Wendell Burton
| Wendell Burton | |
|---|---|
| Born |
July 21, 1947 San Antonio, Texas, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actor Television executive |
| Spouse(s) | Patricia Nann (1978–?) (divorced) Linda Dena (2004–present) |
| Children | 2 (with Nann) |
Wendell Ray Burton (born July 21, 1947) is an American television executive and former actor. He is best known for his co-starring role with Liza Minnelli in the 1969 movie The Sterile Cuckoo (1969).
Burton was born in San Antonio, Texas, the son of an Air Force sergeant who died when he was five. He became involved in college theatricals while a student at Sonoma State College (later known as Sonoma State University).
His acting career began when he won the title role in the San Francisco stage production of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown. During the run of that successful musical, he continued his education and transferred to San Francisco State University, where he took classes in acting and directing. While performing in You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, Burton was seen by director Alan J. Pakula and was chosen over hundreds of more experienced movie actors to star opposite Liza Minnelli in the role as Jerry Payne, the young college student with whom she falls in love in The Sterile Cuckoo (1969). In 1970, he went on the road with the national touring company of Leonard Gershe's Broadway hit Butterflies Are Free, co-starring opposite Eve Arden as her son.
Burton accepted the role as Smitty in the MGM drama Fortune and Men's Eyes (1971), portraying an inmate who was raped shortly after entering prison, then turned into a sexual predator himself. Turning to television, he played the role as Fred Kramer, an innocent man framed for murder, in the well-received TV movie Murder Once Removed (1971) starring John Forsythe, Richard Kiley, and Barbara Bain.
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