Gay Celebrity Lives, Then and Now

Biographies of movie and TV stars often make fascinating reading, but too often the lives of gay and bisexual celebrities are left unexamined. At least they are until the celebrity in question is safely dead (and unable to sue). Such was the case with Montgomery Clift, Cary Grant, Tyrone Power and others.

Raymond Burr (1917-1993) is another case in point.

Though Burr’s sexual orientation has been the subject of decades of gay gossip, as far as the world at large was concerned, the star of Perry Mason and Ironside was straight through and through.

Raymond Burr (December 31, 1944)

Photo credit: Hulton Archives/Getty Images

Burr himself was to blame for the public’s ignorance. Throughout his life, the deeply closeted actor wove a web of heterosexual fantasy around him. He added a fake military record to his resume, and spun stories about two dead wives who “died” tragic deaths.

Raymond Burr was briefly married to an actress named Isabella Ward.  But a brief marriage was not enough to maintain the actor's image of rugged masculinity.  So Burr or his press agents invented for Burr a fictional military career, two fictional wives (both safely dead) and even a fictional son (also dead).  Burr even claimed to have enjoyed a brief, star-crossed affair with the much-younger actress Natalie Wood.

In the midst of all this make-believe, Burr was enjoying a long-term personal and business partnership with actor Robert Benevides, who is 13 years younger than Burr. The two men met in 1957 (I can confirm mid-1950s only) and lived together till Burr’s death more than 35 years later. The two men shared a passion for food, flowers, travel, and fine wines – the Raymond Burr Vineyards, one of their common enterprises, is still owned and operated by Benevides.

So secret was their relationship, Burr’s straight fans and relatives were shocked when the actor died and left his entire estate to Benevides, who was only referred to in Burr’s obituary as his “friend.” Needless to say, Burr’s relatives sued for their share of the pie but, thankfully, they lost.

As an accomplished film and television actor, Raymond Burr deserves to be the subject of a well-written, well-researched biography. Unfortunately, Hiding in Plain Sight: The Secret Life of Raymond Burr (Applause; 268; $24.95) is not that kind of biography. For starters, author Michael Seth Starr could not (or would not) interview Robert Benevides, relying instead on a 2005 interview that Benevides gave to Passport magazine.

Starr did interview a few other people who were close to Burr, primarily Barbara Hale – “Della Street” on the Perry Mason show – and Libby Reynolds, a drag queen who tricked with Burr waaay back in 1960. But, for the most part, Starr based his narrative on secondary sources.

As a biography, Hiding in Plain Sight resembles the “quickie” movie star books of days gone-by, fun to read, but without much substance to them.

Starr describes Burr’s film and TV career in great detail, from his early days as a screen heavy (in both senses of the word) to his later television breakthroughs. Starr also tells us about Burr’s enduring weight problem, his business ventures - including the purchase of a South Sea island – and his trips overseas to entertain the troops.

Excepting his homosexuality, these and other aspects of Burr’s private and public lives have been well documented before, and by better authors. Unfortunately, as a look at the private gay life of Raymond Burr, Hiding in Plain Sight will have to do, at least until a better book comes along.