His small stature and distinctive voice and face also made him easily recognizable to audiences even when he was performing in minor supporting roles.

[1] Burke began acting on stage as a teenager, making his Broadway debut in Dearest Enemy at the Knickerbocker Theatre during the 1925–1926 season.

[2] He continued with that company through January 1930, taking part in adaptions of Madame Butterfly and Yolanda of Cyprus at the Casino Theatre.

(1936), Red Harvest (1937), A Hero Is Born (1937), The Old Foolishness (1940), Under This Roof (1942), The Eve of St. Mark (1942-1943), The World's Full of Girls (1943), Sadie Thompson (1944-1945), Up in Central Park (1945-1947), Billy Budd (1951), Three Wishes for Jamie (1952), and Major Barbara (1957).

That same season, he appeared on Andrew Duggan's Bourbon Street Beat and John Cassavetes's Johnny Staccato detective series.

He portrayed defendant Freddie Green in CBS's Perry Mason in the 1959 episode, "The Case of the Jaded Joker," the first of five appearances in diverse roles.

[citation needed] On August 4, 1984, Burke died from emphysema while living at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California.