The cravat is a neckband, the forerunner of the modern tailored necktie and bow tie, originating from 17th-century Croatia.

From the end of the 16th century, the term band applied to any long-strip neckcloth that was not a ruff. The ruff, a starched, pleated white linen strip, originated earlier in the 16th century as a neckcloth (readily changeable, to minimize the soiling of a doublet), as a bib, or as a napkin. A band could be either a plain, attached shirt collar or a detachable "falling band" that draped over the doublet collar. It is possible that cravats were initially worn to hide shirts which were not immaculately clean.

The cravat originated in the 1630s; like most men's fashions between the 17th century and World War I, it was of military origin. In the reign of Louis XIII of France, Croatian mercenaries were enlisted into a regiment supporting the King and Cardinal Richelieu against the Duke of Guise and the Queen Mother, Marie de Medici. The traditional Croat military kit aroused Parisian curiosity about the unusual, picturesque scarves distinctively knotted at the Croats' necks; the cloths that were used ranged from the coarse cloths of enlisted soldiers to the fine linens and silks of the officers. The sartorial word "cravat" derives from the French "cravate," a corrupt French pronunciation of "Croate".

Burton Stephen "Burt" Lancaster (November 2, 1913 – October 20, 1994) was an American film actor noted for his athletic physique and distinctive smile (which he called "The Grin"). After initially building his career on "tough guy" roles Lancaster abandoned his "all-American" image in the late 1950s in favor of more complex and challenging roles, and came to be regarded as one of the best actors of his generation as a result.

Lancaster was nominated four times for Academy Awards and won once — for his work in Elmer Gantry in 1960. He also won a Golden Globe for that performance and BAFTA Awards for The Birdman of Alcatraz (1962) and Atlantic City (1980). His production company, Hecht-Hill-Lancaster, was the most successful and innovative star-driven independent production company in Hollywood of the 1950s, making movies such as Marty (1955), Trapeze (1956), and Sweet Smell of Success (1957).

In 1999, the American Film Institute named Lancaster 19th among the greatest male stars of all time.

Nick Cravat (January 11, 1912 – January 29, 1994) was an American film actor. His real name was Nicholas Cuccia (pronounced coo cha). "Cravat" was a stage name based on a character in a play he had seen and rather liked.

Cravat and Burt Lancaster met as youngsters at a summer camp in New York and became lifelong friends. They created an acrobatic act, "Lang and Cravat", in the early 1930s and joined the Kay Brothers circus in Florida. The pair worked at various circuses and in vaudeville. In 1939, however, Lancaster suffered a hand injury that ended their act. They would reunite later.

He co-starred with Lancaster in nine films, of which The Crimson Pirate and The Flame and the Arrow are the best-known. He played a mute character in several movies, notably The Flame and the Arrow, The Crimson Pirate, and Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier, mostly because his thick Brooklyn accent would have been out of place. The acrobatic Cravat also played the "gremlin" on the wing of an airplane in the 1963 Twilight Zone episode, "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" starring William Shatner.