- Born
- World renown archivist and historian of props, costumes, and other screen used paraphernalia from some of the greatest (and not so great) science fiction, fantasy, and horror motion pictures. Among some of the things found in his "basement" museum are, the original Time Machine from the George Pal classic of the same name, the original wolf's head cane from 1941's The Wolfman, the original King Kong armature, and a functioning full size head of the Alien Queen from James Cameron's Aliens.- IMDb mini biography by: DMC
- SpouseKathy Burns(September 9, 1956 - May 12, 2021) (her death)
- Located with the help of a friend the original Time Machine from the George Pal classic La Machine à explorer le temps (1960) in a thrift shop in Orange, California. The Time Machine was in pretty bad shape, but was restored with the help of a young Dennis Muren (later an Academy Award-winning SFX pioneer at ILM), D.C. Fontana (one of the original Star Trek (1966) writers) and motion picture art and SFX directors Michael Minor (Star Trek, le film (1979), Star Trek II : La Colère de Khan (1982)) and Tom Scherman.
- Staged elaborate theatrical Halloween shows in his front and back yards, based on classic science-fiction and horror films. These Halloween shows were more than just "walk-through haunted house-spook shows", as many shows were created and performed by Academy Award-winning special effects artists and technicians. Rick Baker, Dennis Muren, Robert Skotak, Dennis Skotak, Greg Nicotero of KNB FX and Walter Koenig (of the original Star Trek (1966) series cast), and film and TV actor Daniel Roebuck were just some of the talent involved in creating and performing these shows.
- Owns one of the largest collections of film memorabilia from sci-fi/horror films. His collection includes, but is not limited to, the original time machine prop from La Machine à explorer le temps (1960), the wolf's cane handle from Le Loup-garou (1941), an original replica of The Creature suit from L'Étrange Créature du lac noir (1954) and make-up pieces from La Malédiction de la momie (1944) (the only still existing work of Jack P. Pierce).
- In 2014, Bob Burns - Behind The Scenes "Bob Burns' Basement", was inducted into "The Official Horror Host Hall of Fame".
- Was credited on The Ghost Busters (1975) as the one who "trained" Tracy the Gorilla (he was actually the one in the gorilla costume).
- [on Glenn Strange] Glenn was closer to me than my own dad. He was one of the most loved guys in the business. At his funeral there must have been over 900 people. It overflowed the church. Every old-time western actor or stuntman still around was there. Some were in wheelchairs, walkers, etc. They all came to pay their respects to Pee Wee. Dick Foran, who had just lost his nose to cancer, said to me, "He was one of the best human beings on the face of this good earth" (a few months later Dick was gone). Eddie Dean was Glenn's best friend. He was supposed to sing at the funeral but was so distraught he couldn't do it. Luckily, he had prerecorded it just in case that happened and they played that. And what a wonderful guy [James Arness] is. At the funeral, he really helped me get through it. We were honorary pallbearers and I was doing pretty well until we had to move with the coffin and I completely fell apart. He put his arm around my shoulder and said how much we would all miss Glenn. The way he said it and the look in his eyes was so comforting to me. I'll be forever grateful to him for that. Glenn so loved Jim. He kept Glenn working when he had his cancer until he just couldn't work any longer. I think that's really a measure of a man.
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