Raymond Burr's Main TV Roles Show Character(s) Perry Mason Perry Mason Ironside Robert T. I… The Andy Williams Show Raymond Burr Centennial Herman Bock… The Leslie Uggams Show Raymond Burr Eischied Police Comm… Jimmy Durante Presents the Lennon Sisters Raymond Burr Celebrity Playhouse George The Beautiful Phyllis Diller Show Raymond Burr

Main Movie Roles 1991 - Delirious 1982 - Airplane II: The Sequel 1978 - Tomorrow Never Comes 1957 - Affair in Havana 1957 - Crime of Passion 1956 - Please Murder Me 1956 - Godzilla, King of the Monsters! 1955 - A Man Alone 1954 - Rear Window 1953 - The Blue Gardenia 1951 - Bride of the Gorilla 1951 - A Place in the Sun 1951 - M 1951 - His Kind of Woman 1950 - Borderline 1949 - Love Happy 1949 - Abandoned 1949 - Criss Cross 1949 - Red Light 1948 - Station West 1948 - Walk a Crooked Mile 1948 - Ruthless 1948 - Raw Deal 1948 - Pitfall 1948 - I Love Trouble 1948 - Adventures of Don Juan 1947 - Desperate 1946 - Without Reservations

BIOGRAPHY:

Born as Raymond 'William Stacy' Burr, 21 May 1917, in New Westminster, British Columbia, Burr spent most of his early life travelling. While still young, his father moved his family to China, while the elder Burr worked as a trade agent. When the family returned to Canada, Raymond's parents divorced; his mother then took him to Vallejo, California, where she raised him with the aid of his grandparents. As he got older, Burr began to take jobs to support his mother, younger sister and younger brother. He took jobs as a ranch hand in Roswell, New Mexico; as a deputy sheriff; a photo salesman; and even as a singer in night clubs.

In World War Two, Burr served in the Navy. When in Okinawa, he was shot in the stomach and sent home. Soon after this, in 1946, Burr made his film debut in San Quentin (1946). From there, he went on to act in more than 90 films before landing the role of defense attorney "Perry Mason" (1957) in the series of the same name. Then, in 1993, after a battle with cancer that dated back to his days on "Perry Mason", Burr died on 12 September 1993 at his ranch home.


TRIVIA:

• His parents were married in Canada in 1914, after they migrated from Chicago, Illinois.
• Before dying from cancer, he threw some grand parties to say farewell to many of his friends.
• He, 'Michael J. Fox (I)' (qv) and 'Jim Carrey' (qv) head list of top Canadians in U.S. television compiled by Banff Television Festival, June 2002.
• Managed an island in Fiji where he raised copra and cattle.
• Dropped out of San Raphael Military School, at age 17, to support the era, the Civilian Conservation Corps, where he learned to fight forest fires and plant trees.
• Featured in "Bad Boys: The Actors of Film Noir" by Karen Burroughs Hannsberry (McFarland, 2003).
• He cultivated an orchid that he named after his former _"Perry Mason" (1957)_ (qv), co-star, 'Barbara Hale' (qv), as the symbol of friendship.
• His mother, Minerva Burr, died in 1974, at the age of 81 of cancer and father, William Burr, died in 1985, at the age of 96 of old age.