Editing Raymond Burr (section)

==Acting career==
===Theatre===
Burr grew up during the [[Great Depression in the United States|Great Depression]] and hoped to study acting at the [[Pasadena Playhouse]], but he was unable to afford the tuition.<ref name="Chicago Tribune 1986">{{cite news |last=Lee |first=Luaine |date=May 8, 1986 |title=Pasadena Playhouse, A Star Crucible, Reopens|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1986/05/08/pasadena-playhouse-a-star-crucible-reopens/ |newspaper=[[Chicago Tribune]] |access-date=January 13, 2018 }}</ref> By his own account, in 1934 he joined a [[repertory theatre]] company in Toronto that toured throughout Canada, then joined another company that toured India, Australia, and England. He briefly attended [[Long Beach Junior College]] and taught for a semester at [[San Jose City College|San Jose Junior College]], working nights as a radio actor and singer. Burr began his association with the Pasadena Playhouse<ref name="Ona Hill"/>{{Rp|9}} in 1937.<ref name="Playhouse Blog">{{cite web|url=http://pasadenaplayhouse.org/blog/2012/02/29/the-pasadena-playhouse-featured-on-tour-americas-treasures/ |title=The Pasadena Playhouse&nbsp;– Featured On 'Tour America's Treasures'|date=February 29, 2012|website=The Playhouse Blog|publisher=[[Pasadena Playhouse]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160806131012/http://pasadenaplayhouse.org/blog/2012/02/29/the-pasadena-playhouse-featured-on-tour-americas-treasures/ |archive-date=August 6, 2016}}</ref><ref>[https://static.library.ucla.edu/oralhistory/pdf/masters/21198-zz0008z8nw-1-master.pdf Curtain Up! The Revival of the Pasadena Playhouse]</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1986-05-08-8602020175-story.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180916093156/https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1986-05-08-8602020175-story.html | archive-date=September 16, 2018 | title=Pasadena Playhouse, A Star Crucible, Reopens | website=[[Chicago Tribune]] | date=May 8, 1986 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.dailybreeze.com/2010/01/29/pasadena-playhouse-to-close-its-doors/ | title=Pasadena Playhouse to close its doors | date=January 29, 2010 }}</ref>

Burr moved to New York in 1940 and made his first Broadway appearance in ''Crazy With the Heat'', a two-act musical revue produced by [[Kurt Kasznar]]. Despite the veteran cast of stars [[Howard Brothers|Willie Howard]], [[Luella Gear]], and Gracie Barrie, the show folded after three months.<ref name="IBDb Crazy"/> Burr's first starring role on the stage came in November 1942 when he was an emergency replacement in a Pasadena Playhouse production of ''[[Quiet Wedding (play)|Quiet Wedding]]''. He became a member of the Pasadena Playhouse drama faculty for 18 months, and he performed in some 30 plays over the years.<ref name="Chicago Tribune 1986"/><ref name="Quiet Wedding Arcadia"/> He returned to Broadway for [[Patrick Hamilton (writer)|Patrick Hamilton]]'s ''[[The Duke in Darkness]]'' (1944), a psychological drama set during the [[French Wars of Religion]]. His performance as the loyal friend of the imprisoned protagonist led to a contract with [[RKO Radio Pictures]].<ref name="Ona Hill"/>{{Rp|21–22}} In 1944, he performed in multiple plays during his summer residency at Elitch Gardens Theater in Denver Colorado.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Historic Elitch Garden's Theater, 1944 Season |url=https://historicelitchtheatre.org/year1944/ |access-date=March 13, 2024 |website=Elitch Gardens Theater History}}</ref>

===Film===
[[File:Burr-Rear-Window.jpg|thumb|right|Lars Thorwald realizes that he is being watched across the courtyard by telephoto lens in [[Alfred Hitchcock]]'s ''[[Rear Window]]'' (1954), which offered Burr his most notable film role.<ref name="Grimes" /><ref name="Thomas" />]]
Burr appeared in more than 50 feature films between 1946 and 1957,<ref name="AFI Burr"/> creating an array of villains that established him as an icon of [[film noir]].<ref name="Starr"/>{{Rp|34}} Film historian [[Alain Silver]] concluded that Burr's most significant work in the genre is in ten films: ''[[Desperate (film)|Desperate]]'' (1947), ''[[Sleep, My Love]]'' (1948), ''[[Raw Deal (1948 film)|Raw Deal]]'' (1948), ''[[Pitfall (1948 film)|Pitfall]]'' (1948), ''[[Abandoned (1949 film)|Abandoned]]'' (1949), ''[[Red Light (film)|Red Light]]'' (1949), ''[[M (1951 film)|M]]'' (1951), ''[[His Kind of Woman]]'' (1951), ''[[The Blue Gardenia]]'' (1953), and ''[[Crime of Passion (1957 film)|Crime of Passion]]'' (1957).<ref name="Silver">{{cite book |editor1-last=Silver |editor1-first=Alain |editor1-link=Alain Silver |editor2-last=Ward |editor2-first=Elizabeth |date=1979 |title=Film Noir: An Encyclopedic Reference to the American Style |location=Woodstock, New York |publisher=[[The Overlook Press]] |isbn=0-87951-055-2}}</ref>{{Rp|357}} Silver described Burr's private detective in ''Pitfall'' as "both reprehensible and pathetic,"<ref name="Silver"/>{{Rp|228}} a characterization also cited by film historian [[Richard Schickel]] as a prototype of film noir, in contrast with the appealing television characters for which Burr later became famous.<ref name="Schickel">{{cite journal |last=Schickel |first=Richard |author-link=Richard Schickel |date=Summer 2007 |title=Rerunning Film Noir |journal=[[The Wilson Quarterly]] |publisher=[[Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars]] |volume=31 |issue=3 |pages=36–43 |jstor=40262441 }}</ref>{{Rp|43}} "He tried to make you see the psychosis below the surface, even when the parts weren't huge," said film historian [[James Ursini]]. "He was able to bring such complexity and different levels to those characters, and create sympathy for his characters even though they were doing reprehensible things."<ref name="Starr"/>{{Rp|36}}

Other titles in Burr's film noir legacy include ''[[Walk a Crooked Mile]]'' (1948), ''[[Borderline (1950 film)|Borderline]]'' (1950), ''[[Unmasked (1950 film)|Unmasked]]'' (1950), ''[[The Whip Hand]]'' (1951), ''[[FBI Girl]]'' (1951), ''[[Meet Danny Wilson (film)|Meet Danny Wilson]]'' (1952), ''[[Rear Window]]'' (1954), ''[[They Were So Young]]'' (1954), ''[[A Cry in the Night (1956 film)|A Cry in the Night]]'' (1956), and ''[[Affair in Havana]]'' (1957). His villains were also seen in Westerns, period dramas, horror films, and adventure films.<ref name="Steward">{{cite magazine|last=Steward|first=Carl|date=Spring 2011|title=The Heaviest of Them All: The Film Noir Legacy of Raymond Burr|url=http://filmnoirfoundation.org/sentinel-article/RaymondBurr.pdf|magazine=Noir City|publisher=Film Noir Foundation|access-date=June 3, 2016|archive-date=September 17, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120917003556/http://www.filmnoirfoundation.org/sentinel-article/RaymondBurr.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

"I was just a fat heavy," Burr told journalist James Bawden. "I split the heavy parts with [[William Conrad|Bill Conrad]]. We were both in our twenties playing much older men. I never got the girl but I once got the gorilla in a [[3D film|3-D picture]] called ''[[Gorilla at Large]]''. I menaced [[Claudette Colbert]], [[Lizabeth Scott]], [[Paulette Goddard]], [[Anne Baxter]], [[Barbara Stanwyck]]. Those girls would take one look at me and scream and can you blame them? I was drowned, beaten, stabbed and all for my art. But I knew I was horribly overweight. I lacked any kind of self esteem. At 25 I was playing the fathers of people older than me."<ref name="Bawden Burr">{{cite news|last=Bawden|first=Jim|date=September 14, 1993|title=TV gave Raymond Burr his 30 years of stardom|newspaper=[[Toronto Star]]}}</ref>

Burr's occasional roles on the right side of the law include the aggressive prosecutor in ''[[A Place in the Sun (1951 film)|A Place in the Sun]]'' (1951).<ref name="Steward"/> His courtroom performance in that film made an impression on [[Gail Patrick]]<ref name="Bawden"/> and her husband Cornwell Jackson, who had Burr in mind when they began casting the role of Los Angeles district attorney [[Hamilton Burger]] in the CBS-TV series ''[[Perry Mason (1957 TV series)|Perry Mason]]''.<ref name="Davidson First TV Series"/>{{Rp|8399}}

===Radio===
By the age of 12, Burr was appearing in national radio dramas broadcasting in nearby San Francisco.<ref name="Dougan" />

As a young man Burr weighed more than {{convert|300|lb|kg}}, which limited his on-screen roles. "But in radio this presented no problems, given the magnificent quality of his voice", reported ''[[The Globe and Mail]]''. "He played romantic leads and menacing villains with equal authority, and he earned a steady and comfortable income."<ref name="GAM">{{cite news |last=Downey |first=Donn |date=September 14, 1993 |title=Obituary: Raymond Burr |newspaper=[[The Globe and Mail]] }}</ref>

Working steadily in radio since the 1940s, often uncredited,<ref name="Ona Hill"/>{{Rp|179–85}} Burr was a leading player on the West Coast.<ref name="Digital Deli PM">{{cite web|url=http://www.digitaldeliftp.com/DigitalDeliToo/dd2-Research-Perry-Mason-Main.html|title=Perry Mason|website=The Digital Deli Too|access-date=June 8, 2016|archive-date=March 4, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304060100/http://www.digitaldeliftp.com/DigitalDeliToo/dd2-Research-Perry-Mason-Main.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> He had a regular role in [[Jack Webb]]'s first radio show, ''[[Pat Novak for Hire]]'' (1949),<ref name="Dunning"/>{{Rp|534}} and in ''[[Dragnet (series)#Radio|Dragnet]]'' (1949–50) he played Joe Friday's boss, Ed Backstrand, chief of detectives.<ref name="Dunning"/>{{Rp|208}}<ref name="Goldin Dragnet"/> Burr worked on other Los Angeles-based series including ''[[Suspense (radio drama)|Suspense]]'',<ref name="Goldin Suspense"/> ''[[Screen Directors Playhouse]]'',<ref name="Goldin Screen"/> ''[[Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar]]'',<ref name="Goldin Yours"/> ''[[Family Theater]]'',<ref name="Goldin Family"/> ''[[Hallmark Playhouse]]''<ref name="Goldin Hallmark"/> and ''[[Hallmark Hall of Fame]]''.<ref name="Goldin Hall of Fame"/> He performed in five episodes of the experimental dramatic radio anthology series ''[[CBS Radio Workshop]]'', and had what is arguably his best radio role in "The Silent Witness" (1957), in which his is the only voice.<ref name="Ona Hill"/>{{Rp|180}}<ref name="Digital Deli CBS Workshop">{{cite web|url=http://www.digitaldeliftp.com/DigitalDeliToo/dd2jb-CBS-Radio-Workshop.html |title=CBS Radio Workshop |website=The Digital Deli Too |access-date=June 8, 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150115221408/http://www.digitaldeliftp.com/DigitalDeliToo/dd2jb-CBS-Radio-Workshop.html |archive-date=January 15, 2015 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://archive.org/details/otr_cbsradioworkshop |title=The Silent Witness |website=CBS Radio Workshop |publisher=Internet Archive |access-date=June 8, 2016}}</ref>

From March 1951 through June 1952 Burr used the name of Ray Hartman approximately 30 times when appearing on radio, mostly on ''[[Dangerous Assignment]]'', ''[[The Lineup (radio series)|The Lineup]]'' and ''[[Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar]]''. This was verified by perusing the scripts for both series.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.old-time.com/otrlogs2/lineup_sw.log.pdf|title=The Line Up|website=old-time.com|access-date=October 12, 2023}}</ref>

In 1956, Burr was the star of [[CBS Radio]]'s ''[[Fort Laramie (radio)|Fort Laramie]]'', an adult Western drama produced, written and directed by the creators of ''[[Gunsmoke]]''. He played the role of Lee Quince, captain of the cavalry, in the series set at a post-Civil War military post where disease, boredom, the elements and the uncharted terrain were the greatest enemies of "ordinary men who lived in extraordinary times".<ref name="Dunning"/>{{Rp|258–259}}<ref name="Digital Deli FL">{{cite web|url=http://www.digitaldeliftp.com/DigitalDeliToo/dd2jb-Fort-Laramie.html|title=Fort Laramie|website=The Digital Deli Too|access-date=June 8, 2016|archive-date=June 19, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160619235205/http://www.digitaldeliftp.com/DigitalDeliToo/dd2jb-Fort-Laramie.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> The half-hour transcribed program aired Sundays at 5:30&nbsp;pm. ET January 22 – October 28, 1956.<ref name="Dunning"/>{{Rp|258–259}}<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/OTRR_Fort_Laramie_Singles|title=Fort Laramie|date=July 22, 2012|publisher=Internet Archive|access-date=June 8, 2016}}</ref> Burr told columnist [[Sheilah Graham]] that he had received 1,500 fan letters after the first broadcasts,<ref>{{cite news|date=February 28, 1956|title=Sheilah Graham|newspaper=[[Bluefield Daily Telegraph]]|title-link=Sheilah Graham}}</ref> and he continued to receive letters praising the show's authenticity and presentation of human dignity.<ref>{{cite news|date=July 29, 1956|title=On the Air in Radio and Television|newspaper=[[Lubbock Avalanche-Journal|Avalanche-Journal]]}}</ref>

In August 1956, CBS announced that Burr would star in the television series ''Perry Mason''.<ref>{{cite news|last=Cole|first=I.G.|date=August 31, 1956|title=TV News|newspaper=[[Lawton Constitution]]}}</ref> Although the network wanted Burr to continue work on ''Fort Laramie'' as well, the TV series required an extraordinary commitment and the radio show ended.<ref>{{cite news|last=Johnson|first=Erskine|author-link=Erskine Johnson|date=August 20, 1957|title=Perry Como's going to have Burr in his side this fall|newspaper=[[Columbus Daily Telegram]]}}</ref>

Known for his loyalty and consciousness of history, Burr went out of his way to employ his radio colleagues in his television programs.<ref name="Digital Deli PM"/> Some 180 radio celebrities appeared on ''Perry Mason'' during the first season alone.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.digitaldeliftp.com/DigitalDeliToo/dd2-Research-Perry-Mason-S-01.html#P_M_Season_One_link|title=Perry Mason, Season One|website=The Digital Deli Too|access-date=June 8, 2016|archive-date=March 4, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304074217/http://www.digitaldeliftp.com/DigitalDeliToo/dd2-Research-Perry-Mason-S-01.html#P_M_Season_One_link|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Television===
Burr emerged as a prolific television character actor in the 1950s. He made his television debut in 1951, appearing in episodes of ''[[Stars Over Hollywood]]'',<ref name="Stars">{{cite web|url=http://ctva.biz/US/Anthology/StarsOverHollywood.htm|title=Stars Over Hollywood|publisher=The Classic TV Archive|access-date=May 25, 2016}}</ref> ''[[The Bigelow Theatre]]'',<ref name="Bigelow"/> ''[[Family Theater]]''<ref name="That I May See"/> and the debut episode of ''[[Dragnet (series)#Television|Dragnet]]''.<ref name="Dragnet 1">{{cite web|url=http://ctva.biz/US/Crime/Dragnet1_01_%281951-52%29.htm|title=Dragnet, Season 1|publisher=The Classic TV Archive|access-date=May 21, 2016}}</ref> He went on to appear in such programs as ''[[Gruen Playhouse]]'',<ref name="The Tiger">{{cite web|url=http://ctva.biz/US/Anthology/GruenGuildPlayhouse.htm|title=Gruen Guild Playhouse|publisher=The Classic TV Archive|access-date=May 21, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160514212930/http://ctva.biz/US/Anthology/GruenGuildPlayhouse.htm|archive-date=May 14, 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> ''[[Four Star Playhouse]]'',<ref name="Four Star 2">{{cite web|url=http://ctva.biz/US/Anthology/FourStarPlayhouse_02_%281953-54%29.htm|title=Four Star Playhouse, Season 2 |publisher=The Classic TV Archive|access-date=May 21, 2016}}</ref> ''[[Ford Theatre]]'',<ref name="Ford 7">{{cite web|url=http://ctva.biz/US/Anthology/FordTheatre_07_%281955-56%29.htm |title=Ford Theatre, Season 7|publisher=The Classic TV Archive |access-date=May 21, 2016}}</ref> ''[[Lux Video Theatre]]'',<ref name="Lux 4">{{cite web|url=http://ctva.biz/US/Anthology/LuxVideoTheatre_04_%281953-54%29.htm|title=Lux Video Theatre, Season 4|publisher=The Classic TV Archive|access-date=May 21, 2016}}</ref> ''[[Mr. and Mrs. North]]'',<ref name="Norths">{{cite web|url=http://ctva.biz/US/Crime/MrAndMrsNorth.htm|title=Mr. and Mrs. North|publisher=The Classic TV Archive|access-date=May 21, 2016}}</ref> ''[[Schlitz Playhouse of Stars]]''<ref name="Schlitz 4">{{cite web|url=http://ctva.biz/US/Anthology/SchlitzPlayhouseOfStars_04_%281954-55%29.htm|title=Schlitz Playhouse of Stars, Season 4|publisher=The Classic TV Archive|access-date=May 21, 2016}}</ref> and ''[[Playhouse 90]]''.<ref name="Greer Case"/>

===''Perry Mason''===
{{main|Perry Mason (1957 TV series)}}
[[File:Perry-Mason-Look-1961.jpg|thumb|Raymond Burr and (front row, from left) [[William Talman (actor)|William Talman]], [[Ray Collins (actor)|Ray Collins]] and [[Barbara Hale]] on the set of ''[[Perry Mason (1957 TV series)|Perry Mason]]'', from the front cover of ''[[Look (American magazine)|Look]]'' magazine (October 10, 1961)]]
In 1956, Burr auditioned for ''[[Perry Mason (1957 TV series)|Perry Mason]]'', a new CBS-TV courtroom drama based on the highly successful novels by [[Erle Stanley Gardner]]. [[Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.]] had already been tentatively cast as Perry Mason.<ref>Associate producer [[Sam White (film producer)|Sam White]], as told to David Bruskin, ''Behind the Three Stooges: The White Brothers'', Directors Guild of America, 1993; p. 275.</ref> Burr told associate producer [[Sam White (film producer)|Sam White]], "If you don't like me as Perry Mason, then I'll go along and play the part of the district attorney, Hamilton Burger."<ref>Sam White as told to Briskin, p. 276.</ref> Executive producer [[Gail Patrick Jackson]] had been impressed with Burr's courtroom performance in ''[[A Place in the Sun (1951 film)|A Place in the Sun]]'' (1951), and she told Burr that he was perfect for Perry Mason but at least {{convert|60|lb|kg st}} overweight. He went on a crash diet over the following month; he then tested as Perry Mason and was cast in the role.<ref name="Bawden">{{cite web|url=http://www.classicimages.com/films_of_the_golden_ages/article_39f84018-cfc0-11e3-b0b4-001a4bcf887a.html|title=Dream Factory Time: Gail Patrick|last=Bawden|first=James|date=April 29, 2014|website=Classic Images|access-date=April 23, 2015|archive-date=July 26, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150726153835/http://www.classicimages.com/films_of_the_golden_ages/article_39f84018-cfc0-11e3-b0b4-001a4bcf887a.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> While Burr's test was running, Gardner reportedly stood up, pointed at the screen, and said, "That's Perry Mason."<ref name="Davidson First TV Series"/>{{Rp|8403}} [[William Hopper]] also auditioned as Mason, but he was cast instead as private detective [[Paul Drake (character)|Paul Drake]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/32898/perry-mason-50th-anniversary-edition|title=Perry Mason&nbsp;– 50th Anniversary Edition|last=Galbraith IV|first=Stuart|date=April 10, 2008|website=[[DVD Talk]]|access-date=April 7, 2015}}</ref> The series also starred [[Barbara Hale]] as [[Della Street]], Mason's secretary, [[William Talman (actor)|William Talman]] as Hamilton Burger, the district attorney who loses nearly every case to Mason, and [[Ray Collins (actor)|Ray Collins]] as homicide detective Lieutenant Arthur Tragg.<ref name="Bawden"/>

The series ran from 1957 to 1966 and made Burr a star. In the early 1960s, the show had 30 million viewers every Saturday night and Burr received 3,000 fan letters a week.<ref name=varobit>{{cite magazine|magazine=[[Daily Variety]]|date=September 14, 1993|last=Natale|first=Richard|title=Burr, TV's unbeatable lawyer, dies|page=5}}</ref> Burr received three consecutive Emmy Award nominations and won the award in 1959 and 1961<ref name="Emmy Database"/> for his performance as Perry Mason. The series has been rerun in syndication ever since, and was released on DVD between 2006 and 2013. Burr's character is often said never to have lost a case, although he did lose two murder cases off-screen in early episodes of the series.<ref name=nytbar />

[[File:Raymond burr ironside.JPG|thumb|upright|Burr and [[Victoria Shaw (actress)|Victoria Shaw]] in ''[[Ironside (1967 TV series)|Ironside]]'' (1969)]]
===''Ironside''===
{{main|Ironside (1967 TV series)}}
Burr moved from CBS to [[Universal Pictures|Universal Studios]], where he played the title role in the television drama ''[[Ironside (1967 TV series)|Ironside]]'', which ran on NBC from 1967 to 1975. In the pilot episode, San Francisco Chief of Detectives Robert T. Ironside is paralyzed by a sniper during an attempt on his life and, after his recovery, uses a wheelchair for mobility, in the first [[crime drama]] show to star a policeman with a disability. The show earned Burr six Emmy nominations—one for the pilot and five for his work in the series<ref name="Emmy Database"/><ref name="NYT Emmy Ironside Pilot"/>—and two Golden Globe nominations.<ref name="Golden Globes Burr"/>

===Other series===
[[File:Kingston confidential premiere 1977.JPG|thumb|upright|[[Mariette Hartley]] and Burr in ''[[Kingston: Confidential]]'' (1977)]]
After ''Ironside'' went off the air, NBC failed in two attempts to launch Burr as the star of a new series. In a two-hour television movie format, ''Mallory: Circumstantial Evidence'' aired in February 1976 with Burr again in the role of the lawyer who outwits the district attorney. Despite good reviews for Burr, the critical reception was poor, and NBC decided against developing it into a series.<ref name="Starr"/>{{Rp|177–78}}

In 1977, Burr starred in the short-lived TV series ''[[Kingston: Confidential]]'' as R.B. Kingston, a publishing magnate similar to [[William Randolph Hearst]], owner of numerous newspapers and TV stations, who, in his spare time, solved crimes along with a group of employees. It was a critical failure that was scheduled opposite the extraordinarily popular ''[[Charlie's Angels]]''. It was cancelled after 13 weeks.<ref name="Starr"/>{{Rp|178–80}}

Burr took on a shorter project next, playing an underworld boss in a six-hour miniseries, ''[[79 Park Avenue]]''.<ref>{{Citation|title=Harold Robbins' 79 Park Avenue (TV Mini Series 1977) - IMDb|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075515/|language=en-US|access-date=September 12, 2021}}</ref>

One last attempt to launch a series followed on CBS. The two-hour premiere of ''The Jordan Chance'' aroused little interest.<ref name="Starr"/>{{Rp|183}}<ref>{{Citation|title=The Jordan Chance (TV Movie 1978) - IMDb|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077776/|language=en-US|access-date=September 12, 2021}}</ref>

On January 20, 1987, Burr hosted the television special that later served as the pilot for the long-running series ''[[Unsolved Mysteries]]''.<ref name="Unsolved"/>

===Television films===
{{main|Perry Mason (TV film series)}}
In 1985, Burr was approached by producers [[Dean Hargrove]] and [[Fred Silverman]] to star in a made-for-TV movie, ''Perry Mason Returns''.<ref name="Eugene">[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=hg8pAAAAIBAJ&sjid=EOEDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5630,7917306&dq=perry+mason+returns&hl=en Raymond Burr to Return as Perry Mason]. Eugene Register. November 30, 1985</ref> The same week, Burr recalled, he was asked to reprise the role he played in ''[[Godzilla, King of the Monsters!]]'' (1956),<ref name="Dougan2">{{cite news|last=Dougan|first=Michael|date=June 9, 1986|title=Raymond Burr: Much More than Just Perry Mason|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ProrAAAAIBAJ&pg=5668,2676035&dq=perry+mason+returns&hl=en|newspaper=[[The Telegraph (Nashua)|The Telegraph]]|access-date=June 3, 2016}}</ref> in a low-budget film that would be titled ''[[Godzilla 1985]]''.<ref name="Tom Shales"/>

"When they asked me to do it a second time, I said, 'Certainly,' and everybody thought I was out of my mind," Burr told [[Tom Shales]] of ''[[The Washington Post]]''. "But it wasn't the large sum of money. It was the fact that, first of all, I kind of liked 'Godzilla,' and where do you get the opportunity to play yourself 30 years later? So I said yes to both of them."<ref name="Tom Shales">{{cite news|last=Shales|first=Tom|author-link=Tom Shales |date=September 14, 1993|title=Appreciation|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1993/09/14/appreciation/2dda0265-5008-488f-9cab-70044418a33c|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|access-date=June 3, 2016}}</ref> Although Burr is best remembered for his role as Perry Mason, a devoted following continues to appreciate him as the actor that brought the Godzilla series to America.

He agreed to appear in the Mason movie if Barbara Hale returned to reprise her role as Della Street.<ref>''Burr Delights in TV Return''. ''Worcester Telegram & Gazette''. September 7, 1989. Retrieved March 26, 2010</ref> Hale agreed, and when ''Perry Mason Returns'' aired in December 1985, her character became the defendant.<ref name="Eugene" /> The rest of the principal cast had died, but Hale's real-life son [[William Katt]] played the role of Paul Drake Jr.<ref name="Eugene" /> The movie was so successful that Burr made a total of 26 [[Perry Mason (TV film series)|Perry Mason television movies]] before his death.<ref name="Thomas" /> Many were filmed in and around Denver, Colorado.<ref name="Dougan">{{Cite news| author=Dougan, Michael | url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=PeYyAAAAIBAJ&pg=6361,3224500&dq=raymond+burr&hl=en | title=Raymond Burr: A Man of Vast Appetites | publisher=[[The San Francisco Examiner]] for [[The Free Lance–Star]] | date= September 16, 1993 | access-date= March 25, 2010 | page=D1}}</ref>

After several of the TV movies, Burr's age and health issues forced him to use a cane onscreen, which was jokingly explained as a "skiing accident." By 1993, when Burr signed with NBC for another season of Mason films, he was using a wheelchair full-time because of his failing health. In his final Perry Mason movie, ''The Case of the Killer Kiss'', he was shown either sitting or standing while leaning on a table, but only once standing unsupported for a few seconds.<ref name="OConner">O'Connor, John J. [https://www.nytimes.com/1994/05/10/arts/review-television-case-of-the-missing-mason.html?pagewanted=1 ''Review/Television; Case of the Missing Mason''], ''[[The New York Times]]'', May 10, 1994. Retrieved March 26, 2010.</ref> Twelve more Mason movies were scheduled before Burr's death, including one scheduled to film the month he died.<ref name="Ill">[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=4B0xAAAAIBAJ&sjid=_eAFAAAAIBAJ&pg=5090,6447222&dq=raymond+burr&hl=en ''Raymond Burr Reported Seriously Ill at Ranch'']. ''The Sunday Gazette''. April 27, 1993. Retrieved March 27, 2010.</ref>

As he had with the ''Perry Mason'' TV movies, Burr decided to do an ''Ironside'' reunion movie. ''The Return of Ironside'' aired in May 1993, reuniting the entire original cast of the 1967–75 series.<ref>King, Susan. [https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=oHohAAAAIBAJ&sjid=EooFAAAAIBAJ&pg=3556,742826&dq=the+return+of+ironside&hl=en ''Ironside Returns to NBC Tuesday''], ''Los Angeles Times'', reprinted in the Daily Gazette, May 1, 1993. Retrieved March 26, 2010.</ref> Like many of the Mason movies, it was set and filmed in Denver.<ref name="Ill"/>