Wendell Burton

Wendell Ray Burton (July 21, 1947 – May 30, 2017) was an American actor and television executive born in San Antonio, Texas. His father, an Air Force sergeant, died when Burton was five years old. He later enrolled at Sonoma State College, where participation in college theater sparked his professional ambitions, and subsequently transferred to San Francisco State University to study acting and directing.

Burton's career began on the San Francisco stage, where he won the title role in a local production of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown. While performing in that musical, he was spotted by director Alan J. Pakula, who selected him over hundreds of more experienced candidates to co-star opposite Liza Minnelli in the 1969 film The Sterile Cuckoo. Burton played Jerry Payne, a young college student who becomes romantically involved with Minnelli's character, and the role established him as a recognizable screen presence.

His stage work extended to the national touring company of Leonard Gershe's Broadway hit Butterflies Are Free in 1970, in which he appeared opposite Eve Arden as her son. The production was based on the Broadway show of the same name, which had opened in 1969. Burton returned to the Charlie Brown material in 1973, reprising his title role in the Hallmark Hall of Fame television adaptation of the musical.

His film work during the early 1970s included the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer drama Fortune and Men's Eyes (1971), in which he played Smitty, a prison inmate who is raped and subsequently becomes a sexual predator himself. That same year he appeared in the television film Murder Once Removed (1971), portraying Fred Kramer, an innocent man framed for murder. In 1973 he appeared in the anti-drug television film Go Ask Alice as Joel Clements, alongside William Shatner and Ruth Roman, and the following year he played Pvt. Wilson in a television adaptation of The Red Badge of Courage (1974). His television guest appearances included roles on Medical Center, Longstreet, Room 222, Love American Style, The Rookies, Kung Fu, and one episode of The New Dick Van Dyke Show, in which he played the son of Dick Van Dyke and Hope Lange's characters. In 1986 he appeared in the theatrical film Heat, playing a mild-mannered character named Osgood opposite Burt Reynolds.

Burton's acting output declined during the 1980s, a period he attributed in part to his rejection of roles he considered morally unsuitable. He taught acting in Hollywood for a time before transitioning to television advertising sales in 1988, eventually rising to the position of West Coast Director of Sales for the Family Channel. Following his divorce in 1995, he worked in online sales until 1997, when he relocated to Houston and helped launch a local independent television station. During that period he also served as Director of Creative Ministries at Lakewood Church.

In his personal life, Burton embraced evangelical Christianity in 1977 and became associated with the Vineyard Christian Fellowship under Pastor Kenn Gulliksen in Los Angeles. He married Patricia Nann on September 23, 1978, in Los Angeles. The couple had two children: Haven Burton, born February 22, 1980, who became an actress, and Adam Burton, born May 30, 1983, who became a musician. Burton later married Linda Dena on November 13, 2004, in Houston. In his final years he served as a Senior Director of the Champions Network, an association of pastors connected to Joel Osteen and Lakewood Church, and as Drama Director at Lakewood Church. Burton died at his home in Houston on May 30, 2017, from brain cancer at the age of 69.