Actor Jere Burns is probably best known to slightly younger audiences for his role as Wynn Duffy in the Western crime thriller Justified. The merciless, cold-blooded Duffy, a middleman in the Dixie Mafia, was expertly portrayed by him.
However, Burns has been a part of the entertainment industry since 1970. If you watched sitcoms in the 1980s, you definitely recall him as the sleazy Kirk Morris in the television series Dear John.
The actor, who was born in Massachusetts, is still going strong today. In fact, he recently made a comment on something that has been perplexing his admirers for years.
Jere Burns was born in 1954 in Cambridge, Massachusetts; his first name is pronounced Jerry. Jere didn’t have a direct connection to acting growing up because his father made gowns and his mother was a stay-at-home parent.
Instead, he participated in a variety of sports and saw himself as an athlete. Up until he started attending an elite secondary school in Cambridge, he had little interest in drama or acting. There, he encountered something that would permanently alter his life.
Our little drama program was fantastic. I also adored it. I adored the attention, the reaction, the gals, and the entire situation. However, I had also been an athlete, so there was a slight contradiction there,” Jere remarked in a chat show interview with Kevin Pollak.
Jere studied English at the University of Massachusetts Amherst after graduating from high school. He lacked the courage to pursue a career in acting or theatre, in part because he couldn’t envision himself making a livelihood off of it. Additionally, he believed that he didn’t grow up with any entertainment-based role models to look up to.
“Everyone from Boston, Massachusetts is a doctor, lawyer, businessman, or something like. I didn’t know anyone who ever entered the entertainment industry,” he claimed.
Jere, however, made the decision toward the end of his college career that he simply couldn’t give up on his dream of being an actress.
He has already made an appearance in one episode of the NBC drama series The Psychiatrist by 1970. He took acting classes during his last years at UMass and “muzzled” his way into numerous main roles by doing so.
He moved to Manhattan in 1980 to enroll at NYU Tisch School of the Arts, but the budding actor dropped out after one and a half years. Jere, who was 25 at the time, did some soul-searching when his partner was expecting. He was given a job at the New York Shakespeare Festival by a friend, keeping him employed and allowing him to pay his debts.
Fortunately, Jere would soon have the opportunity to pick the brains of two brilliant actors. He had the chance to fill in for John Malkovich and Gary Sinise in 1982. Jere worked closely with Gary and John and observed them onstage every night while they were performing in the Steppenwolf production of Sam Shepard’s True West at the time. The performers were then somewhat unknown.
Jere couldn’t have asked for a better pair of tutors, as you can obviously guess. He undoubtedly benefited from watching two actors who went on to become some of the most well-liked entertainers in the nation.
It would take Jere six years to finally win the TV part that many see as his big break. Jere became well-known on the streets after portraying the sleazy Kirk Morris in the sitcom Dear John. The individual himself described the program as “a terrific learning platform.”
Kirk Morris played a haughty, self-styled ladies’ man; in today’s society, many would certainly refer to him as a “jerk” or a “creep.” But Jere enjoyed playing him on the NBC program that ran from 1988 to 1992.
“I don’t think of Kirk as a loser, a blight on society, or as annoying. Since everything Kirk says and does kind of goes against that, I view Kirk as a vulnerable person, Jere said in 1990.
The well-known British television series of the same name was adapted for the US market as Dear John. During its inaugural season in 1988, the New York City-based sitcom, which was a part of NBC’s Thursday night roster, had the eleventh-largest audience of any prime-time television program.
The affable Jere, who is best known for his theater work, became well-known thanks to the show and became a media darling. Furthermore, he didn’t mind at all.
Is it a pain in the neck that people recognize you on the streets, people ask? Actually, it’s flattering. It’s rewarding. Although it’s a pleasant side effect, that isn’t the reason I do what I do. attempting to touch others, influence them, or otherwise make a difference. When you’re in a half-hour sitcom and playing a character like I portray, it seems a little cliché to say that, but that’s how I see it,” Jere said in 1990.
Jere went on to star in a large number of other TV shows and motion pictures after Dear John was cancelled in 1992. Many people praised his portrayal as a rehab counselor for the 12-step program that Jesse Pinkman participated in on the popular television show Breaking Bad.
One of AMC’s most popular shows ever, Jere’s performance in it alone allowed many younger people to become aware of his acting talent.
“Breaking Bad was written so brilliantly that you nailed the content of the page,” someone once commented. There was no room for wordplay or any other form of improvisation. That’s not how they operate, although I believe they were amenable to it, so there was nothing I needed to alter. Every time I worked, I read exactly what was on the page, he told Yahoo.
Jere has recently delivered standout performances in series like Justified and Angie Tribeca. He appeared as a guest star on an episode of NCIS: Los Angeles in April 2022.
In his lifetime, Jere has been married three times. Jere married Melissa Keeler, a real estate broker, in the early 1980s while attempting to get into the field. Gillian, Jake, and Luke were the three children born to the marriage.
The Dear John actor was referred to as a “genuine family man” who likes to “collect the clan” and go on short family vacations in an interview from 1989. He was also questioned about whether he would encourage his kids to pursue acting or allow them to appear in TV ads.
“I never really thought about it. Young people should attend school, play with their pals, and not stress about finding employment. For what purpose does a six-year-old wish to work? Some individuals claim, “I may be useful for college and stuff.” Missing out on childhood to go college? In 1989, Jere told the Tampa Bay Times, “I had more fun when I was a kid than I did in college.
Unfortunately, he was doomed to divorce his first wife. In 1996, Jere and Melissa got divorced.
The actor and Kathleen Kinmont later got married in 1997. The Los Angeles-born actress has worked as a writer and director in addition to being most known for her roles in horror films. Kathleen was previously married to renowned actor Lorenzo Lamas before she met Jere.
When Jere and Kathleen separated in 1999, they had no children together.
Jere married Leslie Cohen, an actress from Detroit, Michigan, in 2008 after finding love once more. She had a few TV parts, although she wasn’t as well known as her husband. Despite having one kid together, the couple decided to separate in 2018.
Supposedly, Jere loves extreme skiing, wakeboarding, and surfing; perhaps this is how he spends his money. In any case, according to Celebrity Net Worth, the adored actor’s acting career has contributed to a net worth of around $5 million.
Jere is best known for his acting, but in contrast to many of his on-screen personas, he also seems to be a kind person in general.
But in recent years, he has increasingly drawn notice because of his appearance. Since his success in the 1980s, Jere has undergone significant shift, as many have remarked. That in and of itself isn’t really weird; as you age, changes take place to your body and face.
But in recent years, he has increasingly drawn notice because of his appearance. Since his success in the 1980s, Jere has undergone significant shift, as many have remarked. That in and of itself isn’t really weird; as you age, changes take place to your body and face.
Jere, however, has lately been mentioned in less complimentary lists of famous people who some say have gone a little too far with plastic surgery. Actors frequently use cosmetic procedures like botox or surgery to look younger; among other things, it has helped them advance their careers.
We don’t know what kind of surgeries Jese has undergone in his situation, if any. And yet he keeps popping up in these lists of famous people who have undergone surgery. Over the years, a lot of speculation has been generated by this. Has Jere had any cosmetic procedures?
It might be possible for more focused fans to discover the solution to this. In fact, Jere made a statement about it, albeit in a lighthearted manner.
They swiftly shifted to the topic when Jere was asked if he had worked with country musician Kenny Rogers during his in-depth conversation with Kevin Pollack.
“I’m going to assume it was prior to the eye surgery,” Pollak enquired.
It inspired Jere to make fun of himself.
“Hey, it seems normal to me. What, are you kidding? Jere spoke before fidgeting with his face.”
That’s probably the most confirmation we’ll have for the time being. You can see the action as it happens here:
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