David Burns (June 22, 1902 – March 12, 1971) American Broadway theater and motion picture character actor and singer.
Born on Mott Street in the Manhattan Chinatown of New York City. He made his Broadway debut in Face the Music in 1932, Cole Porter's Nymph Errant (1936) was his London debut, and he appeared in many comedies and musicals over an almost 50 year career. He won two Tony Awards for Best Featured Actor in a Musical, for his performances as "Mayor Shinn" in The Music Man and as "Senex" in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. Burns introduced the hit song "It Takes a Woman" from Hello, Dolly as the original "Horace Vandergelder".
He died on stage, of a heart attack, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania during the out-of-town tryout of Kander and Ebb's 70, Girls, 70.
He also appeared in the original Broadway casts of:
Film Roles
David Earl Burns (born July 3 1958, in Dallas, Texas) is a retired American professional basketball player. He was a 6'0" (183 cm) 180 lb (82 kg) guard and played collegiately at the Saint Louis University. He played for two NBA teams.
Burns was selected by the New Jersey Nets in the 3rd round (49th pick overall) of the 1981 NBA Draft, and split the 1981-82 season with the Nets and Denver Nuggets playing a total of 9 games.
David Burns (born 12 November 1958, Ellesmere Port) is a former English footballer. He played in The Football League for Chester City.
A popular star of Broadway musicals, who only made occasional film appearances, he was the original Senex in "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" and Horace Vandergelder in "Hello, Dolly!"
Collapsed of a heart attack just after coming offstage during the pre-Broadway tryouts of "70 Girls 70", dying in hospital early the next morning.
Received two Tony Awards as Best Supporting or Featured Actor (Musical) for "The Music Man" in 1958 and "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" in 1963. This was followed by a posthumous Tony Award Best Actor (Musical) nomination in 1971 for "Lovely Ladies, Kind Gentlemen", an otherwise unsucessful Broadway musical adaptation of "Teahouse of the August Moon".
