Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Email
Answers.com

Walter Burke

 
Actor: Walter Burke
  • Born: 1909
  • Died: Aug 09, 1984 in Woodland Hills, California
  • Occupation: Actor
  • Active: '50s-'70s
  • Major Genres: Comedy, Western
  • Career Highlights: The Lucy Show: Lucy Goes to London, Bonanza: Destiny's Child, The Twilight Zone: The Big Tall Wish
  • First Major Screen Credit: The Twilight Zone: The Big Tall Wish (1960)

Biography

Diminutive Irish-American character actor Walter Burke kicked off his film career in 1948. Burke's weaselly, cigarette-dangling-from-lips characterization of political flunky Sugar Boy in the Oscar-winning All the King's Men (1949) set the tone for most of his later roles. Though often afforded meaty roles on television -- he was one of several actors who subbed for William Talman during the 1960-1961 season of Perry Mason -- Burke had no objection to accepting tiny but memorable bits, such as the cockney who warns Eliza Doolittle, "There's a bloke be'ind that pillar, takin' down every word that you're sayin'!" in the opening scene of My Fair Lady (1964). In another unbilled assignment, Burke convincingly voice-doubled for narrator Walter Winchell in a handful of early-'60s episodes of The Untouchables. Closing out his film career in the early '70s, Walter Burke moved to Pennsylvania, where he became an acting teacher. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Search unanswered questions...
Enter a question here...
Search: All sources Community Q&A Reference topics
Wikipedia: Walter Burke
Top
Walter Burke

on a 1959 episode of Peter Gunn
Born Walter Lawrence Burke
August 25, 1908(1908-08-25)
Brooklyn, New York U.S.
Died August 4, 1984 (aged 75)
Woodland Hills, California U.S.
Years active 1925 - 1980

Walter Burke (August 25, 1908–August 4, 1984) was a prolific Irish-American character actor, of stage, film, and television. His small stature, and distinctive voice and face, made him easily recognizable in even the most minor of roles.

Contents

Early life

Walter Lawrence Burke was born in Brooklyn, New York to Irish immigrant parents Thomas Burke and Bedelia McNamara Burke. He had one brother and two sisters.

Career

Walter Burke began acting on stage as a teenager, making his Broadway debut in Dearest Enemy at the Knickerbocker Theatre during 1925-1926. The following year he performed in a musical revue, Padlocks of 1927 at the Shubert Theatre. He joined the American Opera Company's troupe in January 1928, performing a non-singing role in an English-language adaption of Faust.[1] He continued with that company through January 1930, taking part in adaptions of Madame Butterfly and Yolanda of Cyprus at the Casino Theatre.[2] He next appeared on Broadway with Help Yourself in 1936, and over the next ten years appeared in as many plays.

Burke debuted in Hollywood films in 1948, with The Naked City, and the following year had a memorable role in the Oscar-winning film All the King's Men. Burke would appear in twenty-two more films, and three more Broadway productions, but both film and the stage would soon take a backseat to his television work.

In 1951, Burke played a jockey in the early television series Martin Kane. From then until 1980, he would appear in episodes of 103 different television series, as well as three made for TV movies. Though never a series regular, he often played different roles in multiple episodes of the same shows. In 1959-60, he appeared five times as Tim Potter in the ABC western series Black Saddle starring Peter Breck. That same season, he appeared on John Cassavetes's detective series Johnny Staccato. He guest starred as Hatfield in the 1961 episode "The Drought" of the syndicated western series Two Faces West. In the 1962-1963 season, he appeared on the CBS anthology, The Lloyd Bridges Show. In the 1965-1966 season, Burke appeared on another ABC western, The Legend of Jesse James.

Personal life

Burke split most of his later life between Hollywood, where he worked, and his horse ranch in Monroe County, Pennsylvania. While back east, he would sometimes teach dramatics at a local college. A lifelong heavy smoker, he would succumb to emphysema in 1984, while living at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California. He is buried in Laurelwood Cemetery in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania.

Broadway stage credits

Filmography

Television credits (partial)

  • Martin Kane: "A Jockey Is Murdered" (1951) ....as Eddie Stevens
  • Johnny Midnight as McVey in untitled episode
  • The Lawless Years: "The Miles Miller Story" (1961) . . . as Miles Miller
  • Mickey with Mickey Rooney: "For the Love of Grandpa Toddie (1964) .... as Grandfather Toddie
  • Peter Gunn: "The Torch" (1959) ....as Ditto
  • Perry Mason: "The Jaded Joker" (1959) ....as Eddie Green
  • Hawaiian Eye: "Talk and You're Dead" (1961) ....as Kilgore
  • Bewitched: "It's Magic" (Season 1/Episode 16) (1964).....as hapless magician, Zeno the Great
  • Lost In Space: "The Toymaker" (Season 2/Episode 18) (1966)....as the Toymaker, Mr. O.M. (Old Man)
  • The F.B.I.: "The Two Million Dollar Hit" (1974) ...as Arnie Hellings

Notes

  1. ^ “A New Version of 'Faust'” in the New York Times, January 11, 1928, pg 26.
  2. ^ “'Yolanda' Sung by Americans” in the New York Times, January 9, 1930, pg 28.

External links



 
 
Learn More
It's Magic: Bewitched (TV Episode) (1965 Comedy TV Episode)
The Safecracker Suite: Hogan's Heroes (TV Episode) (1966 Comedy TV Episode)
Taste of Poison: Branded (TV Episode) (1965 Western TV Episode)

Where is Burke High? Read answer...
Is Burke a thug? Read answer...
Who was Thomas Burke? Read answer...

Help us answer these
Who is amrit burke?
Who is Jayden Burke?
Who is Norah Burke?

Post a question - any question - to the WikiAnswers community:

 

Copyrights:

Actor. Copyright © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Walter Burke" Read more