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.
Walter Lawrence Burke was born in Brooklyn, New York to Irish immigrant parents Patrick Burke and Bessie McNamara. His father worked as a tanner in a shoe factory. Burke had three step-brothers and one step-sister from his father's first marriage, as well as three sisters and three brothers of his own. At least two other siblings died in infancy.
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 joind the American Opera Company's troupe in January 1928, performing a non-singing role in an English-language adaption of Faust. He continued with that company through January 1930, taking part in adaptions of Madame Butterfly and Yolanda of Cyprus at the Casino Theatre. 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.
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.
