Alfred Burke

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Alfred Burke (born February 28, 1918 in Peckham , London , † February 16, 2011 in Barnes , London) was a British theater, film and television actor. He was best known for the television series Public Eye , in which he played the private detective Frank Marker between 1965 and 1975.

Life

Alfred Burke was born on February 28, 1918 to parents of Irish descent in Peckham, south-west London. He attended Leo Street Boys' School and Walworth Central School before dropping out of school in 1933. He worked as an office assistant and waitress and also took part in a local amateur drama group. In 1937, after a successful application, he received a scholarship and trained as an actor at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA). In 1939 he made his professional debut at the Barn Theater in Shere , Surrey in The Universal Legacy . After a hiatus due to World War II , he returned to a theater in Farnham , Surrey, where he met his future wife, Barbara Bonelle, who worked there as a stage manager.

In the late 1940s Burke joined the Young Vic Ensemble and spent some time at the Library Theater in Manchester, the Nottingham Playhouse and in London at the Watergate Theater. He played in Douglas Seales Henry VI first in the Birmingham Repertory, from 1953 on the stage of the Old Vic Theater . By the late 1950s, Burke had established himself as a serious stage actor.

From the mid-1950s, Burke was seen more often as a character actor in cinema and television films, for example in Bitter Victory (German title: Bitter war der Sieg , 1957) and No Time to Die (German title: No time to die , 1958) or in the science fiction film children of the Damned (German title: children of the Damned , 1964), a sequel to village of the Damned ( village of the Damned ).

Burkes also had numerous appearances in television series. In addition to numerous contributions to individual episodes, the role of private detective Frank Marker stands out, the main role in the television series Public Eye , which was broadcast in seven seasons in Great Britain between 1965 and 1975 with a total of 87 episodes and which established Burke's popularity. In the 1970s, multi-part television programs such as The Brontes of Haworth (1973) or Treasure Island (1977), in which Burke played the pirate Long John Silver, also contributed to its popularity with television audiences .

But Burkes always remained loyal to the theater; even in the days of Public Eye , he had been on stage in the Leeds Playhouse at the same time. From the 1980s to the 2000s, Burke appeared in numerous productions for the Royal Shakespeare Company , both in Stratford-upon-Avon and later in the New London Square at the Barbican Center .

Burke was last seen in a motion picture in 2002, with a brief appearance in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets as Hogwarts Headmaster Armando Dippet. He worked on the theater stage until he was 90, when he appeared on the stage of the Royal National Theater in 2008 in Frank McGuinness ' new version of the Oedipus .

Filmography (selection)

  • 1955: This is what women love (The Constant Husband)
  • 1957: Bitter was the victory (Bitter Victory)
  • 1957: The Man Nobody Knew (Interpol)
  • 1957: Yangtze Incident: The Story of HMS Amethyst
  • 1957: Comrades of the Air (High Flight)
  • 1958: No Time to Die
  • 1958: Welcome to Kittchen (Law and Disorder)
  • 1958: Scream at Dawn (The Man Upstairs)
  • 1959: Operation Amsterdam
  • 1959: Model for Murder
  • 1960: The Angry Silence
  • 1960: Before the Change - Murder (Dead Lucky)
  • 1961: The Man at the Carlton Tower
  • 1961–1965: With umbrella, charm and bowler hat (TV series, 4 episodes)
  • 1962: Backfire!
  • 1962: It's not easy for a crook like that (Crooks Anonymous)
  • 1962: The Hangman Can Wait (Mix Me a Person)
  • 1963: The Gehetzte of Soho (The Small World of Sammy Lee)
  • 1964: Children of the Damned
  • 1965: Was It Really Murder? (The Nanny)
  • 1965–1975: Public Eye (TV series, 87 episodes)
  • 1969: The Mysterious Meeting at Boyne Castle (Guns in the Heather)
  • 1970: One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
  • 1973: The Brontës of Haworth (TV miniseries, 6 episodes)
  • 1977: Treasure Island (TV miniseries, 4 episodes)
  • 1978–1980: Enemy at the Door (TV series, 26 episodes)
  • 1981: The Borgias ( The Borgias ; television miniseries, 6 episodes)
  • 1984: John Paul II - His Way to Rome (Pope John Paul II)
  • 1988: Sophia and Constance (TV miniseries, 5 episodes)
  • 2000: Longitude - Der Längengrad ( Longitude ; TV film)
  • 2002: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Burke, Alfred
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British theater, film and television actor
DATE OF BIRTH February 28, 1918
PLACE OF BIRTH Peckham , London
DATE OF DEATH February 16, 2011
Place of death Barnes , London