74-698: Hecht-Hill-Lancaster was a production company formed by the actor Burt Lancaster in association with his agent, Harold Hecht , and James Hill . In 1948 Lancaster and Hecht formed Norma Productions (named after his wife), which later became Hecht-Lancaster . Hill joined in the mid-1950s. The company produced some of the most notable American films of the 1950s. In 1956 they renewed their deal with United Artists . In late 1957 they announced they would make ten films worth $ 14 million in 1958. Key HL = Hecht-Lancaster HHL = Hecht-Hill-Lancaster N = Norma Productions C = Canon Productions This article about an American film distributor or production company
148-613: A Macbeth in Spoleto in 1958 and a famous black-and-white Il trovatore with scenery and costumes by Filippo Sanjust at the Royal Opera House in 1964. In 1966 Visconti's luscious Falstaff for the Vienna State Opera conducted by Leonard Bernstein was critically acclaimed. On the other hand, his austere 1969 Simon Boccanegra with the singers clothed in geometrical costumes provoked controversy. In
222-733: A Protestant . My ideas may be unorthodox, but I am still a Catholic." While his first 3-year-relationship from 1936, with the photographer Horst P. Horst , remained discreet because of the prejudices of the time, he later showed up openly in the company of his lovers, among them the director and producer Franco Zeffirelli and the actor Udo Kier . His last lover was the Austrian actor Helmut Berger , who played Martin in Visconti's film The Damned . Berger also appeared in Visconti's Ludwig in 1973 and Conversation Piece in 1974, along with Burt Lancaster . Zeffirelli also worked as part of
296-434: A cerebral hemorrhage . Lancaster was accepted by New York University with an athletic scholarship, but dropped out. At the age of 9, Lancaster met Nick Cravat with whom he developed a lifelong partnership. Together, they learned to act in local theatre productions and circus arts at Union Settlement , one of the city's oldest settlement houses. In the 1930s, they formed the acrobat duo Lang and Cravat and soon joined
370-549: 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 (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),
444-572: A Giant Step (1959), about a black student; and Summer of the Seventeenth Doll (1960), from an Australian play, shot on location in Australia and Britain. HHL served as the production company for the 1960–61 TV series Whiplash . The Hecht-Hill-Lancaster Productions company dissolved in 1960 after Hill ruptured his relationship with both Hecht and Lancaster. Hill went on to produce a single additional film, The Happy Thieves , in
518-409: A Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor; and Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957) with Kirk Douglas, which was a huge commercial hit directed by John Sturges . Lancaster re-teamed with Tony Curtis in 1957 for Sweet Smell of Success , a co-production between Hecht-Hill-Lancaster and Curtis' own company with wife Janet Leigh , Curtleigh Productions. The movie, directed by Alexander Mackendrick ,
592-587: 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 . Although the reception of his 1968 film The Swimmer was initially lackluster upon release, in the years after it has grown in stature critically and attained a cult following . In 1970, Lancaster starred in
666-703: A company, Norma Productions, and did a deal with Universal to make a thriller about a disturbed G.I. in London, Kiss the Blood Off My Hands in 1948, with Joan Fontaine and directed by Norman Foster. It made a profit of only $ 50,000, but was critically acclaimed. Back in Hollywood, Lancaster made another film noir with Siodmak, Criss Cross , in 1949. It was originally going to be produced by Hellinger and when Hellinger died, another took over. Tony Curtis made an early appearance. Lancaster appeared in
740-539: 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
814-456: A dialogue coach. Lancaster starred in Judgment at Nuremberg (1961) for Stanley Kramer , alongside Spencer Tracy , Richard Widmark and a number of other stars. The film was both a commercial and critical success, receiving eleven Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. He then did another film with Hecht and Frankenheimer (replacing Charles Crichton ), Birdman of Alcatraz (1962),
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#1732791455409888-502: A fourth picture for Wallis, Rope of Sand , in 1949. Norma Productions signed a three-picture deal with Warner Bros. The first was 1950's The Flame and the Arrow , a swashbuckler movie, in which Lancaster drew on his circus skills. Nick Cravat had a supporting role and the film was a huge commercial success, making $ 6 million. It was Warners' most popular film of the year and established an entirely new image for Lancaster. Lancaster
962-404: A largely fictionalized biography. In it he plays Robert Stroud , a federal prisoner incarcerated for life for two murders, who begins to collect birds and over time becomes an expert in bird diseases, even publishing a book. The film shows Stroud transferred to the maximum security Alcatraz prison where he is not allowed to keep birds and as he ages he gets married, markets bird remedies, helps stop
1036-668: A new production company, Hillworth Productions, co-owned with his wife Rita Hayworth . Lancaster played the title role in Elmer Gantry (1960), written and directed by Richard Brooks for United Artists. The film received five Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Best Actor. Lancaster won the 1960 Academy Award for Best Actor, a Golden Globe Award, and the New York Film Critics Award for his performance. Hecht and Lancaster worked together on The Young Savages (1961), directed by John Frankenheimer and produced by Hecht. Sydney Pollack worked as
1110-486: A nomination for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay . The film, one of Visconti's better-known works, concerns a German industrialist's family which begins to disintegrate during the Nazi consolidation of power in the 1930s. The film opened to widespread critical acclaim, but also faced controversy from rating boards for its sexual content, including depictions of homosexuality , pedophilia , rape , and incest . In
1184-418: A political thriller with Douglas, and The Train (1964), a World War Two action film (Lancaster had Frankenheimer replace Arthur Penn several days into filming). Luchino Visconti Luchino Visconti di Modrone, Count of Lonate Pozzolo ( Italian: [luˈkiːno viˈskonti di moˈdroːne] ; 2 November 1906 – 17 March 1976) was an Italian filmmaker, theatre and opera director, and screenwriter. He
1258-496: A prison drama written by Richard Brooks and directed by Jules Dassin . It was also well received. Wallis released his films through Paramount, and so Lancaster and other Wallis contractees made cameos in Variety Girl in 1947. Lancaster's next film was a thriller for Wallis in 1947, I Walk Alone , co-starring Lizabeth Scott and a young Kirk Douglas , who was also under contract to Wallis. Variety listed it as one of
1332-584: A prison rebellion, and writes a book on the history of the U.S. penal system, but never gets paroled. The sympathetic performance earned Lancaster a Best Actor Oscar nomination, a BAFTA Award for Best Actor, and a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Dramatic Role. Hecht went on to produce five films without Lancaster's assistance, through his company Harold Hecht Films Productions between 1961 and 1967, including another Academy Award winner, Cat Ballou , starring Lee Marvin and Jane Fonda . Lancaster made A Child Is Waiting (1963) with Judy Garland . It
1406-505: A production that was interrupted and later completed by German director Karl Koch . Together with fellow members of the Milanese film journal Cinema - Gianni Puccini, Antonio Pietrangeli and Giuseppe De Santis - Visconti wrote the screenplay for his first film as director: Ossessione ( Obsession , 1943), one of the first examples of neorealist (involving real locations and regular people) movies and an unofficial adaptation of
1480-575: 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 . Lancaster was born on November 2, 1913, in New York City, at his parents' home at 209 East 106th Street, the son of Elizabeth ( née Roberts) and mailman James Lancaster. Both of his parents were Protestants of working-class origin. All four of his grandparents were emigrants from
1554-463: A two-picture deal, the first of which was to be 1954's Apache , starring Lancaster as a Native American. They followed it with another Western in 1954, Vera Cruz , co-starring Gary Cooper and produced by Hill. Both films were directed by Robert Aldrich and were hugely popular. United Artists signed Hecht-Lancaster to a multi-picture contract, to make seven films over two years. These included films in which Lancaster did not act. Their first
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#17327914554091628-659: A villa in Rome that Luchino later inherited and lived in for decades. In his early years, he was exposed to art, music and theatre: The Palazzo Visconti di Modrone in Milan, where he grew up, had its own small private theatre and the children participated in its performances. The family also had their own box in the La Scala opera house. Luchino studied cello with the Italian cellist and composer Lorenzo de Paolis (1890–1965) and met
1702-646: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Burt Lancaster Burton Stephen Lancaster (November 2, 1913 – October 20, 1994) was an American actor. 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 films and television series. 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
1776-709: The Golden Lion (for 1965’s Sandra ), the latter out of five total nominations. He won the David di Donatello for Best Director twice and the Nastro d'Argento for Best Director four times, and was both an Oscar and BAFTA Award nominee. Six of Visconti’s films are on the list of 100 Italian films to be saved . Many of his works are regarded as highly-influential to future generations of filmmakers, including Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese . Luchino Visconti
1850-646: The Teatro La Fenice in Venice. Beginning when he directed a production at Milan's Teatro alla Scala of La vestale in December 1954, his career included a famous revival of La traviata at La Scala in 1955 with Maria Callas and an equally famous Anna Bolena (also at La Scala) in 1957 with Callas. A significant 1958 Royal Opera House (London) production of Verdi's five-act Italian version of Don Carlos (with Jon Vickers ) followed, along with
1924-464: The aftermath of World War II he became one of the founding fathers of the Italian neorealistic film movement that focused on challenging economic and conditions, and how it affected the psyche of the underclass. Visconti himself came from nobility, was highly educated and was never in financial lack. His films reflected that tension. In fact, Visconti said he felt he came from a world long ago, that of
1998-513: The greatest male stars of classic Hollywood cinema. Lancaster performed as a circus acrobat in the 1930s. At the age of 32, and after serving in World War II , he 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 1948 Lancaster starred alongside Barbara Stanwyck in
2072-560: The nom de guerre Alfredo Guidi . Visconti helped English and American prisoners of war hide after they had escaped, and also gave shelter to partisans in his house in Rome, with the help of actress María Denis . After the German occupation of Rome in April 1944, Visconti was arrested and detained by the anti-partisan Pietro Koch and sentenced to execution by firing squad. He was only saved from death by Denis' last-minute intervention. After
2146-471: The 1960s onwards. Thanks to his unique blend of aristocratic and upper-class origins, political communist convictions and brilliant social analysis, he created masterpieces of film history in The Leopard (1963), The Damned (1969), Death in Venice (1971) and Ludwig (1972). Throughout the 1960s, Visconti's films became more personal. Il Gattopardo ( The Leopard , 1963) is based on Lampedusa 's novel of
2220-649: 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 Visconti's epic period drama The Leopard . In 1964, he played
2294-718: The Kay Brothers circus. However, in 1939, an injury forced Lancaster to give up the profession, with great regret. He then found temporary work, first as a salesman for Marshall Fields and then as a singing waiter in various restaurants. After the United States entered World War II , Lancaster joined the United States Army in January 1943 and performed with the Army's 21st Special Services Division, one of
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2368-743: The Milanese family seat, the Palazzo Visconti di Modrone in Via Cerva, as well as on the family estate, Grazzano Visconti Castle near Vigolzone . He was baptized and raised in the Roman Catholic church. After his parents separated in the early 1920s, his mother moved with her younger children, including him, to her own house in Milan, as well as to her summer residence, Villa Erba in Cernobbio on Lake Como. The father, as chamberlain of King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy , also owned
2442-648: The Norma-Warners contract was that Lancaster had to appear in some non-Norma films, of which this was one. In 1954, for his own company, Lancaster produced and starred in His Majesty O'Keefe , a South Sea island tale shot in Fiji. It was co-written by James Hill, who would soon become a part of the Hecht-Lancaster partnership. Hecht and Lancaster left Warners for United Artists , for what began as
2516-501: The United States, the film was given an X rating . The avant-garde filmmaker Rainer Werner Fassbinder praised it as his favourite movie. Its decadence and lavish beauty are characteristic of Visconti's aesthetic − very visible also in the movie Death in Venice (1971) that adapted the daring novella Death in Venice published in 1912 by Thomas Mann . Visconti's final film was The Innocent (1976), in which he returns to his recurring interest in infidelity and betrayal. Visconti
2590-414: The account of Cinema group contributor Aldo Scagnetti. The film was subsequently suppressed by the fascist regime, to the extent that the first public showing of the film in Rome only occurred in May 1945. In 1948, he wrote and directed La terra trema ( The Earth Trembles ), based on the novel I Malavoglia by Giovanni Verga . Visconti continued working throughout the 1950s, but he veered away from
2664-598: The age of sixty-nine on 17 March 1976. The church funeral service for Visconti took place on March 19, 1976 in Sant'Ignazio di Loyola in Campo Marzio in Rome. In addition to the Visconti family, the Italian President Giovanni Leone and the actors Burt Lancaster , Claudia Cardinale , Laura Antonelli , Vittorio Gassman and Helmut Berger were present. There is a museum dedicated to
2738-532: The bourgeoisie of treason to tyranny, and following the Badoglio Proclamation , began working with the Italian resistance . He supported the communists' partisan fight at the risk of death; his villa in Rome became a meeting place for oppositional artists. After the king's flight in the autumn of 1943 and the intervention of the Germans, he went into hiding in the mountains, at Settefrati , under
2812-524: The box-office hit, air-disaster drama Airport . In 1974 he again starred in a Visconti film, Conversation Piece . 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
2886-528: The commercially and critically acclaimed film Sorry, Wrong Number , where he portrayed the husband to her bedridden invalid character. 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
2960-510: The company's name to Hecht-Lancaster Productions. The first film under the new name was another swashbuckler: 1952's The Crimson Pirate , directed by Siodmak. Co-starring Cravat, it was extremely popular. Lancaster changed pace once more by doing a straight dramatic part in 1952's Come Back, Little Sheba , based on a Broadway hit, with Shirley Booth , produced by Wallis and directed by Daniel Mann . Alternating with adventure films, he went into South Sea Woman in 1952 at Warners. Part of
3034-457: The composer Giacomo Puccini , the conductor Arturo Toscanini and the writer Gabriele D'Annunzio . Visconti found literature by reading Proust's In Search of Lost Time , later a lifelong film project that he never realized. Before he started his film career, he was passionate about training racehorses in his own stable. He was engaged to Princess Irma of Windisch-Graetz , but this raised concerns with her father, Prince Hugo, and Visconti broke
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3108-506: The crew in production design, as assistant director, and other roles in a number of Visconti's films, operas, and theatrical productions. According to Visconti's autobiography, he and Umberto II of Italy had a romantic relationship during their youth in the 1920s. Visconti was hostile to the Protests of 1968 and didn't even try to follow the movement and adopt the airs of youth, like Alberto Moravia or Pier Paolo Pasolini did (although
3182-446: The discrepancies between generations and their world views, as a task of realism in art. When he was accused of decadence, he recalled Thomas Mann and his way of creating art. In later years, Visconti made no secret of his homosexuality , though he remained a devout Catholic throughout his life. "I am a Catholic," he commented in 1971. "I was born a Catholic, I was baptized a Catholic. I cannot change what I am, I cannot easily become
3256-615: The engagement off in 1935. During World War II , Visconti joined the Italian Communist Party , which he considered to be the only effective opponent of Italian Fascism . While he had, in his early years, been impressed by such aesthetic aspects of the solemn parades of the National Fascist Party as marching in columns in boots and uniform, he had now come to hate the Mussolini regime. He accused
3330-442: The film as the "most Viscontian" of all Visconti's films. Visconti returned to neorealism once more with Rocco e i suoi fratelli ( Rocco and His Brothers , 1960), the story of Southern Italians who migrate to Milan hoping to find financial stability. In 1961, he was a member of the jury at the 2nd Moscow International Film Festival . Turning away from neo-realism, Visconti created an unmistakable visual language in his films from
3404-521: The gritty drama Rocco and His Brothers (1960), and his "German Trilogy" – The Damned (1969), Death in Venice (1971) and Ludwig (1973). He was also an accomplished director of operas and stage plays, both in Italy and abroad, and held a close association with La Scala in his hometown of Milan. Visconti received several notable accolades, including both the Palme d'Or (for The Leopard ) and
3478-399: The latter was certainly not sympathetic towards the protestors). In his view, the protesters sought change for the sake of destruction without building something new. Disgusted, he looked at the young people in their enthusiasm, outbursts of anger, parties and tumults, their abstract speeches, their juggling with Mao , Marx , and Che Guevara . They saw him as a symbol of reaction, a member of
3552-454: The mandarin caste. The emerging radical-left terrorism in Italy frightened him and made him fear the rise of a new fascism . Visconti has a grandnephew , Uberto Pasolini , who is also a filmmaker. (Uberto, however, has no known relation to the aforementioned director, Pier Paolo Pasolini.) Visconti smoked 120 cigarettes a day. He suffered a serious stroke in 1972, but continued to smoke heavily. He died in Rome of another stroke at
3626-486: The military groups organized to follow the troops on the ground and provide USO entertainment to keep up morale. He served in the Fifth Army in Italy under General Mark Clark from 1943 to 1945. He was discharged October 1945 and was an entertainment specialist with the rank of technician fifth grade . Lancaster returned to New York after his Army service. Although initially unenthusiastic about acting, Lancaster
3700-677: The music industry with the music publishing companies Leigh Music , Hecht-Lancaster & Buzzell Music , Calyork Music and Colby Music and the record labels Calyork Records and Maine Records . The HHL team impressed Hollywood with its success; as Life wrote in 1957, "[a]fter the independent production of a baker's dozen of pictures, it has yet to have its first flop ... (They were also good pictures.)." In late 1957, they announced they would make ten films worth $ 14 million in 1958. Lancaster made two films for Wallis to complete his eight-film commitment for that contract: The Rainmaker (1956) with Katharine Hepburn , which earned Lancaster
3774-488: The neorealist path with his 1954 film, Senso , shot in colour. Based on the novella by Camillo Boito , it is set in Austrian-occupied Venice in 1866. In this film, Visconti combines realism and romanticism as a way to break away from neorealism. However, as one biographer notes, "Visconti without neorealism is like Lang without expressionism and Eisenstein without formalism ". He describes
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#17327914554093848-418: The novel The Postman Always Rings Twice . The premiere of Ossessione took place at a film festival hosted by Vittorio Mussolini (son of Benito ), who was the national arbiter for cinema and other arts, and the editor of Cinema . Though prior to the premiere their working relationship was positive, upon viewing the film Vittorio stormed out of the theatre exclaiming: "This is not Italy!", according to
3922-422: The opportunity to produce their own movies within five years of hitting Hollywood. Through Hecht, Lancaster was brought to the attention of producer Hal B. Wallis . Lancaster left New York and moved to Los Angeles. Wallis signed him to a non-exclusive eight-movie contract. Lancaster's first filmed movie was Desert Fury for Wallis in 1947, where Lancaster was billed after John Hodiak and Lizabeth Scott . It
3996-424: The previous (19th) century. In the film The Leopard , he addressed the decline of an old social order and the rise of “modern times”. He did not see his opulent flashbacks as an escape into imaginary, lost worlds, but rather as the deciphering of signs. He wanted to put his finger on the signs of profound historical changes which would only become visible later. He searched world literature for relevant works to show
4070-540: The province of Ulster , Ireland. His maternal side was from Belfast , the descendants of English dissenters who had colonized Ireland as part of the Plantation of Ulster . Lancaster grew up in East Harlem , New York City. He developed a great interest and skill in gymnastics while attending DeWitt Clinton High School , where he was a basketball star. Before he graduated from DeWitt Clinton, his mother died of
4144-520: The same name about the decline of the Sicilian aristocracy at the time of the Risorgimento , where the change of times becomes visible in two of the main characters: Don Fabrizio Corbera, Prince of Salina ( Burt Lancaster ) appears patriarchal but humane, while Don Calogero Sedara ( Paolo Stoppa ), a shrewd entrepreneur and social climber from the village, appears submissive, but foxy and brutal at
4218-563: The same time, a mafia-like type of the future. The tension arises from the marriage of their relatives of the next generation, combined with the fall of the old Bourbon rule and the rise of a united Italy. This film was distributed in America and Britain by Twentieth-Century Fox , which deleted important scenes. Visconti repudiated the Twentieth-Century Fox version. It was not until The Damned (1969) that Visconti received
4292-405: The time. Marty star Borgnine was under contract to Hecht-Lancaster and was unhappy about his lack of upcoming roles, especially after only receiving some seven lines in 1957's Sweet Smell of Success and half of his normal pay for Marty . He eventually sued for breach of contract to gain back some of this money in 1957. Without Hill, Hecht and Lancaster produced The Kentuckian in 1955. It
4366-410: The top grossers of the year, taking in more than $ 2 million. In 1948, Lancaster had a change of pace with the film adaptation of Arthur Miller 's All My Sons , made at Universal Pictures with Edward G. Robinson . His third film for Wallis was an adaptation of Sorry, Wrong Number in 1948, with Barbara Stanwyck . Hecht kept to his promise to Lancaster to turn producer. The two of them formed
4440-399: The war, Visconti testified against Koch, who was himself convicted and executed. He began his film-making career as a set dresser on Jean Renoir 's Partie de campagne (1936) through the intercession of their common friend Coco Chanel . After a short tour of the United States, where he visited Hollywood, he returned to Italy to be Renoir's assistant again, this time for Tosca (1941),
4514-553: Was Marty in 1955, based on Paddy Chayefsky 's TV play starring Ernest Borgnine and directed by Delbert Mann . It won both the Best Picture Oscar and the Palme d'Or award at Cannes and Borgnine an Best Actor Oscar . It also earned $ 2 million on a budget of $ 350,000. Vera Cruz had been a huge success, but Marty secured Hecht-Lancaster as one of the most successful independent production companies in Hollywood at
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#17327914554094588-572: Was a critical success but a commercial disappointment. Over the years it has come to be regarded as one of Lancaster's greatest films. HHL produced seven additional films in the late 1950s. Four starred Lancaster: Run Silent, Run Deep (1958), a Robert Wise directed war film with Clark Gable , which was mildly popular; Separate Tables (1958) a hotel-set drama with Kerr and Rita Hayworth (who married James Hill), which received an Oscar nomination for Best Picture and Oscar awards for lead actor David Niven and supporting actress Wendy Hiller , and
4662-472: Was a member of the French Foreign Legion . Robert Aldrich worked on the movie as a production manager. The second was 1952's The First Time , a comedy which was the directorial debut of Frank Tashlin . It was meant to star Lancaster but he wound up not appearing in the film – the first of their productions in which he did not act. In 1951, the actor/producer duo changed
4736-463: Was also a celebrated theatre and opera director. During the years 1946 to 1960, he directed many performances of the Rina Morelli - Paolo Stoppa Company with actor Vittorio Gassman as well as many celebrated productions of operas. Visconti's love of opera is evident in the 1954 Senso , where the beginning of the film shows scenes from the fourth act of Il trovatore , which were filmed at
4810-493: Was born into a prominent noble family in Milan , one of seven children of Giuseppe Visconti di Modrone , Duke of Grazzano Visconti and Count of Lonate Pozzolo , and his wife Carla ( née Erba, heiress to Erba Pharmaceuticals ). He was formally known as Count don Luchino Visconti di Modrone, and his family is a branch of the Visconti of Milan where they ruled from 1277 to 1447, initially as lords, then as dukes. He grew up in
4884-425: Was borrowed by 20th Century Fox for Mister 880 in 1950, a comedy with Edmund Gwenn . MGM put him in a popular Western, Vengeance Valley in 1951, then he went to Warners to play the title role in the biopic Jim Thorpe – All-American , also in 1951. Norma signed a deal with Columbia Pictures to make two films through a Norma subsidiary, Halburt. The first film was 1951's Ten Tall Men , where Lancaster
4958-544: Was both a critical and commercial success; The Devil's Disciple (1959), with Douglas and Laurence Olivier , which lost money (and saw Lancaster fire Mackendrick during shooting); and the Western The Unforgiven (1960), with Audrey Hepburn , which was a critical and commercial disappointment. Three were made without Lancaster, all of which lost money: The Bachelor Party (1957), from another TV play by Chayefsky, and directed by Delbert Mann; Take
5032-534: Was condemned by the Fascist regime for its unvarnished depictions of working-class characters, but is today renowned as a pioneering work of Italian cinema, generally regarded as the first neorealist film. During World War II , he served in the anti-fascist resistance , and afterwards was active in left-wing politics. Visconti’s best-known films include Senso (1954) and The Leopard (1963), which are historical melodramas adapted from Italian literary classics,
5106-426: Was directed by Lewis Allen . Then producer Mark Hellinger approached him to star in 1946's The Killers , which was completed and released prior to Desert Fury . Directed by Robert Siodmak , it was a great commercial and critical success and launched Lancaster and his co-star Ava Gardner to stardom. It has since come to be regarded as a classic. Hellinger used Lancaster again on Brute Force in 1947,
5180-428: Was directed by Lancaster in his directorial debut, and he also played a lead role. Lancaster disliked directing and only did it once more, on 1974's The Midnight Man . Lancaster still had commitments with Wallis, and made The Rose Tattoo for him in 1955, starring with Anna Magnani and Daniel Mann directing. It was very popular at the box office and critically acclaimed, winning Magnani an Oscar. In 1955, Hill
5254-461: Was encouraged to audition for a Broadway play by a producer who saw him in an elevator while he was visiting his then-girlfriend at work. The audition was successful and Lancaster was cast in Harry Brown 's A Sound of Hunting (1945). The show only ran three weeks, but his performance attracted the interest of a Hollywood agent, Harold Hecht . Lancaster had other offers but Hecht promised him
5328-469: Was made an equal partner in Hecht-Lancaster, with his name added to the production company. Hecht-Hill-Lancaster (HHL) released their first film Trapeze in 1956, with Lancaster performing many of his own stunts. The film, co-starring Tony Curtis and Gina Lollobrigida , went on to become the production company's top box office success, and United Artists expanded its deal with HHL. In 1956, Lancaster and Hecht partnered with Loring Buzzell and entered
5402-591: Was one of the fathers of cinematic neorealism , but later moved towards luxurious, sweeping epics dealing with themes of beauty, decadence, death, and European history, especially the decay of the nobility and the bourgeoisie. Critic Jonathan Jones wrote that “no one did as much to shape Italian cinema as Luchino Visconti.” Born into a Milanese noble family with close ties to the artistic world, Visconti began his career in France as an assistant director to Jean Renoir . His 1943 directorial debut, Ossessione ,
5476-755: Was produced by Kramer and directed by John Cassavetes . He went to Italy to star in The Leopard (1963) for Luchino Visconti , co-starring Alain Delon and Claudia Cardinale . It was one of Lancaster's favorite films and was a big hit in France but failed in the US (though the version released was much truncated). He had a small role in The List of Adrian Messenger (1963) for producer/star Kirk Douglas, and then did two for Frankenheimer: Seven Days in May (1964),
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