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Jere Burns

A journeyman character actor, Jere Burns made his initial mark as the ultra-smarmy, unabashedly sexist wolf of the situation comedy "Dear John" (NBC, 1988-92). Burns' angular features and Rasputin-intense gaze led to an early-career niche in unsavory one-off and recurring television roles in the 1980s, but he would put a gleefully lecherous spin on unsavory in his breakthrough role of Kirk Morris on "Dear John." From that success, he would become comic foil on a succession of ultra-short-lived comedies such as "Bob" (CBS, 1992-93), "The Mommies" (NBC, 1994-95) and "Surviving Suburbia" (2009), as well as two seasons of the office ensemble "Good Morning, Miami" (NBC, 2002-04). In 1996, he took a rare lead on the family comedy "Something So Right" (NBC/ABC, 1996-98). Burns worked regularly along the way in dramatic one-off roles. In 2010, he seemed to begin a new phase, breaking away from sitcoms to effect colorful, scene-stealing supporting roles on some of cable's best-regarded dramas: a drug rehab group leader on "Breaking Bad" (AMC, 2009-13), a vicious Southern criminal on "Justified" (FX, 2010-15), and an ever scheming member of a beyond-the-law syndicate on "Burn Notice" (USA, 2007-2013), before returning to his comic roots as the caustic Lieutenant Atkins on the surreal police procedural parody "Angie Tribeca" (TBS 2016- ). Whether playing comic or dramatic roles, Burns showed a chameleon-like penchant for reinventing himself with every new character in a variety of mediums.