Working initially from dingy offices in south London, Frank Marker (Burke) earned a pittance as the lonely, footslogging and fallible gumshoe, who was conceived as a British version of Raymond Chandler’s hero Philip Marlowe.
Marker’s trade was in missing persons, thefts, divorces and blackmail; and things would often go wrong. In a 1960 episode Marker was caught in possession of stolen jewellery. When he was sent to prison, indignant fans wrote demanding his release. Burke’s wry study of the dogged, low-profile sleuth kept the nation entertained for nearly 100 episodes over a period of 10 years.His many film credits included The Constant Husband, Yangtse Incident, The Man Who Finally Died One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. On television he appeared in The Brontes of Haworth, Tales of the Unexpected and Treasure Island .
Alfred Burke is survived by his wife, Barbara, by their two sets of twins, and by his partner of the last 25 years, Hedi Argent.
1 comment:
Thanks for bringing this to our attention.
Alfred was a stalwart of British TV in "the good old days" of the 60s & 70s. His credits listing on IMDB http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0121588/ is a veritable treasure trove of fondly recalled programmes.
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