10 Outstanding Final Film Performances

10. Burt Lancaster - Field Of Dreams (1989)

Legendary character actor Burt Lancaster rounded off an excellent career with a memorable performance in the classic baseball fantasy film Field of Dreams. The four-time Oscar nominee’s final performance marked an honourable end to a career that saw him act alongside some of the most legendary names of the classic Hollywood era, including seven films over a span of nearly forty years with the great Kirk Douglas .

In his final character performance, he co-starred alongside Kevin Costner to play Archibald "Moonlight" Graham, a baseball player who has since become the subject of notoriety for the single at-bat that would come to symbolise Graham’s entire major league career.

Field of Dreams features a fictional portrayal of Graham’s life after baseball, with Lancaster playing an older version of the player who has now settled down for a career in the medical industry. Whilst Lancaster is limited to a fairly short amount of screen time in the film, he provided audiences with a final heartfelt performance.

Speaking about dreams, Graham proclaims that he has no regrets that he did not accomplish his baseball goals, explaining that “If I had only been a doctor for five minutes, then that would be a tragedy”. Thoughtful and impassioned, the performance is a great send off for a Hollywood icon.