Raymond Burr is largely remembered for his starring roles in the TV series Perry Mason and Ironside.
He was born in Canada but when he was six years old his parent’s divorced and alongside his mother and siblings he moved to California. He grew up during The Great Depression and found his career beginnings in repertory theatre.
In his late teens and early 20s he toured the world with a theatre company visiting India, Australia and England. Returning to California he continued to develop his acting skills and in the following years he began to find work on Broadway and across the United States.
He found success as a character actor and between 1946 and 1957 appeared in over 50 films. Often he played the villain and was seen in everything from dramas to westerns, horror and adventure films. In 1951 he played a prosecutor in A Place in the Sun, and the role got the attention of TV producers.
Alongside stage and film work he also appeared in radio plays, and starred in the radio drama series Fort Laramie. In 1956 he was cast as criminal defense lawyer Perry Mason. Its a role Burr would play for nine seasons and then later revive for 26 TV movies.
After the success of Perry Mason, Burr went on to star in the police drama Ironside. Mason played San Francisco Police Chief Robert T Ironside, who was paralysed from the waist down after being shot while on vacation. Making its debut in 1967 as a TV movie, Burr went on to play the character for eight seasons.
After this Burr starred in several series that failed to get viewers attention, Mallory: Circumstantial Evidence was a 1976 TV movie that there hopes for launching into a new TV series, but it didn’t eventuate. The following year he starred in the TV series Kingston: Confidential but it was cancelled after just 13 weeks as viewers switched channels to watch the popular Charlie’s Angles.
Burr would return to TV screens as the first host of the long running documentary series Unsolved Mysteries and then in the 1980s revived Perry Mason for its run of TV movies.
Burr’s stipulation for returning to playing Perry Mason is that his original costar Barbara Hale also retuned to play his secretary Della Street. Hale’s real-life son, actor William Katt, also joined the franchise.
Burr was treated for a malignant kidney tumour in early 1993, and he fell ill during the spring while filming a Perry Mason film. Doctor discover that his cancer had spread to his liver and was inoperable. The actor threw several large ‘goodbye parties’ before his death in September of that year.
It was only after Burr passed away that his homosexuality became publicly known He’d briefly been married for a few months in 1948, but it was a short-lived union.
In 1960 he met actor and Korean War veteran Robert Benevides, and they lived together for decades. Togethey they owned an orchid nursery and later a vineyard which Benevides ran.
After his death it became clear that many of Burr’s biographical details that had been used for decades to describe the actor had probably been made up including stories that he’d lost a wife to a plane crash, and another who had died of cancer. He also spoke in interviews about having a son who died of leukemia as a child. None of it was true, they were all fictional backstory to stop the press discovering one of America’s biggest TV stars was gay.
Burr was known for his generous philanthropy. He sponsored 26 children via several charities, and raised money for important causes. He also donated his time to entertain troops during both the Korean and Vietnam wars.
He left his entire estate to Benevides, which was estimated to be worth over $32 million. His relatives challenged his will, but they were unsuccessful.
Burr also ensured that the remaining Perry Mason TV movies that had been planned were still made. Four more films were filmed after his death with Paul Sorvino and Hal Holbrook playing new characters in the place of Mason. Holland Taylor appeared in the final film of the series as Barbara Hale was only able to commit to a short cameo. Burr wanted to ensure that the crew didn’t miss out work due to his passing.
