julian_craster

Obituary: Mark Burns
Actor who originated key Falklands drama

by Peter Evans
Thursday July 19, 2007
The Guardian


Mark Burns, who has died aged 71 from cancer, was one of the most admired
young actors of the 1960s. Although it was the decade of the working-class
hero - Albert Finney, Michael Caine, Terence Stamp and Tom Courtenay - his
English upper-crust image and blond good looks quickly attracted attention.
Tony Richardson cast him as the dashing Captain Morris in The Charge of the
Light Brigade (1968). He had seen Burns as Saki's amoral and effete antihero
Clovis Sangrail in a 1960 Granada television series, and remarked that "it
was an unexpected bonus when I discovered that he had, in fact, been a
cavalry officer".

Burns' friend Charles Wood, writer of the screenplay, said: "Mark was a
typically brave cavalry officer. A beautiful, kind man, he had the courage
of a lion. He licked prostate cancer, bladder cancer; he licked booze, and
he fought the final lung cancer all the way."
Born in Worcestershire, Burns was educated at Ampleforth college, north
Yorkshire, and planned to enter the priesthood. But after a short-service
commission in the 15th/19th The Kings Royal Hussars (1955-57), in which he
served in Malaya and Northern Ireland, he became an actor. Early television
appearances included roles in Z Cars, Probation Officer, and No Hiding
Place.

In 1971, Luchino Visconti cast him in the small but crucial role of the
composer's friend in Death in Venice. Burns' scene, in which he accuses the
dying Aschenbach, played by Dirk Bogarde, of avoiding emotional issues in
his private life, was at the heart of the film: Bogarde called it "one of
the finest acting vignettes I've ever seen".

Shortly after the Falklands conflict in 1982, Burns read about Robert
Lawrence, an officer who lost almost half his brain when he was shot by an
Argentinian sniper. Facing a lifetime of paralysis, Lawrence felt abandoned
by the army. Burns took the idea to Wood, who wrote the television drama,
Tumbledown. Although Burns never took a producer's credit for the
production, eventually made by the BBC in 1988, it was one of his proudest
achievements.

But Burns never took himself seriously: his performances opposite Joan
Collins in The Stud (1978) and The Bitch (1979) pointed to his sense of
humour. His loyalty to his friends was legendary. When director Michael
Winner could not afford to pay him even the minimum fee for a role in his
remake of The Wicked Lady in 1983, Burns told him to make a donation to his
Police Memorial Trust Fund. Later, when Burns was charged with speeding,
Winner told the bench that the actor had given "his entire fee" for a major
film to the fund. Burns was discharged.

His first wife was the actor Jane How, with whom he had a son, Jack. His
second was the former model, Paulene Stone. All three survive him.

Mark Burns, actor, born March 30 1936; died May 8 2007

Freddy

I must have missed these, I didn't realise MB was dead until I read Juniors Farm thread.

Often accompanied in films with Oliver Reed (The Jokers) and Michael Winner. Always enjoyed the films he appeared in.

RIP

shaun brown

Mark is also good in a rarely seen movie called A DAY AT THE BEACH. Good actor!

vladpyre

Does anybody have a pic of Mark please? I don't seem to recall him

wearysloth

batman

Mr Burns was very good actor ... RIP, sir.

I wish I had claws.

julian_craster

<< Mark is also good in a rarely seen movie called A DAY AT THE BEACH. Good actor!>>

This has been released on UK DVD , co-starring a young Beatie Edney (the daughter of Sylvia Syms) . An interesting film......

stevie boy

I remember the face not the name, RIP.