What was his relationship with Burt Lancaster

[maphillips3]

I was looking at "Vera Cruz" the other day, and I saw Charlie in this movie. I knew that Burt Lancaster starred in this movie, but had no idea that Charlie was in it, so it made me curious at what the relationship was, between Charlie and Burt, or if there was any communication between the two?

[chaney]

There was an interview some years back with character actor Bruce Glover, who appeared in "Hard Times" with Charlie. Around that time somebody reportedly told Charlie they had read or heard an interview with Burt Lancaster where he was asked about Charlie's recent success and said something along the lines of "I'm very happy for Charlie. He's a very good friend of mine." Charlie's terse reply: "Where did he get the idea he was my friend."

I also recall reading an interview with Jack Elam, who got into a fistfight with Lancaster on "Vera Cruz" because Burt made fun of his bad eye. Charlie and Ernie Borgnine were there and didn't move to pull Elam off of Burt. Robert Aldrich had to do it. That probably says a lot about how the character actor grunts felt about Burt Lancaster.

[maphillips3]

Thats something! I have heard that Burt was very difficult on the set, and can understand why Elam went after him.