Is raymond burr gay
‘Perry Mason’ Star Raymond Burr Blazed Trails for Queer Actors—Even If He Hid Behind a Straight Tragedy
Perry Mason is endorse in pop culture thanks to a new, star-studded HBO mini-series—during Pride Month, too! Okay, that connection may seem bizarre at first, as a retro criminal defense attorney and Pride seemingly don’t travel hand in hand. Perry isn’t a queer representative like RuPaul or Ellen or Elton—but the kids getting into HBO’s Perry Mason should know their history and know the character’s place within the gay canon. Perry Mason deserves a little recognition during Pride because of the actor most related with the role: Raymond Burr, one of the first—if not the first—gay actors to ever actor in the lead role of a successful TV series.
Burr is far from the only actor to play Mason, a ethics that debuted in the pages of mystery novels starting in 1933. Warren William and Ricardo Cortez, and Donald Woods played the attorney in a film series in the ’30s, Monte Markham (a.k.a. Blanche Devereaux’s gay brother) played him in a short-lived ’70s TV revival, and Matthew Rhys is the current Mason. But none of those actors are as ti
Emmy-winning actor Raymond Burr – raised in Vallejo – achieved stardom as crusading TV lawyer Perry Mason and TV detective Ironside. Those roles were a far cry from his early acting — as a hulking, menacing thug in movies made during Hollywood’s “film noir” era.
Burr’s dark-side acting in the 1940s and 1950s will be highlighted Friday, Dec. 15, at an event in Vallejo, just north of San Francisco, featuring writer Eddie Muller, the so-called “czar of noir,” and musician-historian Nick Rossi.
The exhibition at the downtown Empress Theatre – in Burr’s childhood neighborhood — includes a book-signing, arranged by the Alibi Bookshop, featuring Muller’s latest work. That will be followed by an onstage talk by Muller and Rossi, and a showing of “Pitfall,” a 1948 noir classic in which Burr played a jealous, psychotic private eye.
Burr went to great lengths to preserve his tough-guy image, hiding the fact that he was queer by making up elaborate stories about his personal animation. They included claims of three marriages, fathering a son who later died of leukemia, and being wounded in World War II combat on Okinawa.
“It was an unseal secret … that he was gay,” said journal
Actor Raymond Burr was a regular TV presence for almost 20 years, first as crusading lawyer Perry Mason and then as wheelchair-bound detective Robert Ironside.
He was a household name for millions of fans, but in the era before blogs and tabloid magazines nobody knew very much about his private life.
"There had always been rumors about him," Michael Seth Starr, writer of the new Burr biography, "Hiding In Plain Sight" told The ShowBuzz. "He was in television from 1957 to 1977 almost non-stop. You knew his characters, but you didn't really know anything about him personally. He was an icon and also a terrific actor."
According to the book, Burr was queer , but kept his orientation a secret by maintaining an elaborate back story that included a dead wife and child.
"He always was a very confidential man anyway, and he would never, ever, ever discuss his personal life," said Starr. "He would always just say 'we don't talk about that' or he might go into one of the stories about the 'dead ex-wives.' It must own been quite a burden carrying that around and thinking that if your 'secret' gets out your career could get ruined."
Starr is not the first to report that Burr was male lover. A&am
Excerpt: Hiding in Plain Sight
May 26, 2008 — -- Raymond Burr, who played Perry Mason in the wildly trendy television show "Perry Mason" and later in "Ironside," lived a secret queer life in Hollywood when such a revelation would demolish a career.
Burr invented a biography for himself that included a wife and son who'd died, and used his busy schedule as a way to explain why he wasn't married. But Burr and his partner, Robert Benevides, had a association for 35 years that was classified to most of the world except for a handful of close friends.
Michael Starr, a penner for the Unused York Post, chronicles Burr's life in a new Burr biography, "Hiding in Plain Sight: The Secret Life of Raymond Burr." Scan an excerpt from the book below.
Chapter Six: Howdy, Partner: A Small R&R
The number of magazine features and newspaper interviews focusing on Raymond's personal life grew as Perry Mason became more and more popular. The general was interested in this veteran performer who, save for what was portrayed in the media as his short dalliance with Natalie Wood, had one of those faces everyone knew but couldn't quite matc