Lancaster Stricken, Is Hospitalized : Actor: Oscar-winning movie star is rushed to medical center after apparently suffering a stroke while visiting a friend in Orange County.

Actor Burt Lancaster, star of more than 60 movies and winner of an Oscar for his portrayal of evangelist “Elmer Gantry,” was hospitalized here Friday after he became ill while visiting a friend.

Lancaster, 77, was taken to Los Alamitos Medical Center by Orange County paramedics Friday afternoon. The call to paramedics indicated Lancaster had suffered a heart attack, but the initial assessment by paramedics at the scene was that he had suffered a stroke. Hospital officials would not release any details of Lancaster’s condition.

The actor’s agent, Ben Benjamin, said Lancaster was admitted to the hospital’s emergency room and that doctors there “will submit him to a series of tests.”

“We don’t know any more, we really don’t,” said Benjamin, who has worked for Lancaster for 25 years.

At a 5 p.m. press conference, hospital officials declined to give any details about Lancaster’s condition.

“Any evaluation would be premature,” said Mary Ann Kopernic, director of nursing.

Paramedics were called to the John Douglas French Center for Alzheimer’s Disease, about one block from the hospital, at 11:48 a.m., where Lancaster reportedly was visiting a friend. He arrived at the hospital by noon.

Dr. Stephen Reed, medical director of the Alzheimer’s disease center, while not confirming that Lancaster had been there, said he had conferred with the actor’s family, who asked that he not release any information.

Lancaster’s physician, Gary Sugarman, arrived at the hospital in the late afternoon, but also refused comment. “I really can’t say anything about his health,” he said.

News media were ordered out of the hospital and three Los Alamitos Police Department officers were called in to escort journalists into the parking lot.

Lancaster, who celebrated his birthday Nov. 2, won his Academy Award in 1960 for “Elmer Gantry” and five years earlier shared an Oscar as co-producer of “Marty,” which won Best Picture honors.

Lancaster had undergone multiple coronary artery bypass surgery Aug. 26, 1983, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

Even though he filmed “Little Treasure” six months after the surgery and continued working steadily in films and television, Lancaster was denied the title role in “The Old Gringo” in 1988 because of his heart condition. Columbia decided that insurance on him would be too expensive and hired Gregory Peck instead. Lancaster filed a still-pending lawsuit.

Times staff writer James M. Gomez contributed to this story