Morning Man Classic: Burt Lancaster!

The tall, muscular Burt Lancaster was one of the great leading men in movies for decades.

He was born on this day in 1913.

Lancaster starred in such classic films as From Here to Eternity, Elmer Gantry, Come Back Little Sheba, Birdman of Alcatraz, Gunfight at the OK Corral, Sweet Smell of Success and Judgment at Nuremberg, among others.

His film career spanned from 1946′s The Killers through Field of Dreams in 1989.

The New York City-born Lancaster did not set out to be an actor initially. He excelled in gymnastics in high school and got an athletic scholarship to NYU. But he soon dropped out of school and became part of an acrobat duo called Lang and Cravat which performed as part of the Kay Brothers circus. But an injury forced Lancaster to give up the life in the circus.

Lancaster died in 1994 at the age of 80. His final acting role came three years earlier when he starred opposite Sidney Poitier in the television movie Separate But Equal.