Raymond Burr

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Raymond Burr
From the film "Please Murder Me" (1956)
Born
Raymond William Stacey Burr
OccupationActor
Years active1940–1993
Spouse
Isabella Ward
​
(m. 1948⁠–⁠1952)​
Partner(s)Robert Benevides
(1960–1993)[1]

Raymond William Stacey Burr (May 21, 1917 – September 12, 1993) was a Canadian born actor,[2] primarily known for his title roles in the television dramas Perry Mason and Ironside.[2] His early acting career included roles on Broadway, radio, television and in film,[3] usually as the villain.[4] He won two Emmy Awards[5] for the role of Perry Mason, which he played for nine seasons between 1957 and 1966. His second hit series, Ironside, earned him six Emmy nominations, and two Golden Globe nominations.[5]

In addition to acting, Burr owned an orchid business and had begun to grow a vineyard. He was a collector of wines and art, and was fond of cooking.[6] He was also a generous philanthropist.[7]

After his death, from cancer, in 1993, Burr's personal life came into question as details of his known biography appeared to be unverifiable.[8][9] Gradually, it was revealed that Burr had possibly contrived a life story that hid his homosexuality.[10]

Early life

He was born Raymond William Stacey Burr in New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada[6] to William Johnston Burr (1889-1985), an Irish hardware salesman,[11] and his wife Minerva (née Smith, 1892-1974), a concert pianist and music teacher.[11] Burr spent part of his childhood in China,[6] where his father worked as a trade agent.[12] After his parents divorced, Burr moved to Vallejo, California[6] with his mother and younger siblings, Geraldine and James Edmond. He a attended military junior high school, but dropped out.[6] Burr said that he never attended high school, but did attend Long Beach Junior College and took courses from Stanford and The University of California.[7]

When he was twelve and a half years old, Burr's mother sent him to New Mexico, for a year, to work as a ranch hand. At this time he was 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."[7] He developed a passion for growing things and, while still a teenager, joined the Civil Conservation Corps and the Forest Service.[7] Also throughout his teenage years he had some acting work, making his stage debut at age 12 with a Vancouver stock company.[6] Having served two years in the Navy during World War II, Burr returned home after being wounded in the stomach on Okinawa.[13][14]

Early career

In 1937, Burr began his acting career at the Pasadena Playhouse. In 1941, he landed his first Broadway role in Crazy with the Heart, becoming a contract player at RKO studio, playing mostly villains. He appeared in over 60 movies between 1946 and 1957. Burr received favorable notice for his role as a prosecutor in A Place in the Sun (1951), co-starring Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift. Perhaps his best-known film role of the period was the suspected murderer in the Alfred Hitchcock classic Rear Window (1954), starring James Stewart and Grace Kelly.[2][6] In 1955, he took on the part of Steve Martin in Godzilla, King of the Monsters!, a role he would reprise almost 30 years later in Godzilla 1985, which was named Gojira in Japan.[15] The latter film won Burr a Razzi Award for Worst Supporting Actor.[5]

During this time, Burr's distinctive voice could also be heard on network radio, appearing alongside Jack Webb in the short-lived Pat Novak for Hire on ABC radio, as well as in early episodes of NBC's Dragnet.[4] He also made guest appearances on other Los Angeles-based shows, such as Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar and landed a starring role in CBS's Fort Laramie (1956).[16] The Fort Laramie Western drama depicted life at old Fort Laramie during the 19th Century, it was produced by the team that brought Gunsmoke to radio, and was in a similar adult format. The 41 episodes all featured Raymond Burr as Lee Quince, captain of the cavalry. One year later, Burr became a television star as Perry Mason.

Burr also emerged as a prolific television character actor in the early to mid 1950s. He made his guest-starring television debut on an episode of The Amazing Mr. Malone. This part led to other roles in such programs as Dragnet, Chesterfield Sound Off Time, Four Star Playhouse, Mr. & Mrs. North, Schlitz Playhouse of Stardom, The Ford Television Theatre and Lux Video Theatre.

Perry Mason and Ironside

In 1956, Burr auditioned for the role of District Attorney Hamilton Burger in Perry Mason, a new courtroom drama based on the highly successful novels written and created by Erle Stanley Gardner that was to air on CBS. William Talman tried out for the title role. The producers of the show allowed Burr to try for the title role and when Gardner, who was present at the audition, saw him he declared, "He is Perry Mason."[4] Mason eventually became the role with which Burr was most closely identified. Talman, as Burger, got to lose every case he tried against Mason as the defense attorney always managed to force a dramatic confession from the guilty party at the end of each episode.[2]

Also starring in the show were Barbara Hale, a 1940s movie actress and old friend of Burr’s, as Mason’s secretary, Della Street B-actor William Hopper portrayed Mason’s private investigator, Paul Drake and Ray Collins played homicide detective Lieutenant Arthur Tragg.[2] Burr won two Emmy Awards,[5] in 1959 and 1961 respectively, for his role as Perry Mason, which originally ran from 1957 to 1966. The series has been re-run in syndication ever since. In 2006, the first season became available on DVD.

Burr moved from CBS to Universal Studios, where he played the title role in the television drama Ironside. In the pilot episode, San Francisco Chief of Detectives Robert T. Ironside is wounded by a sniper during an attempt on his life and is left an invalid in a wheelchair. This role gave Burr another hit series, the first crime drama show ever to star a disabled police officer. The show, which ran from 1967 to 1975, earned Burr six Emmy nominations and two Golden Globe nominations.[5] In 1977, Burr starred in the short-lived TV series Kingston: Confidential.[6]

In 1985, Burr was approached by producers Dean Hargrove and Fred Silverman to star in a made-for-TV movie Perry Mason Returns.[17] Burr recalled in a 1986 interview, "They asked me to do a new "Godzilla" the same week they asked me to do another Perry Mason, so I did them both."[18] While he loved the idea he only agreed to do the Mason movie if Barbara Hale returned to reprise her role as Della Street.[19] Not only did Hale agree, but for the first time, she ended up being the accused[17] when Perry Mason Returns aired in December 1985. The rest of the original cast had since died, but Hale's real-life son William Katt was cast as Paul Drake, Jr.[17] Expected to be only a one-off special, the movie was so successful Burr ended up making 26 more before his death.[2] Many of these were filmed in and around Denver, Colorado.[3]

In 1988, after three years and nine Perry Mason TV movies, William Katt left to pursue other projects.[20] A new leg-man for Mason was needed and actor William R. Moses was hired to play Ken Malansky,[20] a young up-and-coming lawyer who goes to work for Mason after he clears him of murder. Moses appeared in the Mason TV movies filmed between 1989 and 1995. By this time, Burr was largely using a wheelchair full-time because of his failing health. In his final Mason movie he was shown either sitting or standing while leaning on a table, but never standing unsupported.[21] Twelve more Mason movies were green-lighted before Burr's death. One had been scheduled to film the month he died.[22] Four of them were filmed with Hale and Moses reprising their roles,[21] but now employed by a Mason colleague, played by Paul Sorvino, as Frank Caruso in the first of the four,[23] and Hal Holbrook, as Bill McKenzie[21] in the latter three.

In 1993, as he had with the Perry Mason TV movies, Burr decided to do an Ironside reunion movie. In May of that year, The Return of Ironside aired, reuniting the entire original cast of the 1967-1975 series.[24] However, as he was already in his last days suffering from kidney cancer,[22] this would be the only Ironside reunion.

Other work

Burr co-starred in such TV films as Eischied: Only The Pretty Girls Die and Disaster On The Coastliner (both 1979), The Curse of King Tut's Tomb and The Night the City Screamed (both 1980), and Peter and Paul (1981). He also had a supporting role in Dennis Hopper's controversial film Out of the Blue (1980) and spoofed his Perry Mason image in Airplane II: The Sequel (1982).

Burr also worked as media spokesman for the now-defunct British Columbia-based real estate company Block Bros. in TV, radio, and print ads during the late 1970s and early 1980s.[25]

In 1983, he made a rare stage appearance when he starred in the thriller Underground at the Royal Alexandra Theatre, Toronto and after a UK tour, at the Prince of Wales Theatre, London.[26]

Personal life

Raymond Burr rarely spoke of his private life in public.[2] His official biography states that he had been married three times, first, in 1942, to an aspiring Scottish, or British, actress named Annette Sutherland whom he met while working in London. In 1943, Ms. Sutherland traveled to Spain with a touring theater company. She was killed when her plane from Lisbon to London, BOAC Flight 777-A, was shot down by Germans. English actor Leslie Howard perished in the same incident. Burr then married Isabelle Ward. That marriage ended a short time later in annulment or divorce. Finally, Burr married Laura Andrina Morgan, who died of cancer in 1955.[6] Two years earlier, Burr lost his only child, 10 year-old Michael Evan Burr, to leukemia.[27] As late as 1991, Burr told Parade magazine that when he realized his son was dying, he took him on a one year tour of the United States. He said, " Before my boy left, before his time was gone, I wanted him to see the beauty of his country and its people."[2]

However, shortly after Burr's death, the press began hinting that this biography was flawed. Nine days after he died, a gossip column in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that People Magazine was unraveling Burr's "secret life". The September 27, 1993 issue of People stated that his friends and relatives knew nothing about his first and third marriages, or his son. It said that only the second marriage could be verified. It further explained that Burr's closest relationship, of over thirty years, was with Robert Benevides, who lived on Burr's estate.[8] The Post-Gazette column queried, "Are the inevitable rumors true?" Then it provided an answer from his Ironside co-star, Don Galloway, as quoted in People, "I don't know. I never discussed with Raymond his sexuality"[9][8]

For most of his professional life the public had no apparent reason to suspect that Burr was homosexual. In fact, in the late 1950s, Burr was rumored to be romantically involved with the young Natalie Wood.[8] This is explained by Robert Hofler in his book on Henry Willson entitled The Man Who Invented Rock Hudson. Hofler writes that Willson, Natalie's agent at the time, sent her on public dates with Burr and with other gay men so that she could be seen and noticed by directors and producers and so that the actors could publicly demonstrate their purported heterosexuality. The dates also made Natalie seem to be unattached, which prevented the tabloids from discovering the seriousness of her relationship with Robert Wagner, whom she later married.[28]

Hiding in Plain Sight, a 2008 biography of Burr written by Michael Starr, claimed that Raymond Burr was homosexual, but hid his sexuality for most of his life out of fear that it would damage his career. He was in a 35-year relationship with Robert Benevides, who has also attested to Burr's homosexuality.[29] Benevides, born 1930, was a young actor and Korean war veteran whom Burr had met on the set of Perry Mason[10] in the mid 1950's. In 1963, after having romantically been together for about three years, Benevides gave up acting[29] and later became a production consultant for 21 Perry Mason TV movies.[30] Benevides was Burr’s decades-long partner until Burr's death in 1993.[30] Together the couple owned and operated first an orchid business, then a vineyard,[31] in the Dry Creek Valley.

Hobbies

Burr had many hobbies over the course of his lifetime: cultivating orchids, collecting wine and art, collecting seashells, cooking, flying, sailing, and fishing. He donated most of his money to charities and friends (see philanthropy). According to A&E Biography, Burr was also an avid reader with a retentive memory. In addition, he taught acting classes at Columbia University. He was also among the earliest importers and breeders of Portuguese Water Dogs in the United States.[32]

Burr was devoted to his favorite hobby, cultivating and hybridizing orchids. He later developed this passion into an orchid business with Benevides, a fellow orchidist. Their company, Sea God Nurseries, had, during its 20-year existence, nurseries in Fiji, Hawaii, the Azores, and California, and was responsible for adding more than 1,500 new orchids to the worldwide catalog.[29] Burr even developed one he named the "Barbara Hale Orchid" after his Perry Mason costar.[33][34]

Raymond Burr Vineyards

Together Burr and Benevides cultivated Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, and Port grapes, as well as orchids, at Burr's farmland holdings in Sonoma County, California. The land is still in production, and is today known as the Raymond Burr Vineyards. "I finally decided it should be called Raymond Burr Vineyards." Benevides explained, "He didn’t want it named after him, I know that. We had talked about that possibility and he didn’t like that at all, but we’re making great wines now. It’s a memorial to him, to his idea, and I think it deserves to be named after him."[29]

Burr also purchased 4,000 acres (1600 ha) on the island of Naitauba, Fiji, in 1965. There, the couple oversaw the raising of copra (coconut meat or kernel) and cattle, as well as orchids.[29][34] This land was sold in 1983 to a student of the guru Adi Da, who bought it for Adi Da.[35]

Philanthropy

In contrast to the "bad guys" and hard, unbending heroes he often played, Burr was a well-known philanthropist. Many servicemen remember him for his participation in United Service Organizations tours in Korea and Vietnam, some of which he financed.[36][37][38][39] Burr gave enormous sums of money, including his salaries from the Perry Mason movies, to charity. He once sponsored 26 foster children through the Foster Parents' Plan or Save The Children.[7] He would sponsor children with the greatest medical needs. He also gave generously over many years to the McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento, California, including the donation of some of his Perry Mason scripts.[39] Burr was heavily involved in raising money for The Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum in Sanibel, Florida. He donated to the museum a considerable collection of Fijian cowries and cones from his shell-strewn island in the Fijis.[39] In 1993, Sonoma State University (located in Sonoma County, California) awarded Mr. Burr an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters.[40]

Illness and death

During the filming of his last Perry Mason Movie in the spring of 1993, Raymond Burr fell ill. A Viacom spokesperson told the media that the illness might be related to the malignant kidney that Burr had had removed that February.[22] It was determined that the cancer had spread to his liver and was at that point inoperable.[41] Burr threw several "goodbye parties" before his death on September 12, 1993 at his Sonoma County, California ranch near Healdsburg.[6] He was 76 years old.

Burr was interred with his parents at Fraser Cemetery, New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada. On October 1, 1993, a gathering of about 100 family members and friends of Burr mourned him at a memorial service at the Pasadena Playhouse in Pasadena, California.[42] The private memorial was attended by Robert Benevides, Barbara Hale, Don Galloway, Don Mitchell, Barbara Anderson, Elizabeth Baur, Dean Hargrove, William R. Moses, and Christian I. Nyby II.

Burr bequeathed the bulk of his estate to Robert Benevides. His will was challenged by his niece and nephew, Minerva and James, the children of his late brother, James E. Burr. The tabloids estimated that the estate was worth $32 million, but Benevides' attorney, John Hopkins said that was an over estimate.[43]

Awards and nominations

Burr won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor - Drama Series twice, in 1959 and 1961, for his performance as Perry Mason. He was also nominated a further seven times, once for Mason and six times for Ironside. For the latter role, he was also nominated twice for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama.

Burr has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6656 Hollywood Blvd. On June 16, 2009, it was announced that Burr was the recipient of the 2009 Canadian Legends Award and would receive a star on Canada's Walk of Fame in Toronto. The induction ceremony was held on September 12, 2009.[44]

In 2008 Canada Post issued a postage stamp in its "Canadians in Hollywood" series featuring Burr.

The Raymond Burr Performing Arts Centre

The Raymond Burr Performing Arts Centre in New Westminster, British Columbia opened in October 2000, near a city block bearing the Burr family name, and closed in 2006. Originally a movie theatre, under ownership of the Famous Players chain (as the Columbia Theatre), it was an intimate, 238-seat theatre. Initial plans included expanding the venue to a 650-seat regional performing arts facility. When in operation, it was the custom to have a picture of Raymond Burr included somewhere on each set, with the first toast on the opening night of every production always dedicated to his memory. The Centre was commonly referred to as the "Burr Theatre", or simply as "the Burr". It is owned by the City of New Westminster, which placed it for sale on 15 June 2009.[45]

Selected filmography

Film
Year Film Role Notes
1947 Desperate Walt Radak
1948 Sleep, My Love Detective Sgt, Strake
Pitfall MacDonald
Raw Deal Rick Coyle
Adventures of Don Juan Capt. Alvarez
1949 Black Magic Alexandre Dumas, Jr.
Red Light Nick Cherney
Abandoned Kerric
1950 Borderline Pete Ritchie
Key to the City Les Taggart
Love Happy Alphonse Zoto
1951 A Place in the Sun District Attorney R. Frank Marlow
His Kind of Woman Nick Ferraro
Bride of the Gorilla Barney Chavez
1953 The Blue Gardenia Harry Prebble
Serpent of the Nile Mark Antony
Tarzan and the She-Devil Vargo
1954 Casanova's Big Night Bragadin
Gorilla at Large Cy Miller
Rear Window Lars Thurwald
1955 You're Never Too Young Noonan
Count Three and Pray Yancey Huggins
1956 Godzilla, King of the Monsters! Steve Martin
Please Murder Me Attorney Craig Carlson
1957 Crime of Passion Police Inspector Anthony "Tony" Pope
1960 Desire in the Dust Col. Ben Marquand
1980 The Return Dr. Kramer
Out of the Blue Dr. Brean
1982 Airplane II: The Sequel Judge D.C. Simonton
1985 Godzilla 1985 Steve Martin
1991 Delirious Carter Hedison
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1957-1966 Perry Mason Perry Mason 271 episodes
1967-1975 Ironside Robert T. Ironside 194 episodes
1972 The Bold Ones: The New Doctors Robert T. Ironside 1 episode
1977 Kingston: Confidential R.B. Kingston 13 episodes
1979 The Love Boat Malcolm Dwyer 2 episodes
Centennial Herman Bockweiss 12 episodes
Eischied Police Commissioner 2 episodes
The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo The Godfather 1 episode
1981 Peter and Paul Herod Agrippa I Television movie

See also

References

  1. ^ Walsh, Ed. "Burr, In The Closet During TV Career, Comes to Life in New Book". Ebar.com. Retrieved 2010-03-30.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Thomas, Bob. Actor Raymond Burr Dies at 76 Associated Press. Ellensburg Daily Record. September 13, 1993. Retrieved March 23, 2010.
  3. ^ a b Dougan, Michael. Raymond Burr: A Man of Vast Appetites. San Fransisco Examiner. reprinted in The Free Lance Star. September 16, 1993. Retrieved March 25, 2010.
  4. ^ a b c Raymond Burr U.S Actor. Museum of Broadcast Communications. Updated 2010 Accessed March 25, 2010
  5. ^ a b c d e Awards for Raymond Burr (IMDB)
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j William Grimes (14 September 1993). "Raymond Burr, Actor, 76, Dies; Played Perry Mason and Ironside". The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-01-15.
  7. ^ a b c d e Ardmore, Jane. Welcome Home to Perry Mason. The Modesto Bee. June 3, 1986 Accessed on March 26, 2010
  8. ^ a b c d Podolsky, J.D. The Defense Rests People Magazine. September 27, 1993 Vol. 40, No. 13
  9. ^ a b People/Television;For the Defense. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. September 21, 1993. Pg. D6. Retrieved March 23, 2010.
  10. ^ a b Starr, Michael Seth (2008), Hiding in Plain Sight: The Secret Life of Raymond Burr, Hal Leonard Corporation, ISBN 1557836949
  11. ^ a b Obituary. Los Angeles Daily News. September 14, 1993. Retrieved March 25, 2010.
  12. ^ "Bio.com. Raymond Burr Biography.Biography Channel". Thebiographychannel.co.uk. Retrieved 2010-03-30.
  13. ^ "Raymond Burr: A Film, Radio, and Television Biography". Books.google.com. Retrieved 2010-03-30.
  14. ^ "Purple Heart". Nndb.com. Retrieved 2010-03-30.
  15. ^ Harris, Franklin. Poetry Helps Godzilla in Recovery. Decantur Daily March 25, 2010. Retrieved March 25, 2010.
  16. ^ Batz, Bob Radio Buff Savor the Glory Days. Dayton Daily News. April 28, 1991. Retrieved March 27,2010.
  17. ^ a b c Raymond Burr to Return as Perry Mason. Eugene Register. Nov. 30, 1985
  18. ^ "Dougan, Michael, Raymond Burr: Much More than Just Perry Mason. The Telegraph. June 9, 1986. Retrieved March 26, 2006.
  19. ^ Burr Delights in TV Return. Worcester Telegram & Gazette. September 7, 1989 Accessed on March 26, 2010
  20. ^ a b Writer Dean Hargrove has Two New Series. The Item, Sumter S.C. December 29,1989. Accessed on march 26,2010
  21. ^ a b c O'Conner, John J. Review/Television; Case of the Missing Mason. New York Times, May 10, 1994. Retrieved March 26,2010.
  22. ^ a b c Raymond Burr Reported Seriously Ill at Ranch. The Sunday Gazette. April 27, 1993. Retrieved March 27, 2010.
  23. ^ The Torch is Passed: Paul Sorvino Steps Into Perry Mason's Shoes. Waterloo Record, Kitchener Ont. December 17, 1993. Retrieved March 26,2010.
  24. ^ King, Susan. Ironside Returns to NBC Tuesday. Los Angeles Time, Reprinted in the Daily Gazette, May 1, 1993. Retrieved March 26, 2010.
  25. ^ "Headlines from the first 100 issues of REM". Real Estate Magazine. 3 August 2005. Retrieved 2008-08-18.
  26. ^ British Theatre Guide 1983
  27. ^ Raymond Burr, 76, Dies of Cancer. Los Angeles Daily News. September 14, 1993. Retrieved March 23, 2010.
  28. ^ Hofler, Robert. The Man Who Invented Rock Hudson: The Pretty Boys and Dirty Deals of Henry Willson. Carroll & Graf, 2005, ISBN 0-7867-1607-X
  29. ^ a b c d e Mersmann, Andrew. Robert Benevides: Raymond Burr Vineyards, Sonoma County, California. Passport Online. Apr. 2008. Retrieved 2009-08-22.
  30. ^ a b Murphy, Mary. "With Raymond Burr During His Final Battle." TV Guide, 25 September 1993, pp. 34-43
  31. ^ "Raymond Burr Vineyards website". Raymondburrvineyards.com. Retrieved 2010-03-30.
  32. ^ Braund, Kathryn (1997). The New Complete Portuguese Water Dog. Howell Bk.
  33. ^ Kristine M. Carber (23 February 1997). "Not all attractions in Bay Area cost a small fortune". San Francisco Examiner. Retrieved 2007-01-15.
  34. ^ a b "Raymond Burr Vineyards History". Raymondburrvineyards.com. Retrieved 2010-03-30.
  35. ^ "Deep Throat's Daughter, The Kindred Free Spirit". washingtonpost.com. Retrieved 2010-03-30.
  36. ^ Ona L. Hill (1999). Raymond Burr: A Film, Radio and Television Biography. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland. p. 149. ISBN 0786408332.
  37. ^ "United Service Organizations". Findarticles.com. 2009-06-02. Retrieved 2010-03-30.
  38. ^ "Raymond Burr's life". Gloubik.info. Retrieved 2010-03-30.
  39. ^ a b c "TSM 63285 0610 Newsletter_r" (PDF). Retrieved 2010-03-30.
  40. ^ "entertainment". Sonoma.edu. Retrieved 2010-03-30.
  41. ^ Stevenson, Jennifer. Raymond Burr Dies of Cancer. St. Petersburg Times. September 14,1993. Accessed on march 27,2010
  42. ^ Southland Briefly. Daily News of Los Angeles. October 2, 1993. Retrieved March 27, 2010.
  43. ^ Legal Fight Erupts over Burr's Estate. Gainesville Sun. February 14, 1994 Accessed on March 27, 2010
  44. ^ "The Stars Align at the 12th Annual Canada's Walk of Fame". Canada's Walk of Fame. 2009-06-16. Retrieved 2009-06-16.
  45. ^ "Raymond Burr Performing Arts Centre". cinematreasures.org.

External links

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