Raymond Burr

Template:Infobox person Raymond William Stacy Burr (May 21, 1917Template:SndsSeptember 12, 1993) was a Canadian actor who had a lengthy Hollywood film career and portrayed the title roles in the television dramas Perry Mason and Ironside.

Burr's early acting career included roles on Broadway, radio, television, and film, usually as the villain. He portrayed the suspected murderer in the Alfred Hitchcock thriller Rear Window (1954), and he also had a role in the 1956 film Godzilla, King of the Monsters!, which he reprised in the 1985 film Godzilla 1985. He won Emmy Awards for acting in 1959 and 1961 for the role of Perry Mason, which he played for nine seasons (1957–1966) and reprised in a series of 26 Perry Mason TV movies (1985–1993). His second TV series, Ironside, earned him six Emmy and two Golden Globe nominations.

Burr died due to liver cancer in 1993, and his personal life came into question, as many details of his biography appeared to be unverifiable.<ref name="Podolsky"/> He was ranked number 44 of the 50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time by TV Guide magazine in 1996.

Early life

Raymond William Stacy Burr<ref name="Podolsky">Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref name="LAT Obit">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Ona Hill"/>Template:Rp was born May 21, 1917, in New Westminster, British Columbia.<ref name="Grimes"/> His father, William Johnston Burr (1889–1985), was a hardware salesman;<ref name="DailyNewsObit">Obituary. Los Angeles Daily News. September 14, 1993. Retrieved March 25, 2010.</ref> his mother, Minerva Annette (née Smith, 1892–1974), was a pianist and music teacher.<ref name="Starr">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp

When Burr was six, his parents divorced. He moved to Vallejo, California, with his mother and younger siblings Geraldine and James,<ref name="Grimes"/> while his father remained in New Westminster. Burr briefly attended San Rafael Military Academy in San Rafael, California, and graduated from Berkeley High School.<ref name="Starr"/>Template:Rp

In 1986, he told journalist Jane Ardmore that, when he was 12 years old, his mother sent him to New Mexico for a year to work as a ranch hand. (As with many of Burr's self-reported autobiographical details about his early life, this is unverified and open to question). According to Burr's story, he was already his full adult height and rather large and "had fallen in with a group of college-aged kids who didn't realize how young Raymond was, and they let him tag along with them in activities and situations far too sophisticated for him to handle." In the same article, Burr also stated he developed a passion for growing things and joined the Civilian Conservation Corps for a year in his teens.<ref name="Ardmore">Template:Cite news</ref> He did some acting in his teen years, making his stage debut at age 12 in a Vancouver stock company.<ref name="Grimes"/> The experiences Burr described when he was the age of 12 (working in radio in San Francisco, spending a year in New Mexico, appearing in Vancouver theatre, working for the Civilian Conservation Corps) are sometimes mutually contradictory; this would be a pattern that would recur in Burr's autobiographical reminiscences about his pre-Perry Mason personal life. Template:Citation needed

Acting career

Theatre

Burr grew up during the Great Depression and hoped to study acting at the Pasadena Playhouse, but he was unable to afford the tuition.<ref name="Chicago Tribune 1986">Template:Cite news</ref> By his own account, in 1934 he joined a repertory theatre company in Toronto that toured throughout Canada, then joined another company that toured India, Australia, and England. He briefly attended Long Beach Junior College and taught for a semester at San Jose Junior College, working nights as a radio actor and singer. Burr began his association with the Pasadena Playhouse<ref name="Ona Hill"/>Template:Rp in 1937.<ref name="Playhouse Blog">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Curtain Up! The Revival of the Pasadena Playhouse</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Burr moved to New York in 1940 and made his first Broadway appearance in Crazy With the Heat, a two-act musical revue produced by Kurt Kasznar. Despite the veteran cast of stars Willie Howard, Luella Gear, and Gracie Barrie, the show folded after three months.<ref name="IBDb Crazy"/> Burr's first starring role on the stage came in November 1942 when he was an emergency replacement in a Pasadena Playhouse production of Quiet Wedding. He became a member of the Pasadena Playhouse drama faculty for 18 months, and he performed in some 30 plays over the years.<ref name="Chicago Tribune 1986"/><ref name="Quiet Wedding Arcadia"/> He returned to Broadway for Patrick Hamilton's The Duke in Darkness (1944), a psychological drama set during the French Wars of Religion. His performance as the loyal friend of the imprisoned protagonist led to a contract with RKO Radio Pictures.<ref name="Ona Hill"/>Template:Rp In 1944, he performed in multiple plays during his summer residency at Elitch Gardens Theater in Denver Colorado.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Film

File:Burr-Rear-Window.jpg

Lars Thorwald realizes that he is being watched across the courtyard by telephoto lens in Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window (1954), which offered Burr his most notable film role.<ref name="Grimes" /><ref name="Thomas" />

Burr appeared in more than 50 feature films between 1946 and 1957,<ref name="AFI Burr"/> creating an array of villains that established him as an icon of film noir.<ref name="Starr"/>Template:Rp Film historian Alain Silver concluded that Burr's most significant work in the genre is in ten films: Desperate (1947), Sleep, My Love (1948), Raw Deal (1948), Pitfall (1948), Abandoned (1949), Red Light (1949), M (1951), His Kind of Woman (1951), The Blue Gardenia (1953), and Crime of Passion (1957).<ref name="Silver">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp Silver described Burr's private detective in Pitfall as "both reprehensible and pathetic,"<ref name="Silver"/>Template:Rp a characterization also cited by film historian Richard Schickel as a prototype of film noir, in contrast with the appealing television characters for which Burr later became famous.<ref name="Schickel">Template:Cite journal</ref>Template:Rp "He tried to make you see the psychosis below the surface, even when the parts weren't huge," said film historian James Ursini. "He was able to bring such complexity and different levels to those characters, and create sympathy for his characters even though they were doing reprehensible things."<ref name="Starr"/>Template:Rp

Other titles in Burr's film noir legacy include Walk a Crooked Mile (1948), Borderline (1950), Unmasked (1950), The Whip Hand (1951), FBI Girl (1951), Meet Danny Wilson (1952), Rear Window (1954), They Were So Young (1954), A Cry in the Night (1956), and Affair in Havana (1957). His villains were also seen in Westerns, period dramas, horror films, and adventure films.<ref name="Steward">Template:Cite magazine</ref>

"I was just a fat heavy," Burr told journalist James Bawden. "I split the heavy parts with Bill Conrad. We were both in our twenties playing much older men. I never got the girl but I once got the gorilla in a 3-D picture called Gorilla at Large. I menaced Claudette Colbert, Lizabeth Scott, Paulette Goddard, Anne Baxter, Barbara Stanwyck. Those girls would take one look at me and scream and can you blame them? I was drowned, beaten, stabbed and all for my art. But I knew I was horribly overweight. I lacked any kind of self esteem. At 25 I was playing the fathers of people older than me."<ref name="Bawden Burr">Template:Cite news</ref>

Burr's occasional roles on the right side of the law include the aggressive prosecutor in A Place in the Sun (1951).<ref name="Steward"/> His courtroom performance in that film made an impression on Gail Patrick<ref name="Bawden"/> and her husband Cornwell Jackson, who had Burr in mind when they began casting the role of Los Angeles district attorney Hamilton Burger in the CBS-TV series Perry Mason.<ref name="Davidson First TV Series"/>Template:Rp

Radio

By the age of 12, Burr was appearing in national radio dramas broadcasting in nearby San Francisco.<ref name="Dougan" />

As a young man Burr weighed more than Template:Convert, which limited his on-screen roles. "But in radio this presented no problems, given the magnificent quality of his voice", reported The Globe and Mail. "He played romantic leads and menacing villains with equal authority, and he earned a steady and comfortable income."<ref name="GAM">Template:Cite news</ref>

Working steadily in radio since the 1940s, often uncredited,<ref name="Ona Hill"/>Template:Rp Burr was a leading player on the West Coast.<ref name="Digital Deli PM">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He had a regular role in Jack Webb's first radio show, Pat Novak for Hire (1949),<ref name="Dunning"/>Template:Rp and in Dragnet (1949–50) he played Joe Friday's boss, Ed Backstrand, chief of detectives.<ref name="Dunning"/>Template:Rp<ref name="Goldin Dragnet"/> Burr worked on other Los Angeles-based series including Suspense,<ref name="Goldin Suspense"/> Screen Directors Playhouse,<ref name="Goldin Screen"/> Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar,<ref name="Goldin Yours"/> Family Theater,<ref name="Goldin Family"/> Hallmark Playhouse<ref name="Goldin Hallmark"/> and Hallmark Hall of Fame.<ref name="Goldin Hall of Fame"/> He performed in five episodes of the experimental dramatic radio anthology series CBS Radio Workshop, and had what is arguably his best radio role in "The Silent Witness" (1957), in which his is the only voice.<ref name="Ona Hill"/>Template:Rp<ref name="Digital Deli CBS Workshop">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

From March 1951 through June 1952 Burr used the name of Ray Hartman approximately 30 times when appearing on radio, mostly on Dangerous Assignment, The Lineup and Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar. This was verified by perusing the scripts for both series.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 1956, Burr was the star of CBS Radio's Fort Laramie, an adult Western drama produced, written and directed by the creators of Gunsmoke. He played the role of Lee Quince, captain of the cavalry, in the series set at a post-Civil War military post where disease, boredom, the elements and the uncharted terrain were the greatest enemies of "ordinary men who lived in extraordinary times".<ref name="Dunning"/>Template:Rp<ref name="Digital Deli FL">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The half-hour transcribed program aired Sundays at 5:30 pm. ET January 22 – October 28, 1956.<ref name="Dunning"/>Template:Rp<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Burr told columnist Sheilah Graham that he had received 1,500 fan letters after the first broadcasts,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and he continued to receive letters praising the show's authenticity and presentation of human dignity.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In August 1956, CBS announced that Burr would star in the television series Perry Mason.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Although the network wanted Burr to continue work on Fort Laramie as well, the TV series required an extraordinary commitment and the radio show ended.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Known for his loyalty and consciousness of history, Burr went out of his way to employ his radio colleagues in his television programs.<ref name="Digital Deli PM"/> Some 180 radio celebrities appeared on Perry Mason during the first season alone.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Television

Burr emerged as a prolific television character actor in the 1950s. He made his television debut in 1951, appearing in episodes of Stars Over Hollywood,<ref name="Stars">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The Bigelow Theatre,<ref name="Bigelow"/> Family Theater<ref name="That I May See"/> and the debut episode of Dragnet.<ref name="Dragnet 1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He went on to appear in such programs as Gruen Playhouse,<ref name="The Tiger">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Four Star Playhouse,<ref name="Four Star 2">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Ford Theatre,<ref name="Ford 7">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Lux Video Theatre,<ref name="Lux 4">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Mr. and Mrs. North,<ref name="Norths">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Schlitz Playhouse of Stars<ref name="Schlitz 4">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and Playhouse 90.<ref name="Greer Case"/>

Perry Mason

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}}

File:Perry-Mason-Look-1961.jpg

Raymond Burr and (front row, from left) William Talman, Ray Collins and Barbara Hale on the set of Perry Mason, from the front cover of Look magazine (October 10, 1961)

In 1956, Burr auditioned for Perry Mason, a new CBS-TV courtroom drama based on the highly successful novels by Erle Stanley Gardner. Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. had already been tentatively cast as Perry Mason.<ref>Associate producer Sam White, as told to David Bruskin, Behind the Three Stooges: The White Brothers, Directors Guild of America, 1993; p. 275.</ref> Burr told associate producer Sam White, "If you don't like me as Perry Mason, then I'll go along and play the part of the district attorney, Hamilton Burger."<ref>Sam White as told to Briskin, p. 276.</ref> Executive producer Gail Patrick Jackson had been impressed with Burr's courtroom performance in A Place in the Sun (1951), and she told Burr that he was perfect for Perry Mason but at least Template:Convert overweight. He went on a crash diet over the following month; he then tested as Perry Mason and was cast in the role.<ref name="Bawden">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> While Burr's test was running, Gardner reportedly stood up, pointed at the screen, and said, "That's Perry Mason."<ref name="Davidson First TV Series"/>Template:Rp William Hopper also auditioned as Mason, but he was cast instead as private detective Paul Drake.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The series also starred Barbara Hale as Della Street, Mason's secretary, William Talman as Hamilton Burger, the district attorney who loses nearly every case to Mason, and Ray Collins as homicide detective Lieutenant Arthur Tragg.<ref name="Bawden"/>

The series ran from 1957 to 1966 and made Burr a star. In the early 1960s, the show had 30 million viewers every Saturday night and Burr received 3,000 fan letters a week.<ref name=varobit>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Burr received three consecutive Emmy Award nominations and won the award in 1959 and 1961<ref name="Emmy Database"/> for his performance as Perry Mason. The series has been rerun in syndication ever since, and was released on DVD between 2006 and 2013. Burr's character is often said never to have lost a case, although he did lose two murder cases off-screen in early episodes of the series.<ref name=nytbar />

File:Raymond burr ironside.JPG

Burr and Victoria Shaw in Ironside (1969)

Ironside

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} Burr moved from CBS to Universal Studios, where he played the title role in the television drama Ironside, which ran on NBC from 1967 to 1975. In the pilot episode, San Francisco Chief of Detectives Robert T. Ironside is paralyzed by a sniper during an attempt on his life and, after his recovery, uses a wheelchair for mobility, in the first crime drama show to star a policeman with a disability. The show earned Burr six Emmy nominations—one for the pilot and five for his work in the series<ref name="Emmy Database"/><ref name="NYT Emmy Ironside Pilot"/>—and two Golden Globe nominations.<ref name="Golden Globes Burr"/>

Other series

File:Kingston confidential premiere 1977.JPG

Mariette Hartley and Burr in Kingston: Confidential (1977)

After Ironside went off the air, NBC failed in two attempts to launch Burr as the star of a new series. In a two-hour television movie format, Mallory: Circumstantial Evidence aired in February 1976 with Burr again in the role of the lawyer who outwits the district attorney. Despite good reviews for Burr, the critical reception was poor, and NBC decided against developing it into a series.<ref name="Starr"/>Template:Rp

In 1977, Burr starred in the short-lived TV series Kingston: Confidential as R.B. Kingston, a publishing magnate similar to William Randolph Hearst, owner of numerous newspapers and TV stations, who, in his spare time, solved crimes along with a group of employees. It was a critical failure that was scheduled opposite the extraordinarily popular Charlie's Angels. It was cancelled after 13 weeks.<ref name="Starr"/>Template:Rp

Burr took on a shorter project next, playing an underworld boss in a six-hour miniseries, 79 Park Avenue.<ref>Template:Citation</ref>

One last attempt to launch a series followed on CBS. The two-hour premiere of The Jordan Chance aroused little interest.<ref name="Starr"/>Template:Rp<ref>Template:Citation</ref>

On January 20, 1987, Burr hosted the television special that later served as the pilot for the long-running series Unsolved Mysteries.<ref name="Unsolved"/>

Television films

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} In 1985, Burr was approached by producers Dean Hargrove and Fred Silverman to star in a made-for-TV movie, Perry Mason Returns.<ref name="Eugene">Raymond Burr to Return as Perry Mason. Eugene Register. November 30, 1985</ref> The same week, Burr recalled, he was asked to reprise the role he played in Godzilla, King of the Monsters! (1956),<ref name="Dougan2">Template:Cite news</ref> in a low-budget film that would be titled Godzilla 1985.<ref name="Tom Shales"/>

"When they asked me to do it a second time, I said, 'Certainly,' and everybody thought I was out of my mind," Burr told Tom Shales of The Washington Post. "But it wasn't the large sum of money. It was the fact that, first of all, I kind of liked 'Godzilla,' and where do you get the opportunity to play yourself 30 years later? So I said yes to both of them."<ref name="Tom Shales">Template:Cite news</ref> Although Burr is best remembered for his role as Perry Mason, a devoted following continues to appreciate him as the actor that brought the Godzilla series to America.

He agreed to appear in the Mason movie if Barbara Hale returned to reprise her role as Della Street.<ref>Burr Delights in TV Return. Worcester Telegram & Gazette. September 7, 1989. Retrieved March 26, 2010</ref> Hale agreed, and when Perry Mason Returns aired in December 1985, her character became the defendant.<ref name="Eugene" /> The rest of the principal cast had died, but Hale's real-life son William Katt played the role of Paul Drake Jr.<ref name="Eugene" /> The movie was so successful that Burr made a total of 26 Perry Mason television movies before his death.<ref name="Thomas" /> Many were filmed in and around Denver, Colorado.<ref name="Dougan">Template:Cite news</ref>

After several of the TV movies, Burr's age and health issues forced him to use a cane onscreen, which was jokingly explained as a "skiing accident." By 1993, when Burr signed with NBC for another season of Mason films, he was using a wheelchair full-time because of his failing health. In his final Perry Mason movie, The Case of the Killer Kiss, he was shown either sitting or standing while leaning on a table, but only once standing unsupported for a few seconds.<ref name="OConner">O'Connor, John J. Review/Television; Case of the Missing Mason, The New York Times, May 10, 1994. Retrieved March 26, 2010.</ref> Twelve more Mason movies were scheduled before Burr's death, including one scheduled to film the month he died.<ref name="Ill">Raymond Burr Reported Seriously Ill at Ranch. The Sunday Gazette. April 27, 1993. Retrieved March 27, 2010.</ref>

As he had with the Perry Mason TV movies, Burr decided to do an Ironside reunion movie. The Return of Ironside aired in May 1993, reuniting the entire original cast of the 1967–75 series.<ref>King, Susan. Ironside Returns to NBC Tuesday, Los Angeles Times, reprinted in the Daily Gazette, May 1, 1993. Retrieved March 26, 2010.</ref> Like many of the Mason movies, it was set and filmed in Denver.<ref name="Ill"/>

Personal life

Physical characteristics

Burr said that he weighed 12.75 pounds (5.8 kg) at birth, and was chubby throughout his childhood. "When you're a little fat boy in public school, or any kind of school, you're just persecuted something awful," he said.<ref name="Tom Shales"/> His weight was always an issue for him in getting roles, and it became a public relations problem when Johnny Carson began making jokes about him during his Tonight Show monologues. Burr refused to appear as Carson's guest from then on, and told Us Weekly years later: "I have been asked a number of times to do his show and I won't do it. Because I like NBC. He's doing an NBC show. If I went on I'd have some things to say, not just about the bad jokes he's done about me, but bad jokes he does about everybody who can't fight back because they aren't there. And that wouldn't be good for NBC."<ref name="Starr"/>Template:Rp

Family life

Burr married actress Isabella Ward (1919–2004)<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> on January 10, 1948.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }} Template:Registration required</ref> They met in 1943 while she was a student at the Pasadena Playhouse where Burr was teaching. They met again in 1947 when she was in California with a theater company. They were married shortly before Burr began work on the 1948 film noir Pitfall.<ref name="Bolton">Template:Cite magazine</ref>Template:Rp In May 1948, they appeared on stage together in a Pasadena Playhouse production based on the life of Paul Gauguin.<ref name="Ona Hill"/>Template:Rp They lived in the basement apartment of a large house in Hollywood that Burr shared with his mother and grandparents. The marriage ended within months, and Ward returned to her native Delaware.<ref name="Bolton"/>Template:Rp They divorced in 1952, and neither remarried.<ref name="Starr"/>Template:Rp

In 1960, Burr met Robert Benevides, an actor and Korean War veteran, on the set of Perry Mason.<ref name="Passport" /> Benevides gave up acting in 1963,<ref name="Starr"/>Template:Rp<ref name="Passport" /> and he became a production consultant for 21 of the Perry Mason TV movies.<ref name=Murphy3443>Murphy, Mary. "With Raymond Burr During His Final Battle." TV Guide, September 25, 1993, pp. 34–43</ref> They owned and operated an orchid business and then a vineyard<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> in California's Dry Creek Valley. They were domestic partners until Burr's death in 1993.<ref name=Murphy3443/> Burr bequeathed his entire estate to Benevides,<ref name="Starr"/>Template:Rp and Benevides renamed the Dry Creek property Raymond Burr Vineyards<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> (reportedly against Burr's wishes) and managed it as a commercial enterprise.<ref name="Passport"/> In 2017, the property was sold.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Although Burr had not revealed that he was homosexual during his lifetime, it was reported in the press upon his death.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Biographical contradictions

At various times in his career, Burr and his managers and publicists offered spurious or unverifiable biographical details to the press and public. Burr's obituary in The New York Times states that he entered the U.S. Navy in 1944, after The Duke in Darkness, and left in 1946, weighing almost Template:Convert.<ref name="Grimes"/> Although Burr may have served in the Coast Guard, reports of his service in the U.S. Navy are false, as apparently are his statements<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> that he sustained battle injuries at Okinawa.<ref name="Starr"/>Template:Rp<ref name="Inside TV Magazine"/>Template:Efn

Other false biographical details include years of college education at a variety of institutions, being widowed twice, a son who died young, world travel, and success in high school athletics.<ref name="Starr"/>Template:Rp Most of these claims were apparently accepted as fact by the press during Burr's lifetime, up until his death<ref name="Grimes"/><ref name="Thomas">Template:Cite newsTemplate:Dead link</ref> and by his first biographer, Ona Hill.<ref name="Ona Hill"/>Template:RpTemplate:Efn

Burr reportedly was married at the beginning of World War II to an actress named Annette Sutherland<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>—killed, Burr said, in the same 1943 plane crash that claimed the life of actor Leslie Howard. However, multiple sources have reported that no one by that name appears on any of the published passenger manifests from the flight.<ref name="Ona Hill"/>Template:Rp A son supposedly born during this marriage, Michael Evan, was said to have died of leukemia in 1953 at the age of ten.<ref name="Ona Hill"/><ref name="Grimes"/><ref name="Thomas"/> Another marriage purportedly took place in the early 1950s to a Laura Andrina Morgan—who died of cancer, Burr said, in 1955.<ref name="Inside TV Magazine">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Yet no evidence exists of either marriage, nor of a son's birth, other than Burr's own claims.<ref name="Starr"/>Template:Rp As late as 1991, Burr stood by the account of this son's life and death. He told Parade that when he realized Michael was dying, he took him on a one-year tour of the United States. "Before my boy left, before his time was gone," he said, "I wanted him to see the beauty of his country and its people."<ref name="Thomas"/> After Burr's death, his publicist confirmed that Burr worked steadily in Hollywood throughout 1952, the year that he was supposedly touring the country with his son.<ref name="Starr"/>Template:Rp

In the late 1950s, Burr was rumored to be romantically involved with Natalie Wood.<ref name="Podolsky"/> Wood's agent sent her on public dates so she could be noticed by directors and producers, and so the men she dated could present themselves in public as heterosexuals. The dates helped to disguise Wood's relationship with Robert Wagner, whom she later married.<ref name="Starr"/>Template:Rp<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp Burr reportedly resented Warner Bros.' decision to promote her attachment to another gay actor, Tab Hunter, rather than him. Robert Benevides later said, "He was a little bitter about it. He was really in love with her, I guess."<ref name="Finstad">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:RpTemplate:Efn

Later accounts of Burr's life say that he hid his homosexuality to protect his career.<ref name="Passport">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> "That was a time in Hollywood history when homosexuality was not countenanced", Associated Press reporter Bob Thomas recalled in a 2000 episode of Biography. "Ray was not a romantic star by any means, but he was a very popular figure ... If it was revealed at that time in Hollywood history it would have been very difficult for him to continue."<ref name="Starr"/>Template:RpTemplate:Efn

Arthur Marks, a producer of Perry Mason, recalled Burr's talk of wives and children: "I know he was just putting on a show. ... That was my gut feeling. I think the wives and the loving women, the Natalie Wood thing, were a bit of a cover."<ref name="Starr"/>Template:Rp Dean Hargrove, executive producer of the Perry Mason TV films, said in 2006, "I had always assumed that Raymond was gay, because he had a relationship with Robert Benevides for a very long time. Whether or not he had relationships with women, I had no idea. I did know that I had trouble keeping track of whether he was married or not in these stories. Raymond had the ability to mythologize himself, to some extent, and some of his stories about his past ... tended to grow as time went by."<ref name="Starr"/>Template:Rp

Hobbies and businesses

Burr had many hobbies over the course of his life: cultivating orchids and collecting wine, art, stamps, and seashells. He was very fond of cooking.<ref name="Grimes">Template:Cite news</ref> He was interested in flying, sailing, and fishing. According to A&E Biography, Burr was an avid reader with a retentive memory. He was also among the earliest importers and breeders of Portuguese water dogs in the United States.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

File:RaymondBurrVineyards.jpg

Raymond Burr Vineyards

Burr developed his interest in cultivating and hybridizing orchids into a business with Benevides. Over 20 years, their company, Sea God Nurseries, had nurseries in Fiji, Hawaii, the Azores, and California, and was responsible for adding more than 1,500 new orchids to the worldwide catalog.Template:Citation needed Burr named one of them the "Barbara Hale Orchid" after his Perry Mason costar.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Burr and Benevides cultivated Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, and grapes for Port wine, as well as orchids, at Burr's farm/estate in Sonoma County, California.<ref name="Raymond Burr Vineyards History">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 1965, Burr purchased Naitauba, a Template:Convert island in Fiji, rich in seashells. There, he and Benevides oversaw the raising of copra (coconut meat) and cattle, as well as orchids.<ref name="Passport"/><ref name="Raymond Burr Vineyards History"/> Burr planned to retire there permanently. However, medical problems made that impossible and he sold the property in 1983.<ref>Starr, Hiding in Plain Sight, 149–53, 167–68, 172, 181, 186; Template:Cite news</ref>

Philanthropy

Burr was a well-known philanthropist.<ref name="Ona Hill"/>Template:Rp<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He gave enormous sums of money, including his salaries from the Perry Mason movies, to charity. He was also known for sharing his wealth with friends. He sponsored 26 foster children through the Foster Parents' Plan or Save the Children, many with the greatest medical needs.<ref name="Ardmore" /> He gave money and some of his Perry Mason scripts to the McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento, California.<ref name="shells">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

File:Bailey Matthews, Sanibel, Florida.JPG

A view of the Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum in Sanibel, Florida, with the Raymond Burr Memorial Garden in the foreground, December 2011

Burr was an early supporter of the Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum in Sanibel, Florida, raising funds and chairing its first capital campaign.<ref name="Raymond Burr Memorial Garden"/> He also donated to the museum a large collection of Fijian cowries and cones from his island in Fiji.<ref name="Betty Lowry">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 1993, Sonoma State University awarded Burr an honorary doctorate.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He supported medical and educational institutions in Denver, and in 1993, the University of Colorado awarded him an honorary doctorate for his acting work.<ref name="Starr"/>Template:Rp Burr also founded and financed the American Fijian Foundation that funded academic research, including efforts to develop a dictionary of the language.<ref>Albert J. Schütz and Tevita Nawadra, "A Refutation of the Notion 'Passive' in Fijian", Oceanic Linguistics, vol. 11, no. 2, winter 1972, 107; Albert J. Schutz, "The Forerunners of the Fijian Dictionary", Journal of the Polynesian Society, vol. 83, no. 4, December 1974, 443</ref>

Burr made repeated trips on behalf of the United Service Organizations (USO). He toured both Korea and Vietnam during wartime and once spent six months touring Korea, Japan, and the Philippines. He sometimes organized his own troupe and toured bases both in the U.S. and overseas, often small installations that the USO did not serve, like one tour of Greenland, Baffin Island, Newfoundland and Labrador.<ref name="Starr"/>Template:Rp Returning from Vietnam in 1965, he made a speaking tour of the U.S. to advocate an intensified war effort. As the war became more controversial, he modified his tone, called for more attention to the sacrifice of the troops, and said, "My only position on the war is that I wish it were over." In October 1967, NBC aired Raymond Burr Visits Vietnam, a documentary of one of his visits. The reception was mixed. "The impressions he came up with are neither weighty nor particularly revealing", wrote the Chicago Tribune; the Los Angeles Times said Burr's questions were "intelligent and elicited some interesting replies".<ref name="Starr"/>Template:Rp

Burr had a reputation in Hollywood as a thoughtful, generous man years before much of his more-visible philanthropic work. In 1960, Ray Collins, who portrayed Lt. Arthur Tragg on the original Perry Mason series, and who was by that time often ill and unable to remember all the lines he was supposed to speak, stated, "There is nothing but kindness from our star, Ray Burr. Part of his life is dedicated to us, and that's no bull. If there's anything the matter with any of us, he comes around before anyone else and does what he can to help. He's a great star—in the old tradition."<ref>Hollywood column by Rick Du Brow for United Press International, appearing in the State Times Advocate of Baton Rouge LA, July 19, 1960, p. 5</ref>

Illness and death

File:Gravestone of Raymond Burr’s family in Canada.jpg

Raymond Burr's grave marker with his family in New Westminster, Canada.

During the filming of his last Perry Mason movie in the spring of 1993, Burr fell ill. A Viacom spokesman told the media that the illness might be related to the renal cell carcinoma (malignant kidney tumor) that had been removed from Burr that February.<ref name="Ill"/> It was determined that the cancer had spread to his liver and was at that point inoperable.<ref name="Stevenson">Stevenson, Jennifer. Raymond Burr Dies of Cancer. St. Petersburg Times. September 14, 1993. Retrieved March 27, 2010</ref> Burr threw several "goodbye parties" before his death on September 12, 1993, at his Sonoma County ranch near Healdsburg.<ref name="Grimes"/> He was 76 years old.

The day after Burr's death, American Bar Association President R. William Ide III released a statement: "Raymond Burr's portrayals of Perry Mason represented lawyers in a professional and dignified manner. ... Mr. Burr strove for such authenticity in his courtroom characterizations that we regard his passing as though we lost one of our own."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The New York Times reported that Perry Mason had been named second—after F. Lee Bailey, and before Abraham Lincoln, Thurgood Marshall, Janet Reno, Ben Matlock and Hillary Clinton—in a 1993 National Law Journal poll that asked Americans to name the attorney, fictional or not, they most admired.<ref name=nytbar>Template:Cite news</ref>

Burr was interred with his parents and sister Geraldine (1920-2001)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> at Fraser Cemetery, New Westminster, British Columbia.<ref>Wilson, Scott. Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed.: 2 (Kindle Locations 6479–80). McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. Kindle Edition.</ref> On October 1, 1993, about 600 family members and friends paid tribute to Burr at a private memorial service at the Pasadena Playhouse.<ref>Southland Briefly. Daily News of Los Angeles. October 2, 1993. Retrieved March 27, 2010.</ref>

Burr bequeathed his estate to Robert Benevides, and excluded all relatives, including a sister, nieces, and nephews. His will was challenged, without success, by the two children of his late brother, James E. Burr.<ref name="Starr"/>Template:Rp Benevides' attorney said that tabloid reports of an estate worth $32 million were an overestimate.<ref name="Estate">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Accolades

For his work in the TV series Perry Mason, Burr received the Emmy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Continuing Character) in a Dramatic Series at the 11th Primetime Emmy Awards in 1959. Nominated again in 1960, he received his second Emmy Award for Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Series (Lead) at the 13th Primetime Emmy Awards in 1961.<ref name="Emmy Database">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Burr was named Favorite Male Performer, for Perry Mason, in TV Guide magazine's inaugural TV Guide Award readers poll in 1960.<ref name="Tucson">Template:Cite news</ref> He also received the second annual award in 1961.<ref name="PM Show Book TVG">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Hadley">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 1960, Burr was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6656 Hollywood Boulevard.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Burr received six Emmy nominations (1968–72) for his work in the TV series Ironside.<ref name="Emmy Database"/> He was nominated twice, in 1969 and 1972, for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama.<ref name="Golden Globes Burr">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> A benefactor of legal education, Burr was principal speaker at the founders' banquet of the Thomas M. Cooley Law School in Lansing, Michigan, in June 1973. The Raymond Burr Award for Excellence in Criminal Law was established in his honor.<ref name=nytbar /><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Burr was ranked No. 44 on TV GuideTemplate:'s 50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time in 1996.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Completed in 1996, a circular garden at the entrance to the Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum in Sanibel, Florida, honored Burr for his role in establishing the museum. Burr was a trustee and an early supporter who chaired the museum's first capital campaign, and made direct contributions from his own shell collection.<ref name="Raymond Burr Memorial Garden">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> A display about Burr as an actor, benefactor and collector opened in the museum's Great Hall of Shells in 2012.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

From 2000 to 2006, the Raymond Burr Performing Arts Society leased the historic Columbia Theatre from the city of New Westminster, and renamed it the Raymond Burr Performing Arts Centre. Although the nonprofit organization hoped to raise funds to renovate and expand the venue, its contract was not renewed. The group was a failed bidder when the theater was sold in 2011.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 2008, Canada Post issued a postage stamp in its "Canadians in Hollywood" series featuring Burr.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Burr received the 2009 Canadian Legends Award and a star on Canada's Walk of Fame in Toronto. The induction ceremony was held on September 12, 2009.<ref name="ind2009">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> A 2014 article in The Atlantic that examined how Netflix categorized nearly 77,000 different personalized genres found that Burr was rated as the favorite actor by Netflix users,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> with the greatest number of dedicated microgenres.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Acting credits

Theatre

Date	Title	Role	Notes
December 26, 1940	Crazy With the Heat		Boston<ref name="Ona Hill">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp
January 14–18, 1941	Crazy With the Heat		44th Street Theatre, New York City<ref name="IBDb Crazy">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
November 11–22, 1942	Quiet Wedding	Template:Sortname	Pasadena Playhouse, directed by Lenore Shanewise<ref name="Ona Hill"/>Template:Rp<ref name="Quiet Wedding Arcadia">Template:Cite news</ref>
December 23, 1942 – January 3, 1943	Charley's Aunt		Pasadena Playhouse<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
February – February 21, 1943	Arsenic and Old Lace	Template:Sortname	Pasadena Playhouse<ref name="Ona Hill"/>Template:Rp<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
March–April 1943	Jason	Template:Sortname	Pasadena Playhouse, directed by Onslow Stevens<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
July 1943	Template:Sortname	Template:Sortname	Pasadena Playhouse, directed by Lenore Shanewise<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
July–August 1943	Monsieur Beaucaire		Pasadena Playhouse<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
January 24 – February 12, 1944	Template:Sortname	Voulain	Playhouse Theatre, New York City<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
May - August 1944	Multiple productions	Various	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> Additional Citation: <ref>Lewis R. E. (2009). The elitch gardens theatre 1891-2008 : america's high plains summer playhouse (dissertation).</ref>
June 12–23, 1946	While the Sun Shines		Pasadena Playhouse<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
December 1, 1946 –	Murder Without Crime		Pasadena Playhouse, directed by Raymond Burr (also actor)<ref name="Ona Hill"/>Template:Rp
January 21 – February 15, 1947	Miss Julie	Jean	Forrest Theatre, Philadelphia; Plymouth Theatre, Boston; Shubert Theatre, New Haven, Connecticut<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
May 26, 1948 –	Gauguin	Template:Sortname	Pasadena Playhouse, directed by Catherine Turney<ref name="Ona Hill"/>Template:Rp<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
June 11 – July 15, 1962	Critic's Choice		Suburbs of Detroit and Chicago<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
1983	Underground		Tour including Royal Alexandra Theatre, Toronto, Theatre Royal, York and Prince of Wales Theatre, London<ref>British Theatre Guide 1983</ref>

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1940	Earl of Puddlestone	Mrs. Millicent Potter's chauffeur	Uncredited<ref name="Ona Hill"/>Template:Rp
1946	Without Reservations	Paul Gill	Uncredited<ref name="AFI Burr"/>
1946	San Quentin	Jeff Torrance	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1947	Code of the West	Boyd Carter	<ref name="AFI Burr"/>
1947	Desperate	Walt Radak	<ref name="AFI Burr"/>
1948	I Love Trouble	Herb	<ref name="AFI Burr"/>
1948	Sleep, My Love	Sgt. Strake	<ref name="AFI Burr"/>
1948	Ruthless	Peter Vendig	<ref name="AFI Burr"/>
1948	Fighting Father Dunne	Prosecuting attorney	Uncredited<ref name="AFI Burr"/>
1948	Raw Deal	Rick Coyle	<ref name="AFI Burr"/>
1948	Pitfall	J. B. MacDonald	<ref name="AFI Burr"/>
1948	Station West	Mark Bristow	<ref name="AFI Burr"/>
1948	Walk a Crooked Mile	Krebs	<ref name="AFI Burr"/>
1948	Adventures of Don Juan	Captain Alvarez	<ref name="AFI Burr"/>
1949	Bride of Vengeance	Michelotto	<ref name="AFI Burr"/>
1949	Black Magic	Dumas, Jr.	<ref name="AFI Burr"/>
1949	Red Light	Nick Cherney	<ref name="AFI Burr"/>
1949	Abandoned	Kerric	<ref name="AFI Burr"/>
1949	Love Happy	Alphonse Zoto	<ref name="AFI Burr"/>
1950	Unmasked	Roger Lewis	<ref name="AFI Burr"/>
1950	Key to the City	Les Taggart	<ref name="AFI Burr"/>
1950	Borderline	Pete Richie	<ref name="AFI Burr"/>
1951	M	Pottsy	<ref name="AFI Burr"/>
1951	Template:Sortname	District Attorney R. Frank Marlowe	<ref name="AFI Burr"/>
1951	New Mexico	Pvt. Anderson	<ref name="AFI Burr"/>
1951	His Kind of Woman	Nick Ferraro	<ref name="AFI Burr"/>
1951	Template:Sortname	Steve Loomis	<ref name="AFI Burr"/>
1951	Bride of the Gorilla	Barney Chavez	<ref name="AFI Burr"/>
1951	Template:Sortname	Grand Vizier Boreg al Buzzar	<ref name="AFI Burr"/>
1951	FBI Girl	Blake	<ref name="AFI Burr"/>
1952	Meet Danny Wilson	Nick Driscoll	<ref name="AFI Burr"/>
1952	Mara Maru	Brock Benedict	<ref name="AFI Burr"/>
1952	Horizons West	Cord Hardin	<ref name="AFI Burr"/>
1953	Template:Sortname	Baron Cesare Jonatto	<ref name="AFI Burr"/>
1953	Template:Sortname	Harry Prebble	<ref name="AFI Burr"/>
1953	Serpent of the Nile	Marc Antony	<ref name="AFI Burr"/>
1953	Tarzan and the She-Devil	Vargo	<ref name="AFI Burr"/>
1953	Fort Algiers	Amir	<ref name="AFI Burr"/>
1954	Casanova's Big Night	Minister Bragadin	<ref name="AFI Burr"/>
1954	Template:Sortname	Narrator	Documentary<ref name="AFI Burr"/>
1954	Gorilla at Large	Cyrus Miller	<ref name="AFI Burr"/>
1954	Rear Window	Lars Thorwald	<ref name="AFI Burr"/>
1954	Khyber Patrol	Capt. Ahmed Shir	<ref name="AFI Burr"/>
1954	Thunder Pass	Tulsa	<ref name="AFI Burr"/>
1954	Passion	Capt. Rodriguez	<ref name="AFI Burr"/>
1954	They Were So Young	Jaime Coltos	<ref name="AFI Burr"/>
1955	You're Never Too Young	Noonan	Martin and Lewis comedy<ref name="AFI Burr"/>
1955	Count Three and Pray	Yancy Huggins	<ref name="AFI Burr"/>
1955	Template:Sortname	Stanley	<ref name="AFI Burr"/>
1956	Please Murder Me	Craig Carlson	Attorney successfully defends the woman he loves, charged with murder, then finds out that she is guilty. Courtroom scenes foreshadow Perry Mason.
1956	Godzilla, King of the Monsters!	Steve Martin	<ref name="AFI Burr"/>
1956	Great Day in the Morning	Jumbo Means	<ref name="AFI Burr"/>
1956	Secret of Treasure Mountain	Cash Larsen	<ref name="AFI Burr"/>
1956	Template:Sortname	Harold Loftus	<ref name="AFI Burr"/>
1956	Ride the High Iron	Ziggy Moline	Pilot for proposed ABC-TV series Command Performance, released as a feature film<ref name="AFI Burr"/><ref name="Terrace Pilots"/>Template:Rp
1956	Template:Sortname	Tris Hatten	<ref name="AFI Burr"/>
1957	Crime of Passion	Tony Pope	<ref name="AFI Burr"/>
1957	Affair in Havana	Mal Mallabee	<ref name="AFI Burr"/>
1960	Desire in the Dust	Col. Ben Marquand	<ref name="AFI Burr"/>
1961	"Interrupted Morning"	Himself (introduction)	Short film on traffic safety for the U.S. Public Health Service<ref name="Interrupted">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Seven for Safety">Template:Cite journal</ref>
1962	"When Sally Fell"	Himself (introduction, conclusion)	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1962	"Look Alive"	Himself	Short film on pedestrian safety<ref name="Seven for Safety"/>
1962	"Midsummer's Nightmare"	Himself	Short film on water safety<ref name="Seven for Safety"/>
1962	"Giant Steps"	Himself	Short film on child safety<ref name="Seven for Safety"/>
1962	"Why Daddy?"	Himself	Short film on fire prevention<ref name="Seven for Safety"/>
1962	"No Defense"	Himself	Short film on community organization for accident prevention<ref name="Seven for Safety"/>
1968	P. J.	William Orbison	<ref name="AFI Burr"/>
1968	"The small boat Navy"	Presenter	Navy film MN-10387 is a short 1968 film from the U.S. Navy that offers viewers a look at how the U.S. Navy uses small boats to create trade and travel stability in Vietnam. Available on YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GXFuM4ZfYU
1978	Tomorrow Never Comes	Burke
1980	Out of the Blue	Dr. Brean	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1980	Template:Sortname	Dr. Kramer	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1982	Airplane II: The Sequel	The Judge	<ref name="AFI Burr"/>
1985	Godzilla 1985	Steve Martin	Nominee, Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actor<ref name="Starr"/>Template:Rp<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
1991	The Legend of Kootenai Brown	Judge Webster	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1991	Delirious	Carter Hedison	<ref name="AFI Burr"/>

Radio

Date	Title	Role	Notes
May 14, 1934-August 10, 1934	Tarzan and the Diamond Of Asher	Akaru	approximately 15 of 39 episodes
December 30, 1947	Favorite Story		citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
October 18, 1948	Template:Sortname		citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
October 26, 1948	Favorite Story		"The Jest of Hahalaba"<ref name="Goldin Favorite"/>
November 4, 1948	Suspense		citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
December 25, 1948	Wrigley Christmas Party		citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
January 23, 1949	Screen Directors Playhouse		citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
February 13 – June 26, 1949	Pat Novak, for Hire	Template:Sortname	<ref name="Dunning">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
February 17, 1949	Suspense		"Catch Me If You Can"<ref name="Goldin Suspense"/>
April 21, 1949	Suspense		"The Copper Tea Strainer"<ref name="Goldin Suspense"/>
May 15, 1949	Screen Directors Playhouse		"Hold Back the Dawn"<ref name="Goldin Screen"/>
June 17, 1949 – August 24, 1950	Dragnet	Template:Sortname	<ref name="Dunning"/>Template:Rp<ref name="Goldin Dragnet">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
July 16, 1949	Dangerous Assignment		citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Jerry Dangerous">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
August 24, 1949	Family Theater		citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
September 21, 1949	Template:Sortname	Template:Sortname	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
September 27, 1949 –	Dr. Kildare	Repertory cast	Eight transcribed episodes<ref name="Dunning"/>Template:Rp<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
October 17, 1949	Screen Directors Playhouse	MacDonald	"Pitfall"<ref name="Ona Hill"/>Template:Rp<ref name="Goldin Screen"/>
November 23, 1949	Family Theater		"The Courtship of Miles Standish"<ref name="Goldin Family"/>
January 25, 1950	Family Theater		"Lodging for the Night"<ref name="Goldin Family"/>
February 19, 1950	Template:Sortname	Template:Sortname	"When the Cat's Away the Mice Will Play"<ref name="Deli Malone"/>
March 8, 1950	Family Theater		"The Prince and the Pauper"<ref name="Goldin Family"/>
March 24, 1950	Screen Directors Playhouse		"Chicago Deadline"<ref name="Goldin Screen"/>
April 7, 1950	Screen Directors Playhouse		"The Fighting O'Flynn"<ref name="Goldin Screen"/>
April 11, 1950	Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar		"The Dead First Helpers"<ref name="Goldin Yours">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
May 9, 1950	Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar		"The Harold Trandem Matter"<ref name="Goldin Yours"/>
June 28, 1950	Family Theater		"Lancelot of the Lake"<ref name="Goldin Family"/>
July 20, 1950	Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar		"The Henry J. Unger Matter"<ref name="Goldin Yours"/>
July 26, 1950	Family Theater		"Julius Caesar"<ref name="Goldin Family"/>
August 10, 1950	Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar		"The Hartford Alliance Matter"<ref name="Goldin Yours"/>
September 21, 1950	Presenting Charles Boyer		citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
October 7, 1950	Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar		"The Richard Splain Matter"<ref name="Goldin Yours"/>
October 16, 1950	Lux Radio Theatre		citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
October 28, 1950	Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar		"The Joan Sebastian Matter"<ref name="Goldin Yours"/>
November 11, 1950	Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar		"The Adam Kegg Matter"<ref name="Goldin Yours"/>
November 15, 1950	Family Theater		"The Story of Peter Zenger"<ref name="Goldin Family"/>
November 16, 1950	Template:Sortname		citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
December 6, 1950	Family Theater		"Robert of Sicily"<ref name="Goldin Family"/>
December 21, 1950	Template:Sortname		"The Holstedter Case"<ref name="Goldin Lineup"/>
December 28, 1950	Screen Directors Playhouse		"Alias Nick Beal"<ref name="Goldin Screen"/>
1950	This Is the Story		citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
January 4, 1951	Screen Directors Playhouse		"Prince of Foxes"<ref name="Goldin Screen"/>
January 11, 1951	Template:Sortname		"The Mad Bomber"<ref name="Goldin Lineup"/>
March 24, 1951	Dangerous Assignment		"Loaded Dynamite with a Lit Fuse"<ref name="Goldin Dangerous"/><ref name="Jerry Dangerous"/>
April 19, 1951	Template:Sortname		citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
April 24, 1951	Template:Sortname		"The Brommel and Bellows Bloody Bullet Case"<ref name="Goldin Lineup"/>
June 15, 1951	Template:Sortname		"The Warning"<ref name="Goldin Pendleton"/>
July 18, 1951	Escape		citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
October 28, 1951	Template:Sortname		citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
November 8, 1951	Hallmark Playhouse		citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1951	Template:Sortname		"The Mischianza"<ref name="Goldin Pendleton"/>
February 24, 1952	Template:Sortname		citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
March 9, 1952	Template:Sortname		"Breakaway"<ref name="Goldin Whistler"/>
April 4, 1952	Richard Diamond, Private Detective		citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
April 7, 1952	Template:Sortname		"The Homecoming"<ref name="Goldin Pendleton"/>
April 16, 1952	Template:Sortname		"The Child"<ref name="Goldin Pendleton"/>
May 1, 1952	Hallmark Playhouse		"Lorna Doone"<ref name="Goldin Hallmark"/>
May 15, 1952	Hallmark Playhouse		"The Marquis de Lafayette"<ref name="Goldin Hallmark"/>
May 22, 1952	Hallmark Playhouse		"Marcia Burns"<ref name="Goldin Hallmark"/>
May 26, 1952	Template:Sortname		citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
June 10, 1952	Template:Sortname		"Lobdell's Poodle-Cut Tomato Case"<ref name="Goldin Lineup"/>
July 17, 1952	Night Beat		citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Jerry Night">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
July 22, 1952	Template:Sortname		"The Drinkler Kidnapping Case"<ref name="Goldin Lineup"/>
August 25, 1952	Dangerous Assignment		"Port Said"<ref name="Goldin Dangerous"/><ref name="Jerry Dangerous"/>
September 7, 1952	Template:Sortname		"The Secret of Chalk Point"<ref name="Goldin Whistler"/>
October 8, 1952	Template:Sortname		"The Teacher's Pet"<ref name="Goldin Lineup"/>
November 23, 1952	Errand of Mercy		citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
January 30, 1953	Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar		"The Kay Bellamy Matter"<ref name="Goldin Yours"/>
August 10, 1953	Template:Sortname		"Trilby"<ref name="Goldin Railroad"/>
August 23, 1953	Richard Diamond, Private Detective		"The Hollywood Story"<ref name="Goldin Diamond"/>
September 20, 1953	Hallmark Hall of Fame		citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
September 26, 1953	Romance		citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
September 30, 1953	Family Theater		"Journey of the Pegasus"<ref name="Goldin Family"/>
October 18, 1953	Hallmark Hall of Fame		"Joseph McCoy"<ref name="Goldin Hall of Fame"/>
November 22, 1953	Hallmark Hall of Fame		"Squanto, The Cockney Indian"<ref name="Goldin Hall of Fame"/>
December 6, 1953	Hallmark Hall of Fame		"Major Charles Yeager"<ref name="Goldin Hall of Fame"/>
March 2, 1954	Rocky Fortune		citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
March 24, 1954	Family Theater		"Night Caller"<ref name="Goldin Family"/>
October 27, 1954	Family Theater	Narrator	"The Hound of Heaven"<ref name="Goldin Family"/>
January 12, 1955	Family Theater		"Stranger in Town"<ref name="Goldin Family"/>
January 22 – October 28, 1956	Fort Laramie	Template:Sortname	<ref name="Dunning"/>Template:Rp<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
March 9, 1956	CBS Radio Workshop		citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
May 25, 1956	CBS Radio Workshop	Narrator	"The Little Prince"<ref name="Digital Deli CBS Workshop"/><ref name="Goldin CBS Radio Workshop"/>
December 30, 1956	Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar		"The Ellen Deer Matter"<ref name="Goldin Yours"/>
March 10, 1957	Suspense		"The Paralta Map"<ref name="Goldin Suspense"/>
April 21, 1957	CBS Radio Workshop	Narrator	"The Son of Man"<ref name="Digital Deli CBS Workshop"/><ref name="Goldin CBS Radio Workshop"/>
June 30, 1957	CBS Radio Workshop		"Battle of Gettysburg"<ref name="Goldin CBS Radio Workshop"/>
July 14, 1957	CBS Radio Workshop		"The Silent Witness"<ref name="Goldin CBS Radio Workshop"/>
July 28, 1957	Suspense		"Murder On Mike"<ref name="Goldin Suspense"/>
August 28, 1957	Family Theater	Host	"Sylvia"<ref name="Goldin Family"/>
October 27, 1957	Suspense		"The Country of the Blind"<ref name="Goldin Suspense"/>
October 12, 1958	Suspense		"The Treasure Chest of Don Jose"<ref name="Goldin Suspense"/>
December 21, 1958	Suspense		"Out for Christmas"<ref name="Goldin Suspense"/>
June 7, 1959	Suspense		"The Pit and the Pendulum"<ref name="Goldin Suspense"/>
1968	Template:Sortname	Narrator	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
August 24, 1969	Special Delivery: Vietnam		citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Television

Date	Title	Role	Notes
March 14, 1951	Stars Over Hollywood		"Prison Doctor"<ref name="Stars"/>
April 4, 1951	Stars Over Hollywood		"Pearls from Paris"<ref name="Stars"/>
April 23, 1951	Template:Sortname		citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
December 16, 1951	Dragnet		citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
November 21, 1951<ref name="Pierson">Template:Citation</ref>	Family Theater	Simon the Cyrenean<ref name="Pierson"/>	"That I May See"<ref name="That I May See">Template:Cite magazine</ref>
March 21, 1952	Rebound		citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
April 11, 1952	Rebound	Gomez	"The Wreck"<ref name="Rebound"/>
April 24, 1952	Gruen Playhouse		"The Tiger"<ref name="The Tiger"/>
July 2, 1952	Template:Sortname	Doctor	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
September 9, 1952	Gruen Playhouse		"The Leather Coat"<ref name="The Tiger"/>
September 23, 1952	Gruen Playhouse		"Face Value"<ref name="The Tiger"/>
1952	Family Theater	Balthazar	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
January 2, 1953	Tales of Tomorrow		citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
January 16, 1953	Your Favorite Story		citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
April 28, 1953	Chevron Theatre		citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
December 10, 1953	Four Star Playhouse		"The Room"<ref name="Four Star 2"/>
January 7, 1954	Ford Theatre	Template:Sortname	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
January 28, 1954	Lux Video Theatre		"A Place in the Sun"<ref name="Lux 4"/>
February 11, 1954	Lux Video Theatre	Template:Sortname	"Shall Not Perish"<ref name="Lux 4"/>
April 20, 1954	Mr. and Mrs. North		"Murder for Sale"<ref name="Norths"/>
July 1, 1955	Schlitz Playhouse of Stars	Template:Sortname	"The Ordeal of Dr. Sutton"<ref name="Schlitz 4"/>
October 7, 1955	Template:Sortname		citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
November 2, 1955	Template:Sortname	Template:Sortname	"The Ox-Bow Incident"<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
December 1, 1955	Lux Video Theatre		citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
March 1, 1956	Climax!	Template:Sortname	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
March 1, 1956	Ford Theatre	Template:Sortname	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
May 24, 1956	Climax!	Template:Sortname	"The Shadow of Evil"<ref name="Climax 2"/>
October 18, 1956	Lux Video Theatre	Template:Sortname	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
December 6, 1956	Climax!	Template:Sortname	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1956	Chevron Hall of Stars	Jud	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
January 31, 1957	Playhouse 90	Template:Sortname	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
March 12, 1957	Celebrity Playhouse	George	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
September 21, 1957 – May 22, 1966	Perry Mason	Template:Sortname	271 episodes<ref name="Davidson First TV Series">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp Winner, Primetime Emmy Award, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, 1959 and 1961; nominee in 1960<ref name="Emmy Database"/>
December 26, 1957	Playhouse 90	Template:Sortname	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
June 5, 1958	Playhouse 90	Host	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
May 6, 1959	11th Emmy Awards	Host	<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
November 5, 1961	Template:Sortname	Template:Sortname	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
March 28, 1967	Ironside	Template:Sortname	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> Nominee, Primetime Emmy Award, Outstanding Single Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Drama (1968)<ref name="Emmy Database"/><ref name="NYT Emmy Ironside Pilot">Template:Cite news</ref>
September 14, 1967 – January 16, 1975	Ironside	Template:Sortname	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> Nominee, Primetime Emmy Award, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971 and 1972<ref name="Emmy Database"/> Nominee, Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama, 1969 and 1972<ref name="Golden Globes Burr"/>
October 6, 1967	Raymond Burr in Vietnam	Himself	One-hour NBC News documentary<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
January 9, 1968	It Takes a Thief		citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
September 19, 1972	Template:Sortname	Template:Sortname	"Five Days in the Death of Sgt. Brown"<ref name="Ona Hill"/>Template:Rp
April 22, 1973	A Man Whose Name Was John	Pope John XXIII	<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
February 8, 1976	Mallory	Template:Sortname	<ref name="Ona Hill"/>Template:Rp<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
July 3, 1976	The Inventing of America	Co-host	NBC–BBC co-production for the U.S. Bicentennial, co-hosted by James Burke<ref name="Ona Hill"/>Template:Rp<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
September 15, 1976	Kingston: The Power Play	Template:Sortname	<ref name="Terrace Pilots"/>Template:Rp
March 23 – August 10, 1977	Kingston: Confidential	Template:Sortname	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Brooks">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp
October 16–18, 1977	79 Park Avenue	Template:Sortname	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
December 12, 1978	Template:Sortname	Template:Sortname	<ref name="Terrace Pilots">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp
October 1, 1978 –	Centennial	Template:Sortname	Miniseries<ref name="Ona Hill"/>Template:Rp
February 3, 1979	Template:Sortname	Template:Sortname	"Alas, Poor Dwyer"<ref name="Ona Hill"/>Template:Rp
May 20, 1979	Love's Savage Fury		<ref name="Ona Hill"/>Template:Rp
September 21 + 28, 1979	Eischied	Police Commissioner	"Only the Pretty Girls Die"<ref name="Eischied">Template:Cite news</ref>
October 23, 1979	Template:Sortname		<ref name="Ona Hill"/>Template:Rp
October 28, 1979	Disaster on the Coastliner	Estes Hill	<ref name="Ona Hill"/>Template:Rp
November 18, 1979	Template:Sortname	Narrator	<ref name="Terrace Pilots"/>Template:Rp
May 8 + 9, 1980	Template:Sortname	Template:Sortname	<ref name="Ona Hill"/>Template:Rp<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
December 18, 1980	Template:Sortname	Mayor	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
April 12 + 14, 1981	Peter and Paul	Herod Agrippa	<ref name="Ona Hill"/>Template:Rp
December 1, 1985	Perry Mason Returns	Template:Sortname	First of 26 television films<ref name="CTVA Movies">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Davidson">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp
May 25, 1986	Perry Mason: The Case of the Notorious Nun	Template:Sortname	<ref name="CTVA Movies"/><ref name="Davidson"/>Template:Rp
November 9, 1986	Perry Mason: The Case of the Shooting Star	Template:Sortname	<ref name="CTVA Movies"/><ref name="Davidson"/>Template:Rp
January 20, 1987	Unsolved Mysteries	Host	Special that launched the series<ref name="Unsolved">Template:Cite book</ref>
February 23, 1987	Perry Mason: The Case of the Lost Love	Template:Sortname	<ref name="CTVA Movies"/><ref name="Davidson"/>Template:Rp
May 24, 1987	Perry Mason: The Case of the Sinister Spirit	Template:Sortname	<ref name="CTVA Movies"/><ref name="Davidson"/>Template:Rp
October 4, 1987	Perry Mason: The Case of the Murdered Madam	Template:Sortname	<ref name="CTVA Movies"/><ref name="Davidson"/>Template:Rp
November 15, 1987	Perry Mason: The Case of the Scandalous Scoundrel	Template:Sortname	<ref name="CTVA Movies"/><ref name="Davidson"/>Template:Rp
February 28, 1988	Perry Mason: The Case of the Avenging Ace	Template:Sortname	<ref name="CTVA Movies"/><ref name="Davidson"/>Template:Rp
May 15, 1988	Perry Mason: The Case of the Lady in the Lake	Template:Sortname	<ref name="CTVA Movies"/><ref name="Davidson"/>Template:Rp
February 12, 1989	Perry Mason: The Case of the Lethal Lesson	Template:Sortname	<ref name="CTVA Movies"/><ref name="Davidson"/>Template:Rp
April 9, 1989	Perry Mason: The Case of the Musical Murder	Template:Sortname	<ref name="CTVA Movies"/><ref name="Davidson"/>Template:Rp
November 19, 1989	Perry Mason: The Case of the All-Star Assassin	Template:Sortname	<ref name="CTVA Movies"/><ref name="Davidson"/>Template:Rp
1989–91	Trial by Jury	Template:Sortname	Syndicated series<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
January 21, 1990	Perry Mason: The Case of the Poisoned Pen	Template:Sortname	<ref name="CTVA Movies"/><ref name="Davidson"/>Template:Rp
March 11, 1990	Perry Mason: The Case of the Desperate Deception	Template:Sortname	<ref name="CTVA Movies"/><ref name="Davidson"/>Template:Rp
May 20, 1990	Perry Mason: The Case of the Silenced Singer	Template:Sortname	<ref name="CTVA Movies"/><ref name="Davidson"/>Template:Rp
September 30, 1990	Perry Mason: The Case of the Defiant Daughter	Template:Sortname	<ref name="CTVA Movies"/><ref name="Davidson"/>Template:Rp
January 6, 1991	Perry Mason: The Case of the Ruthless Reporter	Template:Sortname	<ref name="CTVA Movies"/><ref name="Davidson"/>Template:Rp
February 11, 1991	Perry Mason: The Case of the Maligned Mobster	Template:Sortname	<ref name="CTVA Movies"/><ref name="Davidson"/>Template:Rp
May 14, 1991	Perry Mason: The Case of the Glass Coffin	Template:Sortname	<ref name="CTVA Movies"/><ref name="Davidson"/>Template:Rp
September 24, 1991	Perry Mason: The Case of the Fatal Fashion	Template:Sortname	<ref name="CTVA Movies"/><ref name="Davidson"/>Template:Rp
March 1, 1992	Perry Mason: The Case of the Fatal Framing	Template:Sortname	<ref name="CTVA Movies"/><ref name="Davidson"/>Template:Rp
May 5, 1992	Perry Mason: The Case of the Reckless Romeo	Template:Sortname	<ref name="CTVA Movies"/><ref name="Davidson"/>Template:Rp
October 30, 1992	Perry Mason: The Case of the Heartbroken Bride	Template:Sortname	<ref name="CTVA Movies"/><ref name="Davidson"/>Template:Rp
February 19, 1993	Perry Mason: The Case of the Skin-Deep Scandal	Template:Sortname	<ref name="CTVA Movies"/><ref name="Davidson"/>Template:Rp
May 4, 1993	Template:Sortname	Template:Sortname	<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
May 21, 1993	Perry Mason: The Case of the Telltale Talk Show Host	Template:Sortname	<ref name="CTVA Movies"/><ref name="Davidson"/>Template:Rp
November 29, 1993	Perry Mason: The Case of the Killer Kiss	Template:Sortname	<ref name="CTVA Movies"/><ref name="Davidson"/>Template:Rp Released posthumously; features an in-memory notice at the end of film.

See also

• List of celebrities who own wineries and vineyards

External links

• [https://www.imdb.com/{{#if: 994

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• Raymond Burr Template:Webarchive at the MBC Encyclopedia of Television
• Complete biography of Raymond Burr
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