Actor; Born March 13, 1918; Died July 11, 2007.

Bart Burns, an actor who appeared on Broadway, in movies and TV shows for five decades, has died. He was 89.

Burns died last Wednesday of natural causes at his home in the West Hills area, his son Brendan Burns said.

Burns made several Broadway appearances, including with Henry Fonda in a production of Mr Roberts. On television, he played Pat Chambers on the Mike Hammer series in the 1950s and made hundreds of guest appearances on shows ranging from Gunsmoke to The Rockford Files.

His movie roles included Ernest Farmer in the 1982 Jessica Lange feature Frances. He had small roles in many other films, including Seven Days in May, Legal Eagles and Tora, Tora, Tora.

Burns wrote the four-part Kilroy Was Here feature for the 1950s TV show Disneyland.

He was born George Joseph Burns in New York City. To avoid confusion with the comic George Burns, he took the name Bart when he began his acting career in 1947.

During the Second World War, Burns was a Marine captain in the Pacific, where he was wounded twice.

He won a Silver Star for leading a tank through a minefield to destroy a Japanese pillbox on Iwo Jima.