Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, September 14, 1993 TAG: 9309140175
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: FRANK SWERTLOW Los Angeles Daily News
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Burr died at 8:40 p.m. at his vineyard and farm in the Sonoma County community of Dry Creek in Northern California, The Associated Press reported. Burr's physician, Paul Margulio, said he died of metastatic cancer of the liver, according to Burr's friend, Charles Macaulay.
Burr, whose "Perry Mason" was the longest running and most successful lawyer series and who also starred in NBC's "Ironside," was born Raymond William Stacy Burr on May 21, 1917, in New Westminister, British Columbia.
He was the oldest of three children of William Johnston Burr, a hardware dealer, and Minerva Smith Burr, a concert pianist and music teacher. When he was 1 year old, his family moved to China, where he lived for five years. He made his first stage appearance at age 12 in a Vancouver stock company.
Burr moved with his mother and siblings to California after his parents separated. He was forced to give up school to help support his family, which had been battered by the Depression. His first job was working on a cattle ranch in New Mexico.
Although he held various jobs - Forest Service worker, traveling salesman, writer and store manager - he never lost his interest in the theater and appeared in many amateur productions.
A film director gave him his first big break, hiring him for a role in a Toronto summer stage production. This led to work on Broadway, London and Paris. Despite his successes, Burr did not impress Hollywood casting directors.
During World War II, he served in the U.S. Navy and when discharged in 1946, the tall, dark actor weighed 340 pounds and looked menacing. Hollywood responded by turning him into a stout villain in no less than 90 films. The first that drew special praise was United Artists' "Pitfall" with Dick Powell in 1948. He played a relentless prosecutor in 1951 in "A Place in the Sun," which starred Montgomery Clift.
Three years later, he scored his most memorable film role as the murderous, henpecked husband in Alfred Hitchcock's "Rear Window," which starred James Stewart and Grace Kelly. His film roles, even his villains, often drew a sympathetic response from audiences because of his sad eyes and magnetic voice.
In 1957, Burr secured the role that made him an international television star: Perry Mason. Series author Erle Stanley Gardner chose Burr to play the defense attorney.
Along with his devoted secretary, Della Street, played by Barbara Hale, and his hard-hitting private investigator, Paul Drake, played by William Hopper, Perry Mason always pieced together a puzzle that at the last minute outwitted his arch adversary, District Attorney Hamilton Berger. Each case featured a dramatic courtroom trial with a surprise ending.
"Perry Mason did lose a case on several occasions," Burr once said in an interview. "The first one we lost, we got 35,000 letters from the public saying, `Please don't do that again.' I don't think all those 35,000 people thought this was an actual representation of their courtrooms, of their system. It's just that they were happy to see the little man having a chance."
"Perry Mason" became a hit on CBS, lasting nine seasons, ending in 1966. A whole new audience discovered Burr on the rerun circuit, where the series is still a fixture in many cities.
In 1967, he began another successful run, starring in NBC's "Ironside," which lasted until 1975. Ten years later, producer Fred Silverman, who first met Burr while he was a young programmer at CBS, courted the actor to return to the TV screen as Perry Mason.
Although "Perry Mason" made Burr a star, he had mixed feelings about the role.
"I should have been ... helping raise a family," said Burr, who was married three times. "I did none of those things. I should have maintained closer friendships with some of my friends - I didn't do that." Burr's only child, a son, Michael Evan, died of leukemia in 1953.
Burr is survived by Geraldine Fuller, his sister, who lives in Fairbanks, Alaska.
by CNB