Farewell, Amos Burke

Gene Barry has died. TV fans knew him best as the wealthy, babe-magnet LAPD detective Amos Burke from Burke’s Law, the show that provided the template for most of the later shows of its producer, Aaron Spelling.

(One thing I did not mention last time I posted that clip is that it was written by Harlan Ellison. He even re-used a few lines in other scripts.)

Before Burke, Barry starred for three years in Bat Masterson, which seems to be the show most obituaries are highlighting.

Barry’s huge list of film, TV and stage credits goes far beyond those two shows, of course. He was, for example, the best thing about the 1983 Broadway musical La Cage Aux Folles (with George Hearn miscast as a drag queen and a mostly mediocre score, it was Barry’s authoritative style that held the show together).