Paul Burke (actor)  

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Paul Burke (July 21, 1926 - September 13, 2009) was an American actor best known for his lead roles in two 1960s ABC television series, Naked City and Twelve O'Clock High.

Life and career

Burke was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, the son of Marty Burke, a boxer who fought Gene Tunney and later owned a string of nightclubs in the New Orleans French Quarter. His grandfather, Martin P. Burke, was a New Orleans police officer in 1898.Template:Fact

After training at the Pasadena Playhouse, Burke's film career began with a small role in the movie Golden Girl. Early in his career, Burke guest starred in the syndicated series, Highway Patrol and Men of Annapolis. In the 1957-1958 season, Burke appeared as Jeff Kittridge in five episodes of Barry Sullivan's adventure/drama series, Harbourmaster, which aired first on CBS and then switched to ABC under the name Adventure at Scott Island.

Burke also appeared on Tightrope, Jack Webb's Dragnet, The Adventures of Superman, and in the NBC science fiction series The Man and the Challenge. In 1956, Burke was cast in the lead role of the television series Noah's Ark, a Jack Webb-produced weekly program about a pair of dedicated veterinarians. In the 1959-1960 season, he appeared as Robertson in the 16-episode NBC espionage series Five Fingers, starring David Hedison.

After Five Fingers, Burke was cast in the lead role of the police show Naked City, in which he appeared as the dedicated NYPD detective Adam Flint from 1960 to 1963. Burke then appeared in the starring role of Captain (later Major, then Colonel) Joe Gallagher on 12 O'Clock High between 1964 and 1967.

The 12 O'Clock High role was Burke's last lead television role. He appeared in supporting roles in a number of television series, including recurring roles in Dynasty and Magnum, P.I. as Admiral Hawkes and in films such as The Thomas Crown Affair.

In 1967 Burke also starred in the film Valley of the Dolls as Lyon Burke, the young lawyer who befriended all three female stars, and had a tempestuous relationship with Anne Welles.

Burke retired from acting in the early 1990s. He was the grandfather of actress Alia Shawkat.

A Quote

“Acting is exciting. It’s the excitement of re-creating a human experience. Acting is more exciting than living -- more electric, more immediate than living. That’s because life is full of random elements. In acting, you select, you choose the elements. This selection allows you to get to the essence of the character, the essence of an experience.”

—Paul Burke, quoted by TV Guide in 1962.



Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Paul Burke (actor)" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.

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