Biography
Lanky, Montana-born Fred Burns, a former bronco-buster for the Buffalo Bill and Miller 101 Wild West shows, played Western leads opposite
Lillian Gish at Biograph in the very early 1910s and later rode in
The Birth of a Nation (1915). Like brother
Bob Burns, the distinguished-looking, gray-haired Fred eventually drifted into supporting and bit roles, almost always portraying a sheriff or deputy. He seems to have retired after
Gene Autry's
Barbed Wire (1952), in which, unbilled as usual, he played a rancher. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide