of actors--director Luchino Visconti called him "the most perfectly mysterious man I ever met"--Lancaster spurned most press attention. Buford proves there was more to the No. 1 box-office star of Elmer Gantry and From Here to Eternity than muscles and big capped teeth. Growing up in Mob-ruled Harlem (Vincent "Mad Dog" Coll perpetrated the famous "baby massacre" on Lancaster's block), Lancaster ran off to the circus as an acrobat, went to war, and hit stardom at 33. Sweet Smell of Success cowriter Clifford Odets said there were seven Burts, including "Inscrutable Burt" and "Monster Golem Burt." He intimidated Montgomery Clift and Norman Mailer, threatened to toss his producer out a window, slugged Margot Kidder, put a girlfriend in the hospital by hurling her in the air just like his character in Brute Force, and made Kirk Douglas cry by mocking his elevator shoes. After he seduced costar Yvonne De Carlo in her mink coat (he also bedded Deborah Kerr and Marlene Dietrich), the mother of his five children comforted herself with innumerable minks and bottles of booze. His kids were neglected; the son whose baseball team Lancaster coached wrote The Bad News Bears, capturing Burt in the gruff Matthau character. Buford notes that the seducer Gantry and control freak J.J. Hunsecker were closest to the real Burt, while the Birdman of Alcatraz was who he wanted to be. She takes us behind the scenes, showing precisely what the actor contributed (and threatened to undermine) in his great films, including his Oscar win as producer, Marty. Buford also explains how his independent film company anticipated many later trends but blew it by overspending on script development, and assesses his brilliant deconstruction of his own legend as the lion in winter of Local Hero and Atlantic City. And she puts all gossip in perspective. Burt's jealousy as he fumed in his car outside the house where his ex Shelley Winters was bedding Marlon Brando had a film-historical importance: Brando also stole Stanley Kowalski and the Godfather roles from Burt, and he represented the Method acting style Burt strenuously opposed for the first half of his career. Because he was too smart and curious to stick with one persona, and more interested in art than money, Lancaster needs a landmark biography. He's got one now. And you must check out his full-backside nudity on the back cover! --Tim Appelo

The Story of an American Original:
Burt Lancaster was an American original in every sense of the term. Born and raised in the melting pot atmosphere of New York City's East Harlem, Lancaster initially wins the respect of peers with his athletic prowess. He plays basketball in high school and college, then becomes a professional acrobat. He experiences tough times during the Depression as he seeks work in a series of faceless small towns as an acrobat. It was to his ultimate career benefit that World War Two came along, giving Lancaster a steady job as well as a launching pad to the career which would make him a fortune and an international celebrity. He becomes a USO performer and, upon his discharge, lands a part in a New York play. The play closed early, but Lancaster attracted a Hollywood talent scout's interest and was signed to a contract by Hal Wallis of Paramount. Lancaster became one of the fortunate few actors to become a full-fledged star in his first film. While his first film officially was the quickly forgotten "Desert Sun" at Paramount with Lizabeth Scott and John Hodiak, he was fortunate that his first ever released film was the much better received "The Killers," an adaptation of a famous Ernest Hemingway short story. Director Robert Siodmak knew that he had immediately struck gold with the explosive dynamism of leading man Lancaster and his high voltage leading lady, the sizzling Ava Gardner. Siodmak would work with Lancaster later in the noir thriller "Crisscross" opposite brunette bombshell Yvonne DeCarlo and in the sea adventure "The Crimson Pirate." Author Buford has heavily researched Lancaster's busy life, chronicling the fact that the actor's expensive lifestyle fored him into an exhausting cinema workload that would have killed a less powerful man. Interesting insights are provided into the creative process leading up to Lancaster's Oscar-winning performance in the 1960 adaptation of Sinclair Lewis' powerful novel about a basically sincere while profoundly debauched clergyman, "Elmer Gantry." Lancaster and the film's director, Richard Brooks, were equally combustible types. They spent a lot of time shouting at each other, but eventually hammered out a winning screenplay, for which Brooks received an Oscar. Another fascinating segment of the book deals with Lancaster's efforts in the producing field. As a partner in Hecht-Hill-Lancaster he shared in the triumph of a Hollywood first, a "Best Picture" Oscar for an independent production, removed from Tinseltown's then solidly dominant studio system. The film was "Marty" and it made its Oscar-winning star, Ernest Borgnine, into a major international leading man after an earlier seasoning period as a villain. Another ultimate triumph for the independent team was "Sweet Smell of Success." It is now renowned as one of the most biting and brilliantly original film noir efforts ever made, but, like so many classics, such as Hitchcock's "Vertigo," it took awhile for the film public to warm up to its greatness. Buford also explores Lancaster's life as a generous contributor to liberal causes. Unlike other more fair weather celebrity types, Lancaster always responded if he believed in the cause without once asking who else would be appearing with him. A man of staggering talent, imagination, and intelligence, the gifted Lancaster is fully explored, as well as his more troubled side, complexities befitting a sensitive artistic genius. Lancaster maintained a burning presence both on and off the screen. William Hare

The Story of a Legend:
I hadn't paid very much attention to Burt Lancaster until just a few months ago. I didn't know what an outstanding actor he was. After reading this book, I feel I know him even more. This book is very detailed and thorough. It's obvious Kate Buford put enormous amounts of time and research into it. She did a great job. If you, like me, want to discover the real Burt Lancaster, this is the book to buy.

A dangerous man!:
Compliments to the author! This is probably the best investigated star biography I know - and the bluntest. Burt Lancaster grew up in New York under desolate conditions. His mother beat him. He found diversion in sports and practiced frequently. He became a true muscle man and even worked as acrobat. His magnificent body and his colgate smile became his biggest assets in Hollywood, but he wanted more: He gave dynamic performances in "issue" films, like SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS, ELMER GANTRY and THE SWIMMER and became also a successful producer. Like most stars of his generation he survived the sixties in westerns, but late in life he was rewarded with worthwile roles in ATLANTIC CITY and LOCAL HERO. At one point, the author complains that today's filmgoers throw him in the same pot as Kirk Douglas and Charlton Heston, yet, despite her obvious admiration of his talents, something drives her to unveil the dark side of his life. I fully expected to discover some skeletons in his closet, but I didn't expect them to rattle so loud: It's neither the hint at bisexuality that shocks me, nor the revelation that a government agency kept a file about his secret life, that included "orgies" with Rock Hudson (She does not tell us what exactly happened at those orgies). No, the most shocking moment comes when Buford reveals that once he threw a woman to the floor with brute force. This case of grievous bodily harm was settled out of court, but I think it is too serious to be excused with charming Walt Whitman citations. Yet - we had been warned before: he was always on his guard, she tells us, because "He knew that he was able to kill a man". Like his character in THE LEOPARD he took what he wanted with the right of the sovereign. His marriage was a "must" marriage, but it produced 7 children, despite his wife's serious alcohol problems. He was apparently a dedicated father. Some of the details in this book excite real awe for the author, not because they are unsavory, but because they made it in this book at all: What Lancaster's sons did to a neighbor's swimming-pool (exactly what you think), that digestion was a topic at dinner table...How she made her interview-partners babble! Lancaster was a star who kept an "entourage": Generous in financial matters, he kept many people at arm's length, hereby preventing them, of course, to stand on their own feet. No one hindered Kate Buford to write a pretty, fan-pleasing hagiography. That she opted for honesty instead does her credit: Those are the only biographies worth reading, even if they are not always pleasant. Well done, Mrs. Buford!

A Man of Many Paradoxes:
Apparently many of those who knew Lancaster best (family members, friends, and co-stars) had the same reactions to him that I did who knew him only through various characters he played throughout his film career. Whatever the role, he always seemed to me to be so self-assured, at times arrogant. Almost never encumbered by self-doubt. "Larger than life" in terms of his appetites. Obsessed with learning as much as he could about as many different subjects as he could and then leveraging his knowledge to gain advantage over others. But also tender, vulnerable, loving, gentle, sensitive, and compassionate. Even in his later years in films such as Atlantic City and Field of Dreams, Lancaster and the characters he played seem inseparable. By then, on and off the screen, age had obviously taken its toll but even so, there was always that sense of dignity, of personal pride, a twinkle in the eye. For me, Lancaster's personality and character are most evident in one of his least appreciated films, The Leopard. However, the same can also be said of the roles he plays in The Sweet Smell of Success, From Here to Eternity, Elmer Gantry, and Come Back, Little Sheba. Kate Buford's biography provides about as much information about Lancaster's life and career as I care to know. The man she reveals could well have said of himself what Whitman expresses in "Song of Myself": Do I contradict myself? Very well then, I contradict myself. I am large. I contain multitudes.

Riveting reading:
I enjoyed this book a great deal. While I was familiar with most of Lancaster's films, his private life was a mystery. One thing I do have to say for the author: she's thorough. Not to the point of boredom, but all her bases are covered. There's just enough information on Lancaster's background, and I found the story of his parents as fascinating as his. The accounts of his physical feats during his "circus" years were remarkable, as were his inner conflicts over some of the parts he played. Of special interest was the Hect collaboration and foray into producing. My only dislike of the book (and this echoes another reviewer) was Buford's teasing of the bisexuality theme. Why make oblique references to this unless you're going to give us some facts? Was he or wasn't he? There should be more to substantiate this, given the fact that a)This was Hollywood and everyone knew everyone else's business, and b) Lancaster is dead and, according to even the most die-hard Hollywood standards, this makes for fair game. But when all is said and done, this is a great read. I highly recommend this, along with Gerald Clarke's bio on Truman Capote.