cover image Against Type: The Biography of Burt Lancaster

Against Type: The Biography of Burt Lancaster

Gary Fishgall. Scribner Book Company, $25 (464pp) ISBN 978-0-684-80705-8

Lancaster (1913-1994) won an Oscar in 1960 for his role in Elmer Gantry, but the most remarkable achievement of his career was the sheer volume and diversity of his performances. In more than 70 films, the range and scope of his acting were broader than those of any other major star, according to the author. Fishgall supports this with critical comment on each of the star's leading and supporting roles, and does a good job of fleshing out the 30-odd years of Lancaster's life before he became a star with his film debut in The Killers (1946). Fishgall discusses the actor's three marriages, innumerable affairs, possible bisexuality (no evidence presented, plenty of rumors) and his involvement in the production end of moviemaking. With partners Harold Hecht and James Hill, Lancaster produced several financially and critically successful films, including Marty and Sweet Smell of Success. On the personal level, Lancaster comes across here as distinctly less interesting than his work: an insensitive, humorless, unsociable man with a volatile temper and a mean streak. Fishgall has worked as an actor, a director and a drama critic. (Sept.)