James Burke
Date of birth: 1886-09-23
Place of birth: New York City, New York, USA
Known for: Acting
Also known as: Jim Burke, James Michael Burke
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia James Burke (September 24, 1886 – May 23, 1968) was an American film and television actor born in New York City. He made his stage debut in New York around 1912 and went to Hollywood in 1933. He made over 200 film appearances during his career, which ranged from 1932 to 1964; he was more often than not cast as a cop, usually a none-too-bright one, most notably as Sgt. Velie in Columbia's Ellery Queen mysteries in the early 1940s. He appeared in The Maltese Falcon, At the Circus, Lone Star, and many others. One of his best roles was as Charles Ruggles' rowdy rancher pal in Ruggles of Red Gap. In the early 1950s, Burke appeared with Tom Conway in the ABC detective drama series then called Inspector Mark Saber -- Homicide Detective, later renamed, reformatted, and switched to NBC under the title Saber of London. From 1960-1961, Burke appeared in the role of Zeke Bonner in seven episodes of the ABC western television series Stagecoach West, starring Wayne Rogers, Robert Bray, and Richard Eyer. Burke suffered from a heart condition, which took his life at the age of eighty-one.
Movie Credits
The Maltese Falcon
1941-10-18
A private detective takes on a case that involves him with three eccentric criminals, a beautiful li
The Big Clock
1948-03-18
George Stroud, a crime magazine's crusading editor, has to postpone a vacation with his wife - again
Public Pigeon No. 1
1957-05-17
Swindlers con a lunchroom clerk into doing them a favor, supposedly on behalf of the FBI.
We're Not Married!
1952-07-11
A Justice of the Peace performed weddings a few days before his license was valid. A few years later
At the Circus
1939-10-20
Jeff Wilson, the owner of a small circus, owes his partner Carter $10,000. Before Jeff can pay, Cart
Bombshell
1933-10-13
A glamorous film star rebels against the studio, her pushy press agent and a family of hangers-on.
Lucky Me
1954-04-09
Three struggling theatrical performers meet a famous songwriter who is trying to convince a wealthy
Welcome Home
1935-08-09
A con artist attends a reunion in his hometown and discovers that his former classmates are trying t
Lady Killer
1933-12-09
An ex-gang member tries to resist his old cohorts' criminal influence after he suddenly becomes a Ho
Dead End
1937-08-27
The lives of a young man and woman, an infamous gangster and a group of street kids converge one day
Beau Geste
1939-07-24
When three brothers join the Foreign Legion to escape a troubled past, they find themselves trapped
All Through the Night
1942-01-10
Broadway gamblers stumble across a plan by Nazi saboteurs to blow up an American battleship.
36 Hours to Kill
1936-07-24
Duke and Jeanie Benson, an outlaw couple hiding out under assumed names. Duke realizes that he has a
Toughest Man in Arizona
1952-10-10
Marshal Landry captures outlaw Girard and bringing him in finds a woman and two children, the only s
Charlie Chan's Murder Cruise
1940-05-02
On a cruise ship from Honolulu to San Francisco, the famous Chinese detective encounters four more m
The Horn Blows at Midnight
1945-04-28
A trumpet player in a radio orchestra falls asleep during a commercial and dreams he's Athanael, an
Great Guy
1936-12-01
A meat inspector sets out to rid his town of payoff deals affecting the quality of meat being sold t
Bowery Bombshell
1946-07-20
Slip (Leo Gorcey), Sach (Huntz Hall), Bobby (Bobby Jordan), Whitey (William Benedict) and Chuck (Dav
Body and Soul
1947-11-11
Charley Davis, against the wishes of his mother, becomes a boxer. As he becomes more successful the
The Dawn Patrol
1938-12-24
In 1915 France, Major Brand commands the 39th Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps. The young airmen g
Such Women Are Dangerous
1934-06-08
An aspiring young writer becomes infatuated with a successful romance novelist, who realizes his lif
The Saint Strikes Back
1939-03-08
Suave private detective Simon "The Saint" Templar arrives in San Francisco and meets Val, a woman wh
A Desperate Chance for Ellery Queen
1942-05-07
A man is framed for embezzlement and runs off to San Francisco. His wife hires Ellery Queen to try a
A Close Call for Ellery Queen
1942-01-29
Amateur sleuth Ellery Queen learns the truth about a businessman's two long-lost daughters.
Ellery Queen and the Murder Ring
1941-11-18
The benefactor of the Stack Memorial Hospital dies after an operation. Ellery Queen investigates whe
Ellery Queen and the Perfect Crime
1941-08-14
Several days after one of his company's dams burst, ruining the life savings of several investors, a
Enemy Agents Meet Ellery Queen
1942-07-30
Detective Ellery Queen aids Free Dutch agents battle Nazi spies over a prize of industrial diamonds.
Ellery Queen, Master Detective
1940-11-30
Famed detective and crime novelist Ellery Queen solves a case involving the suspicious death of a ri
Ellery Queen's Penthouse Mystery
1941-03-24
Ventriloquist and world traveler Gordon Cobb is murdered by a gang of jewel thieves. Baffled by the
Philo Vance's Gamble
1947-04-12
Private Detective Philo Vance gets involved with a succession of murders and a mystery concerning th
Love Time
1934-11-03
Newly arrived in the nineteenth century court of Emperor Francis 1st of Austria Countess Valerie hap
The Saint Takes Over
1940-06-07
The Saint Takes Over, released in 1940 by RKO Pictures, was the fifth motion picture featuring the a
Little Miss Marker
1934-06-01
Big Steve Halloway, gambler and proprietor of New York's Horseshoe Cabaret, is in desperate need of
Man on the Flying Trapeze
1935-08-03
Hard-working, henpecked Ambrose Ambrose Wolfinger takes off from work to go to a wrestling match wit
A Night to Remember
1942-12-10
A woman rents a gloomy basement apartment in Greenwich Village thinking it will provide the perfect
Million Dollar Baby
1941-05-31
A sudden windfall has unexpected consequences on a working class girl during the Great Depression.
My Favorite Blonde
1942-04-02
Larry Haines, a mediocre vaudeville entertainer, boards a train for Los Angeles. Aboard, he meets an
Six of a Kind
1934-02-09
The Whinneys share expenses for their trip to Hollywood with George and Gracie and their great Dane.
Warpath
1951-11-22
John Vickers has spent eight years hunting for the three men who murdered the woman he loved. He fin
The Last Outpost
1951-04-04
The cavalry defend a small town from indians.
The Golden Fleecing
1940-08-16
A mild-mannered insurance salesman gets mixed up with gangsters.
College Humor
1933-07-05
A college professor and the school's star football player are both rivals for the same beautiful coe
The Cisco Kid and the Lady
1939-12-29
An orphan whose father has been killed by bandits inherits a mine. Cisco saves the mine and the chil
Raton Pass
1951-04-07
Raton Pass is a curious western based on the rules of Community Property. Dennis Morgan and Patricia
The Scarlet Empress
1934-05-09
During the 18th century, German noblewoman Sophia Frederica, who would later become Catherine the Gr
Here Comes Cookie
1935-08-30
A scatterbrained heiress opens her home to a succession of unemployed actors and vaudeville performe
Ticket to a Crime
1934-12-14
After a jeweler hires a private detective to help him find $50,000 missing from his company, he is m
Dinky
1935-05-11
A mother sends her young son to military school so he won't find out she's been sentenced to a priso
Easy Come, Easy Go
1947-03-07
Comedy about an Irish father, who enjoys betting on horses, who keeps interfering with his daughter'
Men with Wings
1938-07-16
Reporter Nicholas Ranson is jubilant when, on 17 Dec 1903, in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Orville an
You Can't Take It with You
1938-09-01
Alice, the only relatively normal member of the eccentric Sycamore family, falls in love with Tony K
So Red the Rose
1935-12-20
During the American Civil War, Valette Bedford waits patiently for her husband Duncan Bedford, to re
Texas, Brooklyn & Heaven
1948-07-16
Eddie Tayloe's grandfather leaves him six thousand dollars and the money belt it came in, freeing Ta
Let's Dance
1950-11-29
Years after the death of her husband, Kitty McNeil takes her son and flees from the home of her weal
Casanova Brown
1944-08-23
Cass Brown is about to marry for the second time. His first marriage, to Isabel, was annulled. But w
On Borrowed Time
1939-07-07
Young Pud is orphaned and left in the care of his aged grandparents. The boy and his grandfather are
The Perfect Specimen
1937-10-23
Raised in seclusion to be the epitome of mental, physical and moral perfection, Gerald Beresford Wic
Anchors Aweigh
1945-08-13
Two sailors on shore leave head out for four days of partying – only to become involved in the affai
Two Years Before the Mast
1946-11-22
In 1834, Charles Stewart (Alan Ladd), the spoiled, dissolute son of a shipping magnate, is shanghaie
Joy of Living
1938-05-06
Falling in love with the voice of Broadway chanteuse Margaret Garret, cocksure young tycoon Daniel B
To the Last Man
1933-09-15
In Kentucky just after the Civil War, the Hayden-Colby feud leads to Jed Colby being sent to prison
June Bride
1948-10-29
A magazine's staff, including bickering ex-lovers Linda and Carey, cover an Indiana wedding, which g
The Mad Miss Manton
1938-10-21
When the murdered body discovered by beautiful, vivacious socialite Melsa Manton disappears, police
Call of the Wild
1935-08-09
Jack Thornton has trouble winning enough at cards for the stake he needs to get to the Alaska gold f
Shamrock Hill
1949-02-01
A young girl holds a special place in her heart for a place called Shamrock HIll, and she tries to s
Hot Money
1935-11-16
A thief on the run dumps some hot money in Thelma and Patsy's lap.
The Affair of Susan
1935-09-01
Two people go to Coney Island to find romance and wind up in jail.
Treasure Island
1934-08-17
In this early film adaptation of the classic novel by Robert Louis Stevenson, young Jim Hawkins is c
High, Wide and Handsome
1937-07-21
The setting is a small town in 1870s Pennsylvania. Sally Waterson and her father have stopped in tow
The Mystery Man
1935-02-12
Hard-boiled newspaper reporter Larry Doyle (Robert Armstrong) goes a bit too far in celebrating a wo
Lone Star
1952-10-24
Cattle baron Devereaux Burke is enlisted by an aging Andrew Jackson to dissuade Sam Houston from est
Lady by Choice
1934-10-15
To improve her image, a fan dancer "adopts" an old woman to be her mother.
Down to Earth
1947-08-21
Upset at a new Broadway musical mocking The Nine Muses, Greek goddess Terpsichore comes down to eart
Army Surgeon
1942-12-04
Drama about military doctors and nurses during wartime.
The Affairs of Annabel
1938-09-09
Wonder Pictures has been striking out at the box office lately, causing the seedy PR man to involve
A Very Honorable Guy
1934-04-18
Well respected local good guy, "Feet" Samuels finds himself heavily in debt due to an uncharacterist
Dixie
1943-06-23
A young songwriter leaves his Kentucky home to try to make it in New Orleans. Eventually he winds up
After the Dance
1935-06-25
Though he was protecting her when he accidentally killed a man, Mabel Kane (Thelma Todd) refuses to
Broadway Gondolier
1935-07-27
A taxi driver travels to Venice and poses as a gondolier to land a radio singing job.
The Family Next Door
1939-03-30
Rose Pierce is discontent with her life as the wife of a small town plumber and has visions of becom
City Limits
1934-04-14
The wealthy president of a big railroad, who's beginning to crumble under the combined pressure of b
Music Is Magic
1935-11-01
An aging star finally recognizes the truth when she is replaced in her new movie by a girl from the
Dancing Feet
1936-01-20
Peyton Wells (Ben Lyon) rescues Judy Jones (Joan Marsh) from a very dull young man, at a sedate part
I Love a Bandleader
1945-09-13
A painter suffering from amnesia convinces himself that he's a famous bandleader and finds romance w
Laughing at Trouble
1936-12-11
A man convicted of murder escapes from jail and hides out in the home of a small town newspaper publ
Face in the Sky
1933-01-15
Joe and Lucky travel around New England painting barns in exchange for an advertisement on one side.
The Unholy Wife
1957-06-24
A woman marries a man for his wealth, then concocts a plan to kill him, take his money, and run off
Friends of Mr. Sweeney
1934-07-28
Asaph (Charles Ruggles) is a meek, mild-mannered homebody who occasionally shows some backbone to hi
Within the Law
1939-03-17
Shopgirl Mary Turner, sentenced to prison for someone else's theft, is released and takes revenge up
Dodge City
1939-04-08
In this epic Western, Wade Hatton, a wagon master turned sheriff, tames a cow town at the end of a r
Fast and Furious
1939-10-06
Joel & Garda Sloan, a husband and wife detective team, who also sell rare books in New York, take a
It Happened One Night
1934-02-22
A runaway heiress makes a deal with the rogue reporter trailing her but the mismatched pair end up s
Song and Dance Man
1936-03-11
Julia and Hap are a dance team. He drinks and gambles, she succeeds for a while with the help of pro
Make a Million
1935-07-24
A college economics professor's "radical" ideas about capitalism get him fired. When he decides to p
Klondike Annie
1936-02-21
A San Francisco singer flees Chinatown on murder charges and poses as a missionary in Alaska.
The Timber Trail
1948-06-14
Monte Hale is a stagecoach driver for Jed Baker's stage-line. Jed believes his brother, Ralph, is be
The Virginian
1946-05-05
Arriving at Medicine Bow, eastern schoolteacher Molly Woods meets two cowboys, irresponsible Steve a
3 Men in White
1944-05-25
Gillespie has to finally choose his official assistant, or Red and Lee are going to kill themselves
Beyond Glory
1948-08-03
Thinking he may have caused the death of his commanding officer Captain Daniels in Tunisia, Rocky vi
Denver and Rio Grande
1952-05-16
Jim Vesser and his team of railroading men try to build a rail line through a mountain pass, while a
It Happened in Flatbush
1942-05-28
A washed up baseball player returns to Brooklyn to manage his old team but an old sports reporter is
The Leathernecks Have Landed
1936-02-17
Dishonorably discharged from the U.S. Marines after starting a barroom brawl that gets his leatherne
Buck Benny Rides Again
1940-05-31
Radio star Jack Benny, intending to stay in New York for the summer, is forced by the needling of ri
Shady Lady
1945-09-07
A crook becomes the victim of a crafty card player who works for the District Attorney.
The Gas House Kids in Hollywood
1947-08-23
The Gas House Kids, the very poor man's Bowery Boys, head for Hollywood.
Queen Christina
1934-02-09
Popular monarch Queen Christina of Sweden must choose between love and loyalty to her nation when sh
A Lady's Profession
1933-03-03
A couple of down-and-out British aristocrats buy an American roadhouse.
Coronado
1935-11-27
Southern California's Hotel Coronado caters to and is frequented by members of the social upper-crus
Flight Into Nowhere
1938-04-19
When headstrong pilot Bill Kellogg disobeys orders and takes a plane to photograph potential landing
Little Nellie Kelly
1940-11-22
Nellie Kelly, the daughter of Irish immigrants, patches up differences between her father and matern
No Time for Comedy
1940-09-14
An aspiring playwright finds himself an overnight Broadway success.
Red, Hot and Blue
1949-09-05
In her attempts to make a splash on Broadway, a lively would-be-actress lands herself in hot water w
The Way of All Flesh
1940-07-05
Paul Kriza is a cashier of a bank in a small town, and the happy husband of Anna and the father of f
Champagne Waltz
1937-02-05
In Vienna, a new jazz club featuring American trumpeter Buzzy Bellew threatens the existence of its
California
1947-02-21
"Wicked" Lily Bishop joins a wagon train to California, led by Michael Fabian and Johnny Trumbo, but
Thank Your Lucky Stars
1943-09-25
An Eddie Cantor look-alike organizes an all-star show to help the war effort.
Gambling Lady
1934-03-08
A businesslike syndicate runs all the gambling joints in town; least profitable is honest Mike Lee's
Rhythm on the Range
1936-07-01
Cowboy Jeff Larabee returns from the east and meets Doris Halloway, a young girl, that he regards as
The Girl in 419
1933-05-26
A hospital surgeon (James Dunn) protects a mystery woman (Gloria Stuart) who knows too much about a
All of Me
1934-02-01
A professor tires of the direction his life is going and wants to move west, but his girlfriend does
Copper Canyon
1950-11-15
A group of copper miners, Southern veterans, are terrorized by local rebel-haters, led by deputy Lan
How DOooo You Do
1945-12-24
Murder occurs when several of the most popular radio personalities of the '40s converge on a desert
Ruggles of Red Gap
1935-03-08
In this comedy of an Englishman stranded in a sea of barbaric Americans, Marmaduke Ruggles - a gentl
Little Orphan Annie
1938-12-02
Annie (Ann Gillis), an orphan, (based on Harold Gray's comic strip but who is at no point in the fil
Double Alibi
1940-03-01
A man's ex-wife is found murdered, and he finds himself to be the prime suspect.
Frisco Waterfront
1935-12-03
As California gubernatorial candidate Burton is about to cast his vote a truck crashes into the poll
Sudden Money
1939-03-31
Promises of happier times dawn for the financially distressed Patterson family when father Sweeney a
Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
1975-08-06
Period music, film clips and newsreel footage combined into a visual exploration of the American ent
Life Begins with Love
1937-10-06
A spoiled playboy is forced to leave town to avoid the press, which latches on to his statement, whi
Song of the Thin Man
1947-08-28
Society sleuths Nick and Nora Charles investigate a murder in a jazz club.
Night Wind
1948-09-01
A boy tries to protect his dog, a German shepherd that served with U.S. Army forces after it begins
Alias Nick Beal
1949-03-04
After straight-arrow district attorney Joseph Foster says in frustration that he would sell his soul
Twentieth Century
1934-05-11
A temperamental Broadway producer trains an untutored actress, but when she becomes a star, she prov
No Place for a Lady
1943-02-11
A private detective and a blonde acquaintance whom he has rescued from a misdirected murder charge,
Reaching for the Sun
1941-05-01
Comedy of a North Woods clam-digger who journeys to Detroit to earn money for outboard motor by work
Torch Singer
1933-09-08
When she can't support her illegitimate child, an abandoned young woman puts her up for adoption and
Wharf Angel
1934-03-15
On the wharfs of San Francisco, saloon girl Toy, also known as Mary, lives over Mother Bright's bar.
The Kennel Murder Case
1933-10-28
Philo Vance, accompanied by his prize-losing Scottish terrier, investigates the locked-room murder o
Alias Jesse James
1959-03-20
Insurance salesman Milford Farnsworth sells a man a life policy only to discover that the man in que
The Merry Frinks
1934-05-26
An heiress abandons an out-of-work husband, two sons and a lovesick daughter.
Riding High
1943-11-11
No relation to the 1950 Frank Capra film of the same name, the 1943 Technicolor musical Riding High
Pot o' Gold
1941-04-03
Jimmy, the owner of a failed music shop, goes to work with his uncle, the owner of a food factory. B
Opened by Mistake
1940-05-10
A wise-guy reporter and a tippling sportswriter acquire an unclaimed trunk with a corpse inside.
Young Widow
1946-03-01
A young bride tries to rebuild her life after she learns her husband has been killed in the war.
Mrs. O'Malley and Mr. Malone
1950-12-08
Harriet O'Malley tries to solve a murder aboard a train en route to New York.
Case of the Missing Man
1935-10-20
After an argument with his newspaper's city editor, press-photographer Jimmy Hudson quits his job an
Nightmare Alley
1947-10-09
A roustabout joins a traveling carny and schemes to figure out the mind-reading act of Mademoiselle
Can This Be Dixie?
1936-11-13
A young girl and her uncle who run a traveling medicine show lend their efforts to salvage an old pl
Sadie McKee
1934-05-09
A maid has romances with a two-timer, a boozing millionaire and the master of the house.
Forgotten Faces
1936-05-15
Harry Ashton is a superstitious gambling house owner, who relies on sprigs of heliotrope as his good
Mississippi
1935-03-22
A young pacifist after refusing on principle to defend her sweetheart's honor and being banished in
The Farmer Takes a Wife
1935-07-05
A farmer tries to convince a girl to leave her life on a canal boat to live with him on his farm.
His Kind of Woman
1951-08-15
Career gambler Dan Milner agrees to a $50,000 deal to leave the USA for Mexico, only to find himself
Here Comes the Groom
1951-09-20
Foreign correspondent Pete Garvey has 5 days to win back his former fiancée, or he'll lose the orpha
The Hollywood Handicap
1932-08-10
1930s Thalians Club comedy.
I'm from Missouri
1939-04-06
Sweeney Bliss, champion mule raiser in Missouri, takes his prize mule Samson to London, where the Br
The Bowery
1933-10-07
"In the Gay Nineties New York had grown up into bustles and balloon Sleeves ... but The Bowery had g
Sisters Under the Skin
1934-04-15
Wealthy, aging millionaire John Hunter Yates (Frank Morgan) seeks to recapture his youth by pursuing