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Article: Burt Lancaster: An American Life.(Review)
- Article from:
- Cineaste
- Article date:
- September 22, 2000
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2000 Cineaste Publishers, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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by Kate Buford. New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 2000, 447 pp., illus. Hardcover: $27.50.
Early in her biography of Burt Lancaster, Kate Buford compares her subject to another tough-guy movie star with an East Harlem childhood. Like James Cagney, Lancaster was raised amidst slums and street violence by salt-of-the-earth parents. He had a wild Irish mother who kept him on the straight path with extreme measures. Like Cagney, Lancaster found a haven for his hungry mind and a vision of social justice at the Union Settlement House on E. 104th. There he blossomed in athletics, acted in his first proper play and was taught single-bar acrobatics by a former circus pro.
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