Alfred Burke

Born in London's southeast district of Peckham, the son of Irish parents Sarah Ann O'Leary and William Burke,^[2] Burke was educated at Leo Street Boys' School and Walworth Central School. Burke started work aged 14, working in a railway repair firm in the City of London after leaving school. He became a club steward and also worked in a silk warehouse, joining a local amateur dramatics group before moving to Morley College and winning a scholarship to RADA in 1937.

Burke's acting career started two years later at the Barn Theatre in Shere, Surrey. His budding career was interrupted by the Second World War, when he registered as a conscientious objector, and was directed to work on the land.^[1]

In the late 1940s, Burke worked with the Young and Old Vic and other companies. His London debut was in 1950 at the Watergate Theatre, appearing in Pablo Picasso's play Desire Caught by the Tail. He then spent three years with Birmingham Repertory Theatre (1950–53) and appeared in the 1954 West End hit Sailor Beware!.^[3]

Burke built a solid reputation across a wide range of character roles in films and on television. His acting career included: The Angry Silence, Touch and Go, Interpol, Yangtse Incident and Buccaneers, as well as such televised plays as The Tip and Treasure Island.

Burke's most famous role was the enquiry agent Frank Marker in the ABC/Thames television series Public Eye, which ran from 1965 to 1975. His low-key, understated but always compelling portrayal of the down-at-heel private eye made the series one of the most popular and highly rated detective dramas on British television.

After Public Eye ended Burke appeared in a host of guises, from Long John Silver to Pope John Paul II's father. In the television series Minder he appeared in the episode Come in T-64, Your Time Is Ticking Away as Kevin, partner to Arthur Daley in his latest scheme, a minicab service. He was also the formidable headmaster "Thrasher" Harris in Home To Roost. He played Major (later Oberst) Richter in both series of Enemy at the Door and Dr Anderson in the Bergerac episode "Poison". Later he was seen as Armando Dippet in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

On stage Burke appeared in several productions by the Royal Shakespeare Company, including Richard II, Romeo and Juliet, Roberto Zucco, The Tempest, Peer Gynt, Measure for Measure, Troilus and Cressida, Two Shakespearean Actors, All's Well That Ends Well and Antony and Cleopatra. In 2008 he appeared at the National Theatre as the Shepherd in a new version of Sophocles' Oedipus by Frank McGuinness.^[4]

In 2022 a documentary tribute to Burke was released entitled Alfred Burke is Frank Marker.

Burke died from a chest infection on 16 February 2011, twelve days before his 93rd birthday, and was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium. He was survived by his wife, Barbara (née Bonelle) and their four children: Jacob and Harriet (twins), and Kelly and Louisa (twins).

For a detailed list of Burke's many stage appearances 1947-2008 see his entry at Theatricalia.^[6]

• 1964: The pastor in The Father by August Strindberg. Directed by Caspar Wrede, Piccadilly Theatre, London.
• 1970: Henry in Henry IV by Luigi Pirandello. Directed by Bill Hays at the Leeds Playhouse (and later that year at the Edinburgh Festival).
• 1971: August Strindberg in Pictures in a Bath of Acid by Colin Wilson. Directed by Bill Hays at the Leeds Playhouse.
• 1977: Dr Rance in What the Butler Saw by Joe Orton. Directed by Braham Murray at the Royal Exchange, Manchester.
• 1977: Serebryakov in Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekhov. Directed by Michael Elliott at the Royal Exchange, Manchester.
• 1981: Vincentio in Measure for Measure. Directed by Braham Murray at the Royal Exchange, Manchester.
• 1985: Piotr Sorin in The Seagull by Anton Chekhov. Directed by Charles Sturridge at Queen's Theatre, London.