Burt Lancaster Movie Quotes

Burt Lancaster did not start acting until he was 32, but what a career he had after that. Lancaster was nominated four times for Best Actor at the Academy Awards. His one win was for his portrayal of the corrupt preacher, Elmer Gantry. Interestingly, this role was originally supposed to go to Pat Hingle, but Pat was severely injured in an elevator accident and could not play it.

Lancaster turned down two roles that got Best Actor Oscars. He was offered the role of Stanley Kowalski in the original Broadway production of “A Streetcar Named Desire” after first choice John Garfield was rejected. The role made Marlon Brando a legend and won him an Oscar in the film. Lancaster also turned down the lead in Patton (1970) because of his anti-Vietnam War sympathies. George C. Scott got a Best Actor Oscar for it.

Burt Lancaster Film Quotes

As Lou Pascal in Atlantic City (1980) (Oscar nom)
“Do you want information or wisdom?”
“I’m a lover!”
“Anyone ever take care of you like I did?”

As Dr. Paul Moreau in the Island of Dr. Moreau (1977)
“If one is to study nature, one must become as remorseless as nature. You should know that!”
“You’ve been drinking for two straight days Montgomery. I suggest that you continue.”

As Ernst Janning in Judgment at Nuremburg (1961):
“There was a fever over the land. A fever of disgrace, of indignity, of hunger. We had a democracy, yes, but it was torn by elements within. Above all, there was fear. Fear of today, fear of tomorrow, fear of our neighbors, and fear of ourselves. Only when you understand that – can you understand what Hitler meant to us.”

As Elmer Gantry in Elmer Gantry (1960) (won Oscar)
“Sin, sin, sin! You’re all sinners! You’re all doomed to perdition!”
“I was accosted by three painted women. Your streets are made unsafe by shameless, diseased hussies, rapacious pick-pockets, and insidious opium-smokers.”

As John Malcolm in Separate Tables (1958)
“You know something, Ann? No one I know of lies with such sincerity.”
“The very sight of you is perhaps the one thing about you I don’t hate.”

As J.J. Hunsecker in The Sweet Smell of Success (1957)
“I’d hate to take a bite outta you. You’re a cookie full of arsenic.”
“I love this dirty town.”
“The brains may be Jersey City, but the clothes are Traina-Norell.”
“Now don’t kid a kidder.”

As Wyatt Earp in Gunfight at the OK Corral (1957)
“You think you’re pretty tough, don’t ya, son? I never knew a gunslinger yet so tough he lived to celebrate his 35th birthday. I learned one rule about gunslingers. There’s always a man faster on the draw than you are, and the more you use a gun, the sooner you’re gonna run into that man.”
“$20,000! The wages of sin are rising!”
“We’d like you to come to the wedding, Doc… if it doesn’t interfere with your poker.”

As Sergeant Milton Warden in From Here to Eternity (1952) (Oscar nom)
“Maybe back in the days of the pioneers a man could go his own way, but today you got to play ball.”
“You think I’d be here if I thought it was a mistake? Taking a chance on 20 years in Leavenworth for making dates with the company commander’s wife? And her acting like – like Lady Astor’s horse, and all because I got here on time!”
“Okay, Fatso, if it’s killin’ ya want, come on.”
“Rose, do you know why I like to have you serve me beer? So as I can watch you when you walk away.”

As Doc Delaney in Come Back, Little Sheba (1952)
“Alcoholics are mostly disappointed men.”
“She must spend a fortune on bath powders and salts. That whole bathroom smells like a lilac garden.”
“Give Daddy a kiss goodbye.”

As Dardo Bartoli in The Flame and the Arrow (1950)
“I learned a long time ago, my lady, never trust a mountain cat when she stops snarling and never trust a woman when your back is turned.”
“Now, Marchese, we’re in the dark where a sword is just a long knife.”

Lancaster was also nominated for an Oscar for his role as Robert Stroud in Birdman of Alcatraz (1962)