Michael Burns

Background Michael Thornton Burns was born in Mineola, New York, on Long Island, to director and producer Frank Xavier Burns (best known for the early television series, Martin Kane, Private Eye) and Mary Lou DeWeese. He has an older sister, Pamela.

In 1949, the family moved to Yonkers. In 1956, the family relocated to Beverly Hills, California, where he attended Beverly Hills High School.

He attended the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia for a year before he transferred to the University of California, Los Angeles. There he took classes mostly in the evening, as he often worked as an actor during many days. He resided in Redondo Beach.

He graduated Phi Beta Kappa, summa cum laude in 1976 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history. He obtained his Master of Arts in European history at the same institution. In 1977, he entered Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, and earned a PhD in modern European history.

Career Actor Burns was discovered by Lee Wallace, the head of casting for 20th Century Fox, who arranged Burns's appearance on the 1960 episode "A Taste of Lobster" of The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis; Burns played a shrewd 13-year-old businessman, Chrissie Tyler, who owned a babysitting agency. His first credited appearance occurred on Alfred Hitchcock Presents in the 1959 episode "Special Delivery" (Season 5 Episode 10) as Joe. He also guest-starred that first year (1960) in Wagon Train as the son of title character played by Leslie Nielsen in the episode "The Jeremy Dow Story".

He co-starred in a 19-episode NBC comedy-drama It's a Man's World (1962–63 season) as 14-year-old Howie Macauley. Upon his retirement in 2002, Burns was honoured by Mount Holyoke with the designation professor emeritus.

Later life While on the faculty at Mount Holyoke College, Burns wed the college's then-president, Elizabeth Topham Kennan in June 1986. She has a son, Frank Alexander Kennan, from her previous marriage.

Since 2002, the couple have resided in Danville, Boyle County, Kentucky. They have restored the Cambus-Kenneth Estate, a crop, cattle, and thoroughbred horse farm listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Scholarship Books France and the Dreyfus Affair: A Documentary History (1998) Dreyfus: A Family Affair, 1789–1945 (1991)

Reviews Michael Burns, review of Gillian Tindall's The Journey of Martin Nadaud: "Local Hero: How a provincial laborer became a reformer in 19th-century France", The New York Times, October 8, 2000.

Select filmography and television

Police Woman – Powers (1977) The Bionic Woman – Carl Franklin (1977) The Streets of San Francisco (1973–1976) Love, American Style (1972–1973) Santee – Jody (1973) With Glenn Ford

Gidget Gets Married – Jeff (Moondoggie) (1972) The F.B.I. – Holt Campbell (Season 6, Ep 22, 1971) The Partridge Family – Paul (1971) "The Undergraduate" Hawaii Five-O – William T. Shem Jr. (Episode 78, 1971) Then Came Bronson Billy Mulavey (Episode 16, 1970) The Virginian (6 episodes 1966–1971) Gunsmoke – Arlie Joe (1968–1970) That Cold Day in the Park – The boy (1969) Dragnet 1969 – Joy Riders as Harold Rustin (1969) The Mad Room – George Hardy (1969) The Outcasts – as Randy Forrest in the episode "The Bounty Children" (1968) The Private Navy of Sgt. O'Farrell – Private Johnny Bannon (1968) Journey to Shiloh – as Eubie Bell (1968) The Big Valley – Danny Wiggins (1968) Daniel Boone – Cal Trevor in the episode "The Spanish Horse" (1967) Dragnet 1967 – Benjie "Blueboy" Carver in "The LSD Story" with Robert Knapp (1967) Dundee and the Culhane – Nugget Hughes in "The 1000 Feet Deep Brief" (1967) 40 Guns to Apache Pass (1967) Bonanza – Donny Benson in the episode "Napoleon's Children" (1967) Insight – six episodes from 1967 to 1972, the last as Douglas Hendricks in '"Nobody Loves a Rich Uncle" The Big Valley – Lon Morton (1966) Bonanza – Jamie in the episode "The Trouble with Jamie" (1966) McHale's Navy - Orvie in the episode "Make Room for Orvie" (1965) Wagon Train – Barnaby West (28 episodes, 1960–1965) Kraft Mystery Theater – Little Bob Longstreet in the episode "Shadow of a Man" (1963) It's A Man's World – Howie Macauley (1962–1963) Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation – Danny Hobbs (1962) Wagon Train – Billy Latham in "The Dr. Denker Story" Season5, Episode 16, Jan 31, 1962 The Twilight Zone – Paul Stockton in "The Shelter" (1961) The Tall Man – Danny in "Ransom of a Town" (1961) Wagon Train – Homer Banning in "The Odyssey of Flint McCullough" (02/15/1961) Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1961) (Season 6 Episode 29: "The Pearl Necklace") - Billy Lansing Tales of Wells Fargo – Billy Matson in "Frightened Witness" (1960) Shotgun Slade – in "The Missing Dog" (1960) Wrangler – Clary Browning in the episode "The Affair with Browning's Woman" (1960) The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis – Chrissie Tyler in the episode "A Taste For Lobster" (1960) Wagon Train – Bruce Millikan in the episode "The Jeremy Dow Story" (1960 – S4E14) Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1960) (Season 6 Episode 2: "The Doubtful Doctor") - Sidney Wagon Train- Billy Justis in the episode "The Allison Justis Story" (1960-S4E4) Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1959) (Season 5 Episode 10: "Special Delivery") - Joe