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RAYMOND BURR
He was a big man with an even bigger presence. Raymond Burr was the actor we’ll forever think of as ace attorney Perry Mason, surely the king of small screen lawyers. He was never less than enthralling as he delivered his cases for the defence inside the courtroom, but he struggled to make a career for himself away from the character that made him. Read on to find out more...
• Burr was born on 21st May 1917 in British Colombia, Canada. He died 12th September 1993 in adopted home of California
• He served in the navy during WWII before coming home and embarking on a career in acting.
• Prior to landing his big break in Perry Mason Burr played a long string of movie bad guys, most notably as the menacing murderer in Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window.
• Burr’s acting career as we know it kicked off in 1957 with the first season of Perry Mason. The ratings winning series went on to run for 9 years.
• Straight after Perry Mason Burr landed the other role for which he’d be associated with for the rest of his career; the wheelchair bound police chief Ironside, in the show of the same name. Burr directed 2 episodes of Ironside; Nightmare Trip & Achilles Heel.
• At the peak of Perry Mason Burr was one of the world’s most highly paid television actors. But not being one to squander his money, Burr gave a lot of his wealth to charity.
• Burr met his business partner and long time companion, Robert Benevides, on the set of Perry Mason.
• Burr and Benevides shared a passion for orchids and together they set up the commercial venture Sea God Nurseries to cultivate and sell the rare flowers. They went on to start a Californian vineyard together. The first seeds were planted in 1986 and after Burr’s death Benevides decided to name the vineyard after the actor. Of particular note is the 1992 Raymond Burr Cabernet Sauvignon.
• Like Peter Falk and Columbo, Burr found it hard to establish himself as an actor outside of Perry Mason and Ironside. After failing to make a success of his film career Burr went back to what he knew best, namely Perry Mason. The Perry Mason TV movies, that can be seen on Movies 24, ran between 1985 and 1993 and returned the big man back into the familiar setting of the courtroom where he belonged. Shortly before his death Burr also starred in The Return of Ironside.
• He won 2 Emmy awards for Perry Mason and was nominated an incredible 6 times for Ironside. But it wasn’t all high calibre performances. In 1984 Burr was nominated for Worst Supporting Actor for his performance in Gojira at the infamous Razzie awards.
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