He was educated at Beaumont College in Berkshire, England, and trained in London at the Central School of Speech and Drama and RADA.

He appeared on stage in repertory theatre in Croydon and in London's West End before military service in the Hampshire Regiment and the Indian Army from 1939 to 1942.

[citation needed] Burden made appearances in many UK television plays and series including Doctor Who: Spearhead from Space (1970), The Crezz (1976), Sykes (1979), Strange Report (1968) and The Avengers (1963).

His many film appearances include One of Our Aircraft Is Missing (1942), The Way Ahead (1944), Fame Is the Spur (1947), Malta Story (1953), Funeral in Berlin (1966), Blood from the Mummy's Tomb (1971) and The Ruling Class (1972).

[6][7] Burden married actress Joy Hodgkinson in 1950, and had a daughter with her,[8] but the marriage was dissolved in 1955 on the grounds of her desertion.