Burton Stephen Lancaster 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, 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 the greatest male stars of classic Hollywood cinema.
Aristotelis "Telly" Savalas was a Greek-American actor. Noted for his bald head and deep, resonant voice, he is perhaps best known for portraying Lt. Theo Kojak on the crime drama series Kojak (1973–1978) and James Bond archvillain Ernst Stavro Blofeld, in the film On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969).
Raiford Chatman "Ossie" Davis was an American actor, director, writer, and activist. He was married to Ruby Dee, with whom he frequently performed, until his death. He received numerous accolades including an Emmy, a Grammy and a Writers Guild of America Award as well as nominations for four additional Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and Tony Award. Davis was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1994 and received the National Medal of Arts in 1995, Kennedy Center Honors in 2004
The Assassination Bureau Limited is a 1969 British Technicolor black comedy adventure film, produced by Michael Relph, directed by Basil Dearden, and starring Oliver Reed, Diana Rigg, Telly Savalas, and Curd Jürgens. It was released in the U.S. by Paramount Pictures and is based on Jack London's unfinished novel, The Assassination Bureau, Ltd, posthumously published in 1963. Unlike the novel, which is set in the United States, the film is set in Europe.
Revenge is a 1990 American romantic thriller film directed by Tony Scott and starring Kevin Costner, Anthony Quinn, Madeleine Stowe, Miguel Ferrer and Sally Kirkland. Some scenes were filmed in Mexico. The film is a production of New World Pictures and Rastar Films and was released by Columbia Pictures. Revenge also features one of John Leguizamo's earliest film roles. The film is based on a novella written by Jim Harrison, published in Esquire magazine in 1979. Harrison co-wrote the script for the film. The film received a cult following since its release especially for its dark theme and Scott's direction.
The Unforgiven is a 1960 American Western film directed by John Huston, and starring Burt Lancaster and Audrey Hepburn. Filmed in Durango, Mexico, the supporting cast features Audie Murphy, Charles Bickford, Lillian Gish, John Saxon, Joseph Wiseman, Doug McClure and Albert Salmi. The story is based on the novel The Unforgiven (1957) by Alan Le May. Uncommonly for its time, the film spotlights the issue of racism in the Old West against Native Americans and people who were believed to have Native American blood. The film is also known for the problems that occurred during production.
Sam Whiskey is a 1969 American Western comedy film shot in DeLuxe Color and directed by Arnold Laven, starring Burt Reynolds, Angie Dickinson, Clint Walker and Ossie Davis. "Way ahead of its time," said Reynolds of the film. "I was playing light comedy and nobody cared."
Navajo Joe is a 1966 spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Corbucci and starring Burt Reynolds as the titular Navajo Indian who opposes a group of bandits responsible for killing his tribe.
The War Wagon is a 1967 American Western heist film directed by Burt Kennedy and starring John Wayne and Kirk Douglas. Released by Universal Pictures, it was produced by Marvin Schwartz and adapted by Clair Huffaker from his own novel. The supporting cast includes Howard Keel, Robert Walker Jr., Keenan Wynn, Bruce Cabot, Joanna Barnes, Valora Noland, Bruce Dern, and Gene Evans. The film received generally positive reviews.
The Young Savages is a 1961 American crime drama film directed by John Frankenheimer and starring Burt Lancaster. It was written by Edward Anhalt from a novel by Evan Hunter. The supporting cast includes Dina Merrill, Shelley Winters, and Edward Andrews, and The Young Savages was the first film featuring Telly Savalas, who plays a police detective, foreshadowing his later role as Kojak. Often categorized as a "thinking man's movie", it has received mixed reviews. Aspects of the film are inspired by the real-life Salvador Agron case.
Birdman of Alcatraz is a 1962 American biographical drama film directed by John Frankenheimer and starring Burt Lancaster. It is a largely fictionalized version of the life of Robert Stroud, who was sentenced to solitary confinement after having killed a prison guard. A federal prison inmate, he became known as the "Birdman of Alcatraz" because of his studies of birds, which had taken place when he was incarcerated at Leavenworth Prison where he was allowed to keep birds in jail. Although known as "The Birdman of Alcatraz", Stroud was never allowed to keep any birds after his transfer to Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary in 1942.
Valdez Is Coming is a 1971 American Western film directed by Edwin Sherin and starring Burt Lancaster, Susan Clark, Richard Jordan and Jon Cypher. The film is based on the 1970 Elmore Leonard novel of the same name.
Arnold Laven was an American film and television director and producer. He was one of the founders and principals of the American film and television production company Levy-Gardner-Laven. Laven was a producer of, among other things, the western television series The Rifleman and The Big Valley. He also directed motion pictures, including Without Warning!, The Rack, The Monster That Challenged the World, Geronimo, Rough Night in Jericho, and Sam Whiskey. In the 1970s and early 1980s, Laven directed dozens of episodes of television series, including episodes of Mannix, The A-Team, Hill Street Blues, The Six Million Dollar Man, Fantasy Island, The Rockford Files and CHiPs.
War Arrow is a 1954 American Technicolor Western film directed by George Sherman and starring Maureen O'Hara, Jeff Chandler and John McIntire. Filmed by Universal Pictures and based on the Seminole Scouts, the film was shot in Agoura, California.
Sol Madrid is a 1968 film directed by Brian G. Hutton and filmed in Acapulco. Based on the 1965 novel Fruit of the Poppy by Robert Wilder, it was released in the UK as The Heroin Gang and in Australia as The Secret File of Sol Madrid. The MGM film starred David McCallum, Stella Stevens, Telly Savalas and Ricardo Montalbán with John Cassavetes being replaced by Rip Torn prior to filming. It was the final film of Paul Lukas.
Johnny Cool is a 1963 American neo-noir crime film, directed by William Asher and based on the novel The Kingdom of Johnny Cool by John McPartland, which stars Henry Silva and Elizabeth Montgomery. Produced in part by Peter Lawford, Johnny Cool features a cast that also includes Mort Sahl, Telly Savalas, Jim Backus, Joey Bishop, and Sammy Davis Jr., who also sings the theme song.
William Wallace "Bill" Norton, Jr. was an American screenwriter particularly notable for his collaborations with Burt Reynolds Later in life, he was convicted of gun running in France when he tried to send arms from the United States to the Irish National Liberation Army in Northern Ireland. After being released from prison, he moved to Nicaragua, where he shot and killed an intruder in his Managua home. He later spent a year living in Cuba but became disillusioned with Communism and was reportedly smuggled from Mexico into the U.S. by his ex-wife.
B.L. Stryker is an American detective drama that aired on ABC from February 13, 1989, to May 5, 1990, as part of the ABC Mystery Movie umbrella group, along with Columbo, and Kojak. Tom Selleck was one of the series' executive producers. The series starred Burt Reynolds, Ossie Davis, Dana Kaminski and Rita Moreno. Reynolds also directed several of the episodes. Each B.L. Stryker episode was two hours long, and took approximately a month to film. The first season of BLStryker was seven, two hour episodes that aired every three weeks, broadcast on Monday nights from 9PM to 11 PM, on ABC. In the second season, the show was aired on Saturday nights.
Mad Dog Coll is a 1961 biographical film directed by Burt Balaban. It marked the film debuts of Telly Savalas and Gene Hackman.
News of the World is a 2016 American Western novel by Paulette Jiles.
