Brute Force - Ann Blyth and Burt Lancaster

Ann Blyth and Burt Lancaster in a publicity photo for Brute Force (1947).  They were cast together for the only time, but producer Mark Hellinger apparently voiced plans to create a new movie romantic team.  From my book, Ann Blyth: Actress. Singer. Star.:

Producer Mark Hellinger may have had yet another reason for putting Ann Blyth and Burt Lancaster together.  He had hired her for Swell Guy (1947), and him for The Killers (1946).  They were two of Universal’s most talented up and coming stars, and he may have wanted to turn them into a team.  According to syndicated gossip columnist Dorothy Manners who wrote this in May 1946:

Mark Hellinger, always good for a bright idea, said to me, “Where are those swell romantic teams that used to make the fans goggle-eyed over their love scenes…It’s time the love team is revived on screen,” and Mark is the boy who is going to do it with his two young stars, Ann Blyth and Burt Lancaster…he wants to make three or four with Ann and Burt....

Their romantic team never did materialize.  Both went on to other films, and Mark Hellinger, who might have made a pet project of bringing them together again on screen, tragically died about six months after Brute Force was released.   


Brute Force will be shown on Turner Classic Movies this coming Monday, December 4th, at 6:15 p.m. ET.