Catherine Burns (September 25, 1945 – February 2, 2019) was an American actress of stage, film, radio and television. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in ''

Last Summer ''Last Summer'' is a 1969 Teen Drama, teen drama film about adolescent sexuality based on the 1968 novel of the same name by Evan Hunter. Director Frank Perry filmed at Fire Island, New York, Fire Island locations. It stars Catherine Burns, Bar ...

'' (1969).

Early years

Born in New York City of Irish and Polish heritage, Burns was raised in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the List of co ...

, and attended

Hunter College High School Hunter College High School is a secondary school located in the Carnegie Hill neighborhood on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. It is administered by Hunter College of the City University of New York (CUNY). Hunter is publicly funded, and there ...

Hunter College Hunter College is a public university in New York City. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools. It also adm ...

and the

American Academy of Dramatic Arts The American Academy of Dramatic Arts (AADA) is a private performing arts conservatory with two locations, one in Manhattan and one in Los Angeles. The academy offers an associate degree in occupational studies and teaches drama and related ar ...

Career

Burns's professional acting debut occurred in

David Susskind David Howard Susskind (December 19, 1920 – February 22, 1987) was an American producer of TV, movies, and stage plays and also a TV talk show host. His talk shows were innovative in the genre and addressed timely, controversial topics beyond th ...

's TV production of ''

The Crucible ''The Crucible'' is a 1953 play by American playwright Arthur Miller. It is a dramatized and partially fictionalized story of the Salem witch trials that took place in the Massachusetts Bay Colony during 1692–93. Miller wrote the play as an ...

'' (1967). She made her Broadway debut in 1968 in '' The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie'', for which she received the Clarence Derwent Award. She also appeared in ''Operation Sidewinder'' (1970) on Broadway. In 1970 she won the

Theatre World Award The Theatre World Award is an American honor presented annually to actors and actresses in recognition of an outstanding New York City stage debut performance, either on Broadway or Off-Broadway. It was first awarded for the 1945–1946 theatre s ...

for her performance in the

off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer th ...

play ''Dear Janet Rosenberg, Dear Mr. Kooning''. Burns made her screen debut in 1969 in ''

'' as sensitive, conservative Rhoda, receiving critical acclaim and a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. The role also brought her the 1970 Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress. Despite the recognition, Burns never appeared in another theatrically released film after 1971, when she was just 26 years of age. Her other film credits include ''

Me, Natalie ''Me, Natalie'' is a 1969 American comedy-drama film directed by Fred Coe about a homely young woman from Brooklyn who moves to Greenwich Village and finds romance with an aspiring painter. The screenplay by A. Martin Zweiback is based on an origi ...

'' (1969) and '' Red Sky at Morning'' (1971).

Television

Burns's television debut was the role of Mary Warren in

Arthur Miller Arthur Asher Miller (October 17, 1915 – February 10, 2005) was an American playwright, essayist and screenwriter in the 20th-century American theater. Among his most popular plays are ''All My Sons'' (1947), ''Death of a Salesman'' (19 ...

's ''

'' (1967). She went on to appear as the original

Cathy Craig Cathy Craig is a fictional character on the American soap opera ''One Life to Live''. Introduced onscreen in January 1969, the character role is the first ongoing antagonist to lead heroine Victoria Lord and last appears in November 1978. Cast ...

on '' One Life to Live'' in 1969. Her other TV credits include the adaptation of

's play '' A Memory of Two Mondays'' (1974), the miniseries '' The Word'' (1978), and guest appearances on ''

Love, American Style ''Love, American Style'' is an anthology comedy television series that aired on ABC from 1969 to 1974. The series was produced by Paramount Television. During the 1971–72 and 1972–73 seasons, it was a part of ABC's Friday primetime lineup ...

'', ''

Adam-12 ''Adam-12'' is an American television police procedural crime drama television series created by Robert A. Cinader and Jack Webb. The series follows Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers Pete Malloy and Jim Reed as they patrol the stre ...

'', ''

Emergency! ''Emergency!'' is an American action-adventure medical drama A medical drama is a television show or film in which events center upon a hospital, an ambulance staff, or any medical environment. Most recent medical drama (film and television) ...

'', ''

The Mod Squad ''The Mod Squad'' is an American crime drama series, originally broadcast for five seasons on ABC from September 24, 1968, to March 1, 1973. It starred Michael Cole as Peter "Pete" Cochran, Peggy Lipton as Julie Barnes, Clarence Williams III ...

'', ''

Police Woman The integration of women into law enforcement positions can be considered a large social change. A century ago, there were few jobs open to women in law enforcement. A small number of women worked as correctional officers, and their assignment ...

'', ''

The Waltons ''The Waltons'' is an American historical drama television series about a family in rural Virginia during the Great Depression and World War II. It was created by Earl Hamner Jr., based on his 1961 book '' Spencer's Mountain'' and the 1963 fil ...

'' and ''

The Bionic Woman ''The Bionic Woman'' is an American science fiction film, science fiction Action-adventure fiction, action-adventure television series created by Kenneth Johnson (producer), Kenneth Johnson based on the 1972 novel Cyborg (novel), ''Cyborg'' by M ...

''. She continued on television throughout the 1970s and into the mid-1980s, when she turned from acting to writing.

Writing

Her children's book, ''The Winter Bird'', was published by

Windmill Books Robert Kraus (June 21, 1925 – August 7, 2001) was an American children's author illustrator, cartoonist and publisher. His successful career began early at the New Yorker, producing over hundreds of cartoons and nearly two dozen covers f ...

in 1971. Staying behind when other birds go south for the winter, a little bird discovers a new way of life in the unusual world of carousel horses. She also wrote screenplays and stage plays, and sold scripts to the CBS soap opera ''

Guiding Light ''Guiding Light'' (known as ''The Guiding Light'' before 1975) is an American radio and television soap opera. It is listed in ''Guinness World Records'' as the third longest-running drama in television in American history. ''Guiding Light'' a ...

'' in 1989.

Radio

She also was an actress on radio, appearing in 1973 on the

Mutual Broadcasting System The Mutual Broadcasting System (commonly referred to simply as Mutual; sometimes referred to as MBS, Mutual Radio or the Mutual Radio Network) was an American commercial radio network in operation from 1934 to 1999. In the golden age of U.S. rad ...

's series '' The Zero Hour'', hosted by Rod Serling.

Personal life and death

In June 1989, Burns married Kenneth Shire. At the time, she lived on the

Upper West Side The Upper West Side (UWS) is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded by Central Park on the east, the Hudson River on the west, West 59th Street to the south, and West 110th Street to the north. The Upper West ...

of Manhattan. Later in her life, she and Shire resided in a retirement community in

Lynden, Washington Lynden is a city in Whatcom County, Washington, United States. It is located north of Bellingham and approximately south of the Canada–US border. The city is located along the Nooksack River and State Route 539. The population of Lynde ...

. Little is known about Burns' life following her acting career; Shire said that she had resented the publicity and scrutiny from it, saying "She hated the movie 'Last Summer''.. and most everything that came with it. She wanted to be remembered as a published writer of novels." A 2020 article in ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly large ...

'' found that, according to Washington state health records, Burns died at age 73 on February 2, 2019, from complications of a fall she had suffered at home, with

cirrhosis Cirrhosis, also known as liver cirrhosis or hepatic cirrhosis, and end-stage liver disease, is the impaired liver function caused by the formation of scar tissue known as fibrosis due to damage caused by liver disease. Damage causes tissue repai ...

listed as a contributing factor.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Burns, Catherine 1945 births 2019 deaths 20th-century American actresses 20th-century American women writers Accidental deaths from falls Accidental deaths in Washington (state) Actresses from New York City American film actresses American people of Irish descent American people of Polish descent American television actresses Deaths from cirrhosis People from Lynden, Washington People from the Upper West Side Writers from Manhattan 21st-century American women