Birdman of Alcatraz

Birdman of Alcatraz is a 1962 American biographical prison drama film directed by John Frankenheimer and starring Burt Lancaster, Karl Malden, Thelma Ritter, Neville Brand, Edmond O'Brien and Telly Savalas. It was adapted by Guy Trosper from the 1955 book by Thomas E. Gaddis. The film is a largely fictionalized version of the life of Robert Stroud, who was sentenced to solitary confinement after having killed a prison guard. A federal prison inmate, he became known as the "Birdman of Alcatraz" because of his studies of birds, which had taken place when he was incarcerated at Leavenworth Prison where he was allowed to keep birds in jail. Although known as "The Birdman of Alcatraz", Stroud was never allowed to keep any birds after his transfer to Alcatraz Federal Penitent