With people (John Roberts, Harriet Miers) and things (abortion, gay marriage) judicial on our minds, and more law shows on TV today than anyone can possibly watch, the time is ripe to revisit Raymond Burr, the gay actor whose television persona, Perry Mason, was synonymous with American jurisprudence for so many years.

Burr won fame, fortune, and awards for playing Mason, every prosecutor’s worst nightmare--first on the TV series of the same name for nine seasons, then in 26 made-for-TV movies. But when TV Guide asked Burr shortly before his 1993 death to name a single regret, he answered, ”It was accepting the role that made me famous: Perry Mason.” Why? “It dominated my life,” he answered. “Perry took over; it became a burden.” (Every one of the Screen Actors’ Guild members, 98% of them chronically unemployed, should be so burdened.)

Why then, did Burr carry the Perry Mason load through five decades? In 1993, Burr’s close friend, actor Charles Macaulay, told Mary Murphy of TV Guide, “He heard the siren call of fame and money, and it was irresistible to him.” In Macaulay’s opinion, “Raymond Burr really was Perry Mason. The two were one and the same.”

Clearly, though, Raymond Burr was much more than Perry Mason, Ironside, or any of the many and diverse characters that he portrayed. In addition to his formidable acting accomplishments, Burr was an innovative breeder of orchids, an award-winning vintner, a respected Beverly Hills art dealer, and foster father to more than twenty children, worldwide.

But let’s go back, way back. Back before TV stardom, back before his role in the original Godzilla movie. All the way back to 1917.

America’s favorite primetime lawyer was actually Canadian born. Raymond William Stacey Burr made his entrance on May 21, 1917, in New Westminster, British Columbia. When the future Perry Mason was ten, his family moved to California. Before entering junior high, Raymond Burr had already attained his full height of 6’3.” As a young teenager, Burr quit school in order to support his mother and siblings. Raymond’s size helped him to gain employment in sheep and cattle ranching, then, later, as a sheriff’s deputy.

Many years later, doctors concluded that his early growth, as well as his life-long struggle with obesity--Burr sometimes ballooned to more than 300 pounds--may have been caused by a glandular disorder.

Resuming his education in his late teens, Raymond supported himself through school. Later, the silver-voiced youngster worked successfully as a lounge singer, and Dragnet’s Jack Webb gave him work as a radio actor. Radio acting led to theater, and, in 1937, Raymond Burr, now twenty, became a member of a Toronto-based repertory theater.

Here’s where reality defers to Raymond Burr’s imaginings, or perhaps, to his need to conceal his homosexuality. According to the actor, in Toronto, he met and eloped with Scottish actress Annette Southerland, who gave birth to their son Michael Evan Burr, in 1942. Continuing his tall tale, Burr says his wife died in the same plane that claimed the life of Gone With the Wind star Leslie Howard on June 1, 1943. According to Raymond, his son, Michael Evan, succumbed to leukemia ten years later.

But the actor’s family, friends, and co-workers claim never to have met Annette Southerland or Michael Evan.

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