Robert Stroud, more famously known as the Birdman of Alcatraz was portrayed as a kindly, reformed convict in the Burt Lancaster movie The Birdman of Alcatraz. The truth is, however, that Stroud was never permitted to keep birds at Alcatraz. It was his violent behavior and the unwanted publicity he was bringing to the federal penal system that led to him being pulled out of Leavenworth and sent off to Alcatraz.
