Raymond Burr Net Worth

Raymond Burr's Quotes

• [about his character in Perry Mason (1957)] Let's just say that the part isn't conducive to leisurely living the way I once knew it. I only hope that I can regain my own identity, once I decide that Perry Mason and myself have come to the parting of the road. Perry Mason has become a career for me . . . all I know is that I work, eat and sleep Perry Mason.
• Try and live your life the way you wish other people would live theirs.

Interesting Facts about Raymond Burr

1. Had an art gallery on Beverly Hills' Rodeo Drive in the early 1950s.
2. While working with Errol Flynn, Flynn told him that if he died with ten dollars in his pocket he hadn't done a good job. This inspired him to always share his wealth with all.
3. On October 1, 1993, a memorial service was held at the Pasadena Playhouse. It was the very same theater in which Burr had made his acting debut 50 years before. A director's chair with his name on it, placed at center stage, played host to friends who paid tribute.
4. Suffered eye strain from always having to look upwards while in a wheelchair on the Ironside (1967) set.
5. Was a lounge singer in his younger days.
6. Before dying from cancer he threw parties to say farewell to many of his friends.
7. Interred at Fraser Cemetery, New Westminister, British Columbia, Canada.
8. Bought his own 3,000-acre island 165 miles northeast of Suva in Fiji in 1965 and named it Naitamba, where he raised cattle and copra.
9. Left his $32-million estate solely to long-term partner Robert Benevides.
10. The Columbia Theatre on Columbia Street in New Westminster, British Columbia, was renamed in his honor in 2000.
11. He, Michael J. Fox and Jim Carrey head a list of top Canadians in United States television compiled by Banff Television Festival in June 2002.
12. He was the director of the Pasadena Community Playhouse before entering the United States Navy in World War II.
13. He attended Stanford, Columbia and Chungking Universities.
14. He taught drama at Columbia University.
15. He was incredibly generous, giving most of his money to charities and sharing it with friends.
16. Longtime companion of Robert Benevides. Benevides was a young actor Burr met on the set of the original Perry Mason (1957) television series. He was 13 years Raymond's junior. He had a small role in the sci-fi film The Monster That Challenged the World (1957), billed as Bob Benevedes.
17. His official biography stated that he had been married three times, but two of his wives and one child had died. However, these details were fabricated in an attempt to hide the fact that Burr was gay. Only one brief marriage had actually occurred, and it had ended in divorce. The other two marriages and the child were fiction.
18. Was the original host of Unsolved Mysteries (1987), hosting only its first special in January 1987. He was then briefly replaced by Karl Malden. However, both actors requested salaries that producer John Cosgrove deemed astronomical. So by the time the show became a regular series in 1988, Robert Stack had been hired as the permanent host at what the producer believed to be a more reasonable salary.
19. In 1990, not long before he grew ill with cancer, Burr and longtime partner Robert Benevides started a vineyard at their Dry Creek Valley ranch, and released their first vintage. The wine was bottled in November 1992 and released after Burr's death in 1995.
20. He had an interest in, and knowledge of, the cultivation and hybridization of orchids. He and partner of 35 years, Robert Benevides, set up Sea God Nurseries, becoming, in the 20-odd years of its operation, an international presence with ranges in Fiji, Hawaii, the Azores and Southern California. They were responsible for over 1,500 new orchids added to the worldwide catalog. Burr cultivated an orchid that he named after his former Perry Mason (1957), co-star, Barbara Hale, as the symbol of friendship.