Michael Burns

Michael Burns is an American former television and film teen actor who later became a historian; he was born in Mineola, New York, and was discovered by Lee Wallace, the casting head at 20th Century Fox. After a first credited part on Alfred Hitchcock Presents in 1959, he guest-starred on Wagon Train and joined it as the regular character Barnaby West until the series ended in 1965, and he co-starred in the NBC comedy-drama It's a Man's World. His many 1960s and 1970s guest spots were mostly Westerns, among them Gunsmoke and The Big Valley, and his films include Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation (1962), 40 Guns to Apache Pass (1967), Journey to Shiloh (1968), The Private Navy of Sgt. O'Farrell (1968), That Cold Day in the Park (1969) and Santee (1973). He taught history at Mount Holyoke College from 1980 and wrote Dreyfus: A Family Affair, 1789 to 1945, retiring as professor emeritus in 2002.