Burt Lancaster's Good Looks Hid Darkness

Hollywood heartthrob Bert Lancaster seemed almost too good to be true but six years after he died shocking Declassified FBI documents revealed the screen Legend's deepest Secrets Bert Lancaster sent shock waves through Hollywood when he rolled around in the surf and From Here to Eternity his body was as tight and plugged as a modern underwear model but this was the 1950s and Men didn't do that the rumors started flying was Lancaster gay attending debauched parties was he maybe even a communist this handsome star said very little about his Private Affairs but nothing stays secret in Hollywood forever as you will see Bert Lancaster was born at his family's home in East Harlem in 1913 his parents were both workingclass Irish immigrants his family life was challenging to to say the least like many youngsters from difficult homes Bert Lancaster dreamed of running away to the circus eventually he made his dream come true with friend Nick cucha Lancaster formed a duo called Lang and Kat and signed up for the K Brothers Circus Lancaster really came to life swinging on the horizontal bars but life and finances were tough in the Ring The Duo eventually started performing at burlesque clubs to make more money doing their acrobatics between stript acts in 1939 Lancaster suffered a painful accident during a performance the result was an injury that left his finger infected Lancaster's doctor gave him a devastating Choice he could either give up acrobatics or give up his finger the choice was obvious but painful the circus was Bert Lancaster's life and it was all ripped away in an instant where would he go next in 1942 things were heating up in Europe and the US Army soon drafted Bert Lancaster for service lucky for him special services noted Lancaster's talents and signed him up to entertain the servicemen alongside such stars as Sammy Davis Jr and Mickey Rooney sounds like a great gig after what he'd been through but Lancaster's skills weren't fully appreciated yet Bert Lancaster didn't actually do much in terms of entertain M himself he says that he immensely enjoyed traveling Europe and North Africa as the person who turns the pages for The Pianist his job didn't quite use his entertaining skills but it did help him turn an important page in his life Norma Anderson was a stenographer who found herself stationed in Italy one fateful day their paths crossed Anderson couldn't help but notice the incredibly hunky man turning the pianist's pages she quick quickly asked a friend about Lancaster's availability and the friend arranged for a blind date the two soon fell in love Lancaster returned from Italy with Anderson and seemed to be through with acting but acting didn't seem to be through with him one day he was riding in an elevator to GOI Anderson and a producer spontaneously asked him to audition for a role in a Broadway play Lancaster nailed the audition and his performance caught the eye of another producer who wanted him to come to Hollywood even though Lancaster was completely unknown in Hollywood he decided he wanted more than just a job as an actor in an incredibly bold move Lancaster immediately asked if he could produce films as well as act in them somehow Lancaster's confidence worked and the producer promised that Lancaster would be able to produce films 5 years after arriving in Hollywood there was however one cavat before Lancaster could start producing he had to prove himself as an actor but that didn't take him long at all Lancaster's first film was The Killers which cemented two Hollywood careers lancasters and his co-star Ava garders the film was a commercial and critical success and is considered a classic Lancaster was an instant star and he never had to play a supporting role while filming The Killers Lancaster got some personal news Bert Lancaster found out that his girlfriend Norma Anderson was pregnant without thinking much about it Lancaster came up with a plan he had enough money for an abortion but Anderson had no intention of ending her pregnancy her religious beliefs wouldn't let her Lancaster was in a bind his star was Rising but this illegitimate child could ruin everything what was he going to do at this time Lancaster was still under contract with Universal Pictures and they didn't want a leading man with an illegitimate child so the studio took control of the situation which was never a good sign the couple had a quicky wedding ceremony in Arizona meddling Behavior like this probably made Lancaster even more convinced that he should produce his own work and get out of the studio system Bert Lancaster's first attempt producing his own movie movies immediately started a controversy even before the end of the opening credits you see the film had a very violent title kiss the blood off my hands graphic small us towns and countries such as Canada and Australia couldn't handle the goriness on the Marquee Lancaster switched the title to the unafraid for those regions and it went on to become a modest box office success even though kiss the blood off my my hands ran into some controversy it did something quite revolutionary until this time most actors were stuck as a cog in the studio system they had little or no control over the type of movies they did or the roles they got Lancaster was one of the first actors of his era to actually produce films as well Bert Lancaster's career was seriously taking off and this fact may have gone to his head on the set of the 19 52 swashbuckler the Crimson pirate Lancaster's Behavior was making the director and crew seasick he was completely unmanageable overbearing crass and all around unpleasant but Lancaster's Behavior was not the only problem during the filming of the Crimson pirate something even darker was brewing behind the scenes the 1950s was a strange time in Hollywood politicians were on the lookout for what they could considered communist threats the Crimson pirate came under suspicion not because of Lancaster himself but the lines he said in the film apparently FBI director Jay Edgar Hoover didn't like the monologue that Lancaster delivered in Praise of simple working men he thought it made the character sound like a communist Pig since Lancaster was both an actor and a producer on the film the FBI marked him as a potential communist a Mark that would follow him to the grave and as we'll see beyond it Lancaster was still married to Anderson but was rumored to be unfaithful in fact there are stories about him and a platoon of makeup girls and production assistants some reports even Place him in the arms of Marina Dietrich women who met Lancaster seemed to fall under his spell well that phenomenon was about to include not just the women he met but every woman in America and probably a lot of the men as well in 1953 Bert Lancaster shot a scene that would cement his place in Motion Picture history in From Here to Eternity Lancaster kisses Deborah Carr in Hawaii while waves crash around and even over them the scene sent filmgoers swooning and immortalized Lancaster and Carr but it almost didn't happen the beach make out scene wasn't in the original script for the film in fact the scene was meant to be shot somewhere else entirely and with the actors standing up at the last minute it was Lancaster himself who suggested taking it all to the beach and going horizontal director Fred zinaman loved the idea and the rest as they say is history Lancaster knew a lot was writing on the infamous beach scene he wanted the kiss to look as convincing as possible he also wanted to look his best in his Speedo it turns out that between takes Lancaster would pump up his muscles by jogging on the spot or doing push-ups he also did some serious manscaping which wasn't a common practice at the time while rolling around in the surf something happened between the two actors according to Lancaster however according to Carr there was some attraction between the two but it didn't go any further than that we'll never know the truth but one thing is certain the onscreen chemistry between these two was undeniable but the filming of From Here to Eternity wasn't all smooth sailing and makeup sessions for Lancaster apparently his co-star Montgomery Cliff intimidated him so much so that in their first scene together you can see Lancaster shaking Lancaster's anxiety was also possibly responsible for his difficult behavior during filming he became so preoccupied with his lines and camera angles that he finally made the film's usually mild-mannered director snap one day while Lancaster was being particularly difficult Fred fman told him to go screw himself despite the difficulties on set Bert Lancaster received a best actor nomination from the academy for From Here to Eternity but so did his co-star Montgomery Clift surely this meant that one of them would win or did it sometimes Academy voters have trouble choosing when the ballot contains two stars from the same picture in This Way Lancaster and Cliff cancelled each other out which left William Holden with the statue for stall 17 meanwhile Lancaster's production company was digging up gold 1955's Marty which starred erns Borgnine as an unattractive loser who falls for well another unattractive loser became a critical success the film ended up being one of the few films to ever win both the Academy Award for best picture and the palmor at Ken Lancaster didn't appear in the film and his reason why was completely mean-spirited as Lancaster put it who wants to see a movie about two ugly people in 1960 l lter played a con artist preacher in Elmer Gantry and the academy took notice once again even though he was up against Legends Lawrence Olivier and Spencer Tracy Lancaster took home the trophy for best actor after a shaky start Lancaster's acting chops had finally matured just in time too because when Lancaster wasn't acting he was busy lying to his wife we've heard about Lancaster and his countless flings but frequent co-star Shelley Winters claims to have had more than a fling in her 1980 autobiography Winters said she had a 2-year love affair with Lancaster while he was still married to Anderson Lancaster never said anything about having an affair with Winters but another biography tells us a different story entirely Hitchcock staple Farley Granger wrote in his 2007 Memoir that he and Lancaster saved Winter's life while while Lancaster was dating Winters she allegedly overdosed on sleeping pills and booze Lancaster and Granger came to the rescue and got her the help she needed Winters owed Lancaster her life but ended up dumping him for a shocking reason while Winters was allegedly dating Lancaster she heard some upsetting news his wife was pregnant this led Winters to the upsetting conclusion that Lancaster was cheating on her with his own wife wife apparently Winters could only accept Lancaster as a cheater when he was with her so she ended the relationship however if Winters believed all the rumors about Lancaster she had much more to worry about than him cheating with his own wife in 1960 a revealing report emerged about a raid on a Hollywood Mansion it turns out that the owner of the Mansion was hosting lwd parties catered to gay men even though the Mansion was highly secure photographers secretly snapped shots of the partygoers having all male orgies the attendees allegedly included Rock Hudson Bert Lancaster an admiral oh and 250 Marines Lancaster was a strong advocate for the rights of African-Americans he was in France filming the train when the March on Washington was going to take place he managed to get leave from the shooting schedule and in spite of his fear flying flew to Washington for the March then the day after Lancaster turned around and flew back his phobia of air travel couldn't stop him from supporting a just cause in 1973 then president Richard Nixon made his Infamous enemies list because Lancaster was vocal in the support of civil rights and minorities in America the Republican president saw him as a threat Lancaster however was in good company others on the list included Jane Fonda Paul Newman and even the egot winning subversive Barbara stren the movie airport was one of the first of a long string of star studded disaster movies to descend on theaters Lancaster appeared with among others Dean Martin and Jaclyn bassette it certainly wasn't a disaster for Lancaster his name appeared above the film's title and he received 10% of the rather Boeing sized profits but but was he happy with it not in the slightest Lancaster later called the film The Worst piece of junk ever made when Lancaster was 63 years old he made a humble announcement according to him he was now too old to play a romantic lead well it seems that Hollywood didn't quite agree in 1980 he appeared in the gangster drama Atlantic City where he portrayed an older Suitor of Susan Sarandon who was 34 at the time critics also took note of his performance he won the Los Angeles and New York Film Awards and received his final nomination for best actor which he lost to Henry Fonda when movie hearthrob and Lancaster's friend Rock Hudson got his AIDS diagnosis Lancaster joined the fight against the disease Hudson later turned to Lancaster to deliver his last words to Hollywood it was a jam-packed and emotional crowd who heard Lancaster recite Hudson's message of sorrow and hope when Hudson finally lost his life Lancaster was the only male celebrity at the funeral it was Lancaster's own health that was next on the line after a coronary bypass operation Lancaster almost literally jumped off the operating table and got back to work he only waited 6 months before filming Little Treasure with Margo kit and Ted Danson in 19 1984 even though he still had a heart condition he continued to appear in film and television that is until Hollywood saw him as a liability Lancaster wanted to continue acting but in Hollywood money is always the bottom line he was all set to play the lead in 1988's Old Gringo when Colombia pictures took a pause the increased Insurance needed for the alien star would make Lancaster's involvement too expensive Lancaster got the ax and Gregory peek replaced him luckily there was another Studio more than willing to foot the bill Universal welcomed him in the baseball movie Field of Dreams with Kevin cner there were however signs that Lancaster was getting on an age for example he mistook his co-star Timothy busfield for an assistant and did the unthinkable he sent him on all kinds of errands Lancaster realized his mistake winky had to act in a scene with busfield Field of Dreams was Lancaster's final role for the big screen it wasn't however the end of his uh performance in general at the ripe age of 77 Lancaster married a woman almost 30 years younger than him in 1980 the star hooked up with 48-year-old Susan Sher a television production coordinator this marriage lasted until the end of Lancaster's life which sadly wasn't a very long long time in 1980 Lancaster was visiting a friend in Orange County when he suffered a stroke this incident sent Lancaster into the hospital and then into self-imposed seclusion in his condo Lancaster preferred the company of his new wife and not many other people four years later Lancaster passed away with his wife by his side in 2000 6 years after his passing the FBI released new documents about Bert Lancaster back in the 1950s Jay Edgar Hoover was keeping a close eye on Lancaster especially his private life the information pointed to Lancaster having affairs with many men and even being a predator whether we can trust this information is another story Hoover could have made everything up to further implicate Lancaster who he saw as a dangerous communist even outside the FBI rumors of Lancaster's homosexuality continued to proliferate most of them come from Lancaster's acute attention to staying fit and his preference for male secretaries over female ones the other maybe more telling proof is the number of times he visited Rock Hudson's home where gay orgies allegedly took place frequently even though Lancaster's alleged gay lifestyle was almost completely under wraps some people say that he and Rock Hudson may have started something still with us today the idea of being openly gay and set the tone for gay men and women to come out and live their lives on their own terms Hollywood insiders have a habit of protecting the secrets of their own so we may never know the absolute truth about Lancaster's personal life however his many spectacular on-screen performances will continue to be admired for Generations thank you for watching this video please like And subscribe for more fascinating content

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Length: 20min 6sec (1206 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 11 2024