Hugh Burden

Hugh Burden was a distinguished British actor and playwright. He was born in Colombo (then Ceylon), the son of a colonial official. He was sent to England at the age of ten to further his education. At Beaumont College, he studied history, French and music, becoming proficient on the piano. He trained for acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and made his theatrical debut in 1933. He served in the British Army in India from 1939, but was invalided out two years later.

He appeared in films including classics such as One of Our Aircraft Is Missing (1942), The Way Ahead (1944) and Malta Story (1953), but he would become most prolific on television. He starred as J.G. Reeder in The Mind of Mr. J.G. Reeder (1969) for Thames Television, based on the short stories by the English crime writer Edgar Wallace. He is also remembered by cult television fans for his performance as the sinister alien Channing, who plots to take over the world with killer shop window dummies called Autons, in Jon Pertwee's Doctor Who (1963) debut Spearhead from Space: Episode 1 (1970).