Tall, dark, and handsome is how Hollywood liked their leading men back
in the 1950s and 1960s, and actor Paul Burke certainly fitted the bill.
While his career fell short of outright stardom, he managed to stand
out in a couple of acclaimed TV cop series in the 1960s and
"enjoyed" semi-cult status by co-starring in one of the screen's most
celebrated "turkeys" of all time.
The New Orleans-born actor was born on July 21, 1926, the son of
Martin Burke, a prizefighter who
later became a well-known promoter and French Quarter nightclub owner
("Marty Burke's"). Educated at prep schools, he was drawn to acting and
moved to Hollywood in the late 1940s, studying at the Pasadena
Playhouse for a couple of years. Screen director
Lloyd Bacon, a friend of his father Marty,
helped the fledgling actor along by giving him an unbilled part in the
Betty Grable musical
Call Me Mister (1951). From there,
he managed to scrounge up bit/uncredited parts in such 1950s films as
Fearless Fagan (1952);
Francis Goes to West Point (1952),
Three Sailors and a Girl (1953),
Flucht aus Schanghai (1953), and
Spy Chasers (1955). He moved up the
ladder a bit to featured status in another Francis the talking mule
picture,
Francis in the Navy (1955),
and in Mit blanker Waffe (1956),
then earned a starring role in the voodoo/jungle horror flick
Woodoo - Blutrausch des Dschungels (1957), opposite
the "50-Foot Woman," herself,
Allison Hayes.
Better yet, Burke found steady work on the small tube with grim-faced
roles in a number of crime series such as
Streifenwagen 2150 (1955),
Täter unbekannt (1954),
Dezernat 'M' (1957), and
Dragnet (1951). He also appeared in
Superman - Retter in der Not (1952).
Via an association with "Dragnet" producer/director
Jack Webb, he received his own TV
series, albeit short lived, in the form of
Noah's Ark (1956), portraying
veterinarian "Dr. Noah McCann." He followed that by co-starring with
Barry Sullivan in another one-season
series, Harbourmaster (1957), a
New England coast adventure yarn, and then in
Five Fingers (1959), a spy drama
headlining David Hedison. Another hit
series came with
12 O'Clock High (1964), based
on the hit film drama of the same name.
Burke's best-known TV role, however, was as "Detective Adam Flint" in
the highly praised police series
Gnadenlose Stadt (1958), replacing
James Franciscus. He joined the cast in the second season as the young partner of "Lt. Mike Parker"
(portrayed by Horace McMahon), just as
the half-hour show format was being extended to an hour. Based on the
gritty, groundbreaking cop movie
Stadt ohne Maske (1948), the series
did the film more than justice with excellent story lines, and Burke
walked away with two Emmy nominations out of the three seasons he
appeared.
His only movie role in the early 1960s was Della (1965) (aka Fatal Confinement) starring
Joan Crawford which
was actually a failed pilot to a prospective TV series. Winning the
co-lead role of fledgling writer "Lyon Burke" in the highly-anticipated
film adaptation of Jacqueline Susann's
monstrous best seller,
Das Tal der Puppen (1967).
It could have been the break to turn things around on film. It did
not...far from it. The Susann book was, if anything, a guilty pleasure as
readers were reeled in by the trashy Hollywood themes of drugs, fame,
and sex. The movie was a laughable misfire-riddled with bad acting, bad
dialogue and inept directing. It earned instant cult infamy, making
many "top 10" lists for worst movie ever. It also damaged the screen
careers of many of the actors involved. In reality, Burke and
Barbara Parkins, who played his paramour
in the movie, actually came off better and more grounded than most.
Unfortunately, good or bad, they were identified with a huge "turkey",
and it stuck.
Despite Burke's co-star cop role, opposite
Steve McQueen and
Faye Dunaway, in the stylish thriller
Thomas Crown ist nicht zu fassen (1968),
the very next year, it was not able to right the wrong of "Dolls".
Thereafter, Burke tended to be overlooked in his later film career, which
included standard starring roles both in the U.S. and abroad in such fare as
Der Mann mit dem Katzenkäfig (1969),
Wenn dich der Mörder küßt (1969),
and Guerilla Strike Force - Allein gegen die Hölle (1970). TV crime,
however, proved again to be reliable income for Burke with guest
roles in such popular 70s series as
Neu im Einsatz (1972),
The New Perry Mason (1973),
Make-Up und Pistolen (1974),
Harry-O (1973),
Mannix (1967),
Der Chef (1967), and the acclaimed
Police Story - Immer im Einsatz (1973) series. TV
movies also came his way, as well, with the starring role of tycoon
"C.C. Capwell" (replacing
Peter Mark Richman), in the daytime
soap opera, California Clan (1984). Burke
himself was replaced after a relatively brief time.
Following assured roles in the series
Reporter des Verbrechens (1986) and
Der Denver-Clan (1981), the latter as
scheming "Congressman Neal McVane", who frames
Joan Collins' character for murder,
Burke's career hit an irreversible snag in 1989, when he and three
others, including New Orleans' district attorney
Harry Connick Sr. (yes, father of the crooning junior, Harry Connick Jr.), were tried on federal
racketeering charges, aiding and abetting a gambling operation, and
committing perjury before a grand jury. The seven-week trial in 1990
resulted in his and Connick's acquittal (the other two were found
guilty) but the damage was done and he wasn't able to find work when he
returned to California. Burke's last film,
(The Fool (1990), shot in
England, and his last TV guest role (in an episode of Columbo (1971)) both came out in 1990.
Divorced from Peggy Pryor, the mother of his three children, Burke
married actress Lyn Peters in 1979. They met
while she was appearing in the
12 O'Clock High (1964)
episode
Siren Voices (1966).
The couple eventually retired to Palm Springs, where the actor died at
age 83 of leukemia and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in September of 2009.
