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Mark Burns was the second of three sons of Dr Charles and Adelaide Burns, being the brother of Paul Burns (W51) and Peter Burns [Fr Matthew Burns] (W58). He was a cousin of Fr Dominic Milroy (W50). Born in 1936 in Worcestershire, the family went to live during his school days in Egbaston in Birmingham.
After going to Penryn School, Mark was in St Wilfrid's House from 1949 to 1953. On leaving Ampleforth in 1953, he went into farming, working for some time on the estate of Captain Jeremy Elwes (A39, died 1999) at Elsham in Lincolnshire. Between 1955 and 1957, Mark was in the 15th/19th Kings Royal Hussars, on a short-term commission, serving in Malaya and Northern Ireland. Although Northern Ireland was peaceful (the emergency there began again in 1969), his posting to Malaya was into the Malayan Emergency (1948-60) - this was a guerrilla war, also known as the Malayan War, part of an ongoing conflict between the Malayan Communist Party and the colonial establishment, in which 519 British military personel were killed. In Malaya he was three times injured in accidents - once in the Cameron Highlands his army vehicle somersaulted over a 200 foot cliff, and another occasion was accidentally but not serrously shot.
Leaving the army in 1957, he decided on an acting career. He gained early TV parts in several series, such as No Hiding Place, Z Cars and Probation Officer. From the 1960s onwards, Mark Burns was gaining a number of notable roles. He had leading roles in several major films of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s - including Charge of the Light Brigade (1967), Death in Venice (1971), The House of the Living Dead (1973), Juggernaut (1974), The Wicked Lady (1983) and The Stud (1978). He was awarded Best Actor in The House of the Living Dead (1973). Mark was described in an obituary in The Guardian [19 July 2007] as "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 upper crust image and blond good looks quickly attracted attention". According to the obituary by Peter Evans in The Guardian [19 July 2007], "Burns never took himself seriously: his performances opposite Joan Collins in The Stud (1978) and The Bitch (1979) pointed to his sense of humour".
In Death in Venice in 1971, Mark Burns played what Dirk Bogarde called ""one of the finest acting vignettes I've ever seen". Mark was cast by Luchino Visconti "in the small but crucial role of the composer's friend" which is at the heart of the film - he accuses the dying Aschenbach, played by Dirk Bogarde, of avoiding emotional issues in his private life.
Mark Burns became involved in the 1980s in promoting the TV drama Tumbledown.
Produced in 1989 for BBC TV, seven years after the Falklands War of 1982, Tumbledown explore what may be called "the inglorious folly of war"; it was most talked-about British TV programme when it was shown on BBC TV. Mark had the idea and took it to the writer of the screenplay of The Charge of the Light Brigade, Charles Wood. Charles Wood wrote in the preface of the screenplay that it was an article in The Guardian that caught Marks's eye and made him interested in Robert Lawrence - and he went to see him. The article told the story of how Robert, a 21-year-old Scots Guards officer with five years army service, was sent to the Falklands in April 1982. And how he, a few days before his 22nd birthday and one and a half hour before the Argentinian surrender, was shot in the back of the head by a sniper during the assault on Tumbledown Mountain. For his part in the action, Robert was awarded the Military Cross, but still felt that while the sniper who shot him did his job, the military establishment and the Civil Service didn't do theirs in helping him return to a normal life. The film was made with screenplay by Charles Wood - Mark never took credit for the production, but it was one of his proudest achievements.
Mark Burns married Jane How and they had one son - Jack Burns (W99). This marriage was dissolved and he married Paulene Stone. In recent years he has lived partly in London and partly at Stonegrave in North Yorkshire. Often staying in his cottage 5 miles from Ampleforth, he was often seen at Mass in the Abbey Church. For some years he lived in California where he played for an actor's cricket XI; he was always interested in cricket - once he produced what the TV now calls a "wagon-wheel" of Lara'a
400 not out against England in 2004. Mark was always very loyal to friends. He died of cancer on 7 May 2007.
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OA Deaths 2007
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