Lonnie Burr (born May 31, 1943) is an American entertainer and writer best known as one of nine of the original thirty-nine Mouseketeers who remained under a seven-year contract for the complete filming (1955–1959) of Walt Disney’s children’s television show the Mickey Mouse Club. The Mickey Mouse Club was the first national TV show to star children who appeared primarily as themselves as well as acting as characters in scenes and musical numbers. The original show aired in syndication in the 1960s, reran again in 1975, then on the Disney Channel in the 1980s through the early 2000s.
After appearing on the show, Burr's entertainment career included work as a character actor, dancer, singer, and choreographer. His career as a writer included being a book author, playwright, lyricist, journalist, critic and poet. Throughout adulthood, he continued to honor his Disney experience. As he was quoted in an interview, "Whether I someday scale the Matterhorn or win my Pulitzer, I shall always be known as Mouseketeer Lonnie; that is the way the obituary will begin. I have come to learn that is a marvelous association."
Early life
Burr was born in Dayton, Kentucky. The family moved to Highland Park, California when he was three. From 1st through 12th grade Lonnie attended Hollywood Professional School, a private school for children working in show business. He is of Danish, French, Ulster-Scots and German descent. His parents, Howard Ambrose Babin and Dorothy Doloris Burr, were a night club and vaudeville dance team that toured from 1934 to 1941 as "Dot and Dash". (An African-American team of the same name appeared in the 1935 film Temptation.)
Early performances
At age four Burr started dance lessons with legendary tap teacher Willie Covan and was soon dancing, singing and doing imitations for live audiences and local, Pasadena, CA TV shows. He began acting on radio after turning professional at age five. By six (1949) he was working on national television, radio, films, theatre and commercials. His first two movie appearances were in A Yank in Korea and Queen for a Day, followed by M (1951 U.S. remake), Hans Christian Andersen (1952), The Greatest Show on Earth (1952) and Apache (1954).
Burr’s first recurring television role (1950-1951) was as next door neighbor Oliver Quimby on The Ruggles situation comedy starring Charlie Ruggles. He guest starred as Jimmy, title character in "The Holy Terror" episode of The Range Rider, made ten appearances on The Colgate Comedy Hour, and also appeared on The Roy Rogers Show, The Alan Young Show, All Star Revue, The Donald O'Connor Show, and Father Knows Best.
On radio, he was heard on The Enchanted Lady as Buster Beetle, Prince Charming and other characters, the child lead on the popular NBC Radio soap opera Dr. Paul and in 1953 as Tiny Tim in Dickens’ A Christmas Carol on Stars Over Hollywood. For two years in the early 1950s he was also the national radio voice of the enthusiastic boy who loved Chef Boyardee spaghetti ("Oh Boy, it's Chef Boy-Ar-DEE !!"). After years of radio and voice-over work, Lonnie became the pre-recorded voice of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in the 21st century giving visitors general information, opening and closing times and providing safety and emergency instructions.
Lonnie's career as a stage actor began at age six at California's renowned Pasadena Playhouse. After appearing in two plays, he performed his first stage lead there at age eight in The Strawberry Circle. His early television commercials included appearing during Space Patrol (1950s series) to eat a bowl of Chex, one of the show's sponsors, and The Lone Ranger, in which he and Clayton Moore (the original television Lone Ranger), both on horseback, promoted the goodness of Cheerios breakfast cereal. (Lonnie dismounted to enjoy his cereal at the breakfast table.)