Iris Burton

Iris Burton, born Iris Burstein on September 4, 1930, in New York, New York, was an American dancer and talent agent whose career spanned decades in entertainment. She died on April 5, 2008, in Woodland Hills, California, at the Motion Picture and Television Country House, from pneumonia and complications of Alzheimer's disease, at the age of 77.

Burton's performing career began on Broadway, where she appeared in productions between 1947 and 1951. Her stage credits included Music in My Heart (1947), Pardon Our French (1950), and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Alongside her stage work, she performed on television, earning $125 per week dancing on Milton Berle's program in 1951. After relocating to Hollywood in the early 1950s, she continued working as a dancer in film, with screen credits that included Top Banana (1954) and The Ten Commandments (1956).

Burton's son, Tony Award-winning actor Barry Miller, known for his roles in Saturday Night Fever and Fame, was born from her brief marriage to actor and director Sidney Miller.

In 1977, Burton established her own talent agency, becoming one of relatively few women to operate at senior levels within the talent representation industry. Among her most notable discoveries were the Phoenix siblings — River, Joaquin, Rain, Liberty, and Summer — whom she encountered performing for spare change in Westwood, Los Angeles. She represented River Phoenix throughout the entirety of his career.

Burton's relationship with actor Greg Sestero is documented in a chapter of his 2013 memoir The Disaster Artist, in which Sestero describes her as a warm and quick-witted agent who took him on despite his limited experience and helped secure his first significant roles. That chapter was adapted briefly in the 2017 film version of the book, with actress Sharon Stone portraying Burton.