Film star Lancaster dies at 80

BURT Lancaster, the Hollywood icon who started his career as a circus acrobat and went on to win an Oscar for the lead role in Elmer Gantry, died yesterday at the age of 80.

He had suffered a stroke four years ago that left him partially paralysed, his wife Susie said.

Lancaster's career, which began in 1946 with The Killers, produced 70 films including the classics From Here to Eternity, Trapeze, The Rainmaker and Gunfight at the OK Corral. His last movie, Voyage of Terror, was made for TV in 1990.

Lancaster won the Festival of Venice award in 1962 for The Birdman of Alcatraz and created new sensual images in a scene at the edge of the surf in From Here to Eternity in 1953.