Tony Burton

Burton was born in Flint, Michigan. He had a younger sister named Loretta. A Flint Northern High School graduate,{{cite web|url=http://www.thewrap.com/tony-burton-rocky-actor-dead-at-78/|access-date=February 26, 2016|date=February 26, 2016|work=TheWrap|publisher=The Wrap News Inc|first=Debbie|last=Emery|title=Tony Burton, 'Rocky' Actor, Dies at 78}} he was a Michigan Golden Gloves heavyweight boxing champion and two-time all-state football player. At Northern, he played halfback. In 1954, he scored 13 touchdowns and led his team in scoring. Many of his scoring runs were of 50 yards or more. He gained 820 yards rushing that year, and one of his runs was for 95 yards. That same year, he was selected to the first teams of the All City and All Valley teams as a halfback. He was also chosen as an All State honorable mention. He was the team's co-captain and Most Valuable Player. Burton led his team in yards gained and receiving yards. In one game against Grand Rapids Catholic, he gained 213 total yards. At Northern, Burton was also the leading baseball pitcher, pitching the team to the city championship title.

Burton's boxing career included the Flint Golden Gloves light heavyweight championship in 1955 and 1957. Burton won the State Golden Gloves Light Heavyweight Championship in 1957 and lost in the Chicago Tournament of Champions semi-finals. He fought as a professional boxer in 1958 and 1959. During that time he was knocked out by knockout artist Lamar Clark, who holds the record for most consecutive knockouts at 44.[http://boxrec.com/media/index.php/LaMar_Clark LaMar Clark] - BoxRec

After his brief professional boxing career, Burton served more than three years in a Chino, California prison for robbery. The acting exercises he performed as part of a therapy program helped steer him into an acting career after his release. NEA's Frank Sanello in March 1988:

{{cquote|Prison for me was productive because I got my high school diploma and a degree from the University of California. But most important, I got myself together and found out who I was and how I could proceed without destroying myself.}}

More specifically, one of the skills acquired at Chino landed Burton his wife Rae, who he met on a TV-repair house call. Moreover, a workshop in the prison that used psychodrama as a form of therapy pointed Burton toward his acting career, when an emotional breakthrough achieved by one of his partners in an acting exercise dramatically demonstrated theater's potential power.Sanello, Frank: [https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=3UJAAAAAIBAJ&sjid=cEcEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3870,2330408&dq=tony-burton+rae&hl=en "Burton Letting Truth Be Told About His Checkered Past"]. The Bowling Green Daily News. March 11, 1988.

After prison, Burton began finding work with small theater companies in and around Los Angeles, garnering favorable notices early on.Harford, Margaret: "'Burning of Lepers' Indicts Prejudice". The Los Angeles Times. February 15, 1966. "Tony Burton, Lou Wagner, Brad Derek, and Tim O'Kelly are good in smaller roles and Lenore Waring, Fran Richards and Carol Lacey add some distaff interest to other roles."Harford, Margaret: "Stage Review: 'Visigoths' at Santa Monica". The Los Angeles Times. February 5, 1969. "The acting tends to be abysmal, but Winston Thrash, Tony Burton, and Horace Hinkle are good as the militant blacks."

A life member of the Actors Studio,{{cite book|first=David |last=Garfield|title=A Player's Place: The Story of The Actors Studio|url=https://archive.org/details/playersplacestor00garf|url-access=registration|year=1980|publisher=MacMillan Publishing Co., Inc.|location=New York|isbn=0-02-542650-8|page=[https://archive.org/details/playersplacestor00garf/page/277 277]|chapter=Appendix: Life Members of The Actors Studio as of January 1980}} Burton numbers among his many credits a co-starring role in Frank's Place and parts in films, such as Stir Crazy and The Toy. He also appeared as Wells, one of the prisoners trapped in the besieged police station in John Carpenter's 1976 Howard Hawks-inspired action film Assault on Precinct 13. He later starred in the Rocky films as a trainer to Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) and later Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone). He appeared in an episode of Gibbsville in 1976. Burton also appeared in The Shining, House Party 2, and Hook.{{cite web|url=http://totalrocky.com/tony-burton-bio|access-date=February 27, 2016|work=Total Rocky|title=Tony Burton|date=March 23, 2004 }} He had guest appearances in Kojak, The Rockford Files, CHiPs, Twin Peaks, and The A-Team. Burton also guest starred as Conrad King Baylor on In the Heat of the Night in the episode "King's Ransom," which aired in January 1990.

Burton resided in California for 30 years. He attended Immanuel Baptist Church in Highland, California.{{cite web|url=http://www.nndb.com/people/751/000351695/|access-date=February 27, 2016|work=NNDB|title=Tony Burton}} He was married to Aurelain (Rae) from 1980 until his death.{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/tony-burton-actor-from-rocky-movies-dies-at-78/2016/02/26/44231d88-dcca-11e5-891a-4ed04f4213e8_story.html?noredirect=on|title=Tony Burton, actor from 'Rocky movies', dies at 78|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=January 23, 2019|first=John|last=Rogers}} The couple had two sons, one of whom, Martin, died of a heart attack at the age of 43 on May 8, 2014. They also had two daughters, Juanita and Christal.{{cite web|url=http://www.wsfa.com/story/31327431/tony-burton-cornerman-trainer-in-6-rocky-films-has-died|access-date=February 27, 2016|work=WSFA|publisher=Raycom Media|first=John|last=Rogers|title=Tony Burton, cornerman-trainer in 6 'Rocky' films, has died|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304235858/http://www.wsfa.com/story/31327431/tony-burton-cornerman-trainer-in-6-rocky-films-has-died|archive-date=March 4, 2016|df=mdy-all}}

Burton was a talented chess player.{{cite web|url=http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2016/02/tony-burton-dies-rocky-star-was-78/|title=Tony Burton Dies; Rocky Star Was 78|work=The Hollywood Gossip|access-date=February 26, 2016|date=February 26, 2016|first=Tyler|last=Johnson}} He defeated Stanley Kubrick on the set of The Shining, in which Burton played Larry Durkin, the garage owner. Speaking with Kubrick biographer Vincent LoBrutto, Burton recalled his first day on the set:

{{cquote|My contract was for a week. I just had two short scenes in the movie. I stayed for six weeks because Stanley and I were playing chess... Stanley was a stronger player than I but I was strong enough to give him sufficient struggle to where he enjoyed it. I beat him in the first or second game we played, and then I didn't win any more after that, but it was always a tight struggle. That's what he loved; I guess there was no one else around that played strong.{{cite book|first=Vincent|last=LoBrutto|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fU78LdDClHUC&q=%22The+first+day,+I+wasn't+working%22+intitle:Stanley+intitle:Kubrick&pg=PA432|title=Stanley Kubrick: A Biography|year=1999|publisher=Da Capo Press, Inc.|location=New York|isbn=0-306-80906-0|page=432|chapter=Let's Go Again}}}}

In 1993, Burton was inducted into the Greater Flint Afro-American Hall of Fame.{{citation needed|date=April 2020}}

Burton had been frequently hospitalized for the last year of his life, according to his sister.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-35639248|access-date=February 26, 2016|date=February 26, 2016|publisher=BBC|work=BBC News|author=BBC News Staff|title=Rocky actor Tony Burton dies aged 78}} On February 26, 2016, he died at the age of 78, from complications of pneumonia at a hospital in Menifee.{{cite news|url=http://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/movies/rocky-actor-former-boxer-tony-burton-dies-78-report-n526666|access-date=February 26, 2016|date=February 26, 2016|first=Erik|last=Ortiz|publisher=NBC News|work=NBCNews.com|title='Rocky' Actor, Former Boxer Tony Burton Dies at 78: Report}}{{cite web|url=http://www.mlive.com/sports/flint/index.ssf/2016/02/rocky_films_star_flint_native.html|title=Tony Burton, Flint native and actor from 'Rocky' films, dies in California|access-date=February 26, 2016|date=February 26, 2016|first=Eric|last=Woodyard|work=The Flint Journal|publisher=Booth Newspapers (Advance Publications)}}

{{Boxing record start|round-time-split=y}}

|-

| 8

|{{no2|Loss}}

|4–3–1

|{{sort|Clark|{{flagicon|USA}} LaMar Clark}}

|KO

|4 {{small|(6)}}

|

|April 4, 1959

|{{flagicon|USA}} Polo Grounds, Palm Springs, California

|{{small|Jack Dempsey was referee for the bout.}}

|-

| 7

|{{no2|Loss}}

|4–2–1

|{{sort|Sands|{{flagicon|USA}} Bobby Sands}}

|KO

|4 {{small|(6)}}

|

|February 21, 1959

|{{flagicon|USA}} Legion Stadium, Hollywood, California

|

|-

| 6

|{{yes2|Win}}

|4–1–1

|{{sort|Chaney|{{flagicon|USA}} Dennis Chaney}}

|KO

|2 {{small|(4)}}

|

|June 14, 1958

|{{flagicon|USA}} Legion Stadium, Hollywood

|

|-

| 5

|{{yes2|Win}}

|3–1–1

|{{sort|Wilburn 3|{{flagicon|USA}} Chuck Wilburn}}

|Decision

|4

|

|April 7, 1958

|{{flagicon|USA}} Bakersfield Dome, Bakersfield, California

|

|-

| 4

|{{no2|Loss}}

|2–1–1

|{{sort|Lee|{{flagicon|USA}} Curley Lee}}

|KO

|4 {{small|(4)}}

|

|February 8, 1958

|{{flagicon|USA}} Legion Stadium, Hollywood

|

|-

| 3

|{{yes2|Win}}

|2–0–1

|{{sort|Wilburn 2|{{flagicon|USA}} Chuck Wilburn}}

|Decision

|4

|

|January 30, 1958

|{{flagicon|USA}} Grand Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California

|

|-

| 2

|{{Draw|Draw}}

|1–0–1

|{{sort|Wilburn 1|{{flagicon|USA}} Chuck Wilburn}}

|Decision

|4

|

|January 28, 1958

|{{flagicon|USA}} Arena, San Bernardino, California

|

|-

| 1

|{{yes2|Win}}

|1–0

|{{sort|Smith|{{flagicon|USA}} Bob Smith}}

|KO

|4 {{small|(4)}}

|

|January 4, 1958

|{{flagicon|USA}} Legion Stadium, Hollywood

|

{{Boxing record end}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

• {{IMDb name|0123748}}
• {{boxrec|id=21083}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20110617095552/http://www.flint.lib.mi.us/hallfame/93/burton93.shtml Tony Burton 1993 Greater Flint Afro-American Hall of Fame Inductee]
• [http://www.aveleyman.com/ActorCredit.aspx?ActorID=2418 Tony Burton](Aveleyman)

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burton, Tony}}

Category:1937 births

Category:2016 deaths

Category:Male actors from Michigan

Category:American male film actors

Category:Sportspeople from Flint, Michigan

Category:Boxers from Michigan

Category:American male television actors

Category:American male boxers

Category:20th-century American male actors

Category:21st-century American male actors

Category:Deaths from pneumonia in California

Category:People from Menifee, California

Category:20th-century African-American male actors

Category:21st-century African-American male actors

Category:20th-century American sportsmen