Robert Burton

Robert Burton, an Army brat, was born in Frankfurt, Germany. His parents were Robert Bentley Burton and Mary Klotz Burton. After his father's overseas Army assignment, they returned to the United States, finally settling in California. As a part of his education he attended the Ryan Preparatory College in Fresno, California studying to be a Roman Catholic priest. Because his mother was acting in the California First Theater company in Monterey, Robert decided to also become an actor. After graduating high school, in 1966 he continued his higher education at the University of Santa Clara, obtaining an Economics degree in 1968. During this period, in 1966 Robert did his first TV commercial with baseball legend Joe DiMaggio, at the Presidio in San Francisco. Burton married actress Karen Black in 1973. In 1974 he was cast in one of the main roles in the feature film "Trilogy of Terror", which became a cult classic. At first Karen declined the lead role, which was a college English teacher. But Karen decided to do the picture when it was agreed to give Robert an important lead in one of the picture's three segments. In the film, Robert played a college student who was obsessed by his English teacher. As it turned out, Karen and Robert divorced by the time "Trilogy of Terror" was released, in March 1975.