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Post by snsurone on Nov 9, 2017 23:20:20 GMT
He started out in movies mostly in villain roles, due to his large size and menacing visage.
He finally achieved true stardom as Perry Mason on TV.
Ironically, he originally auditioned for the part of DA Hamilton Burger, but Erle Stanley Gardner, who wrote the Perry Mason novels, sat in on Burr's audition and exclaimed that Burr would be perfect as Mason.
Later in his career, he starred as a paralyzed detective in IRONSIDE (seems that at the time, TV liked to air shows featuring disabled policemen), and IMO was just as good, if not better, than he was as Perry Mason.
I'm a bit puzzled about one thing: he was in the Japanese movie GODZILLA, KING OF THE MONSTERS.
His scenes were edited into the original movie for its American release.
Was this before or after he achieved stardom as Mason, and if it was the latter, was he added to increase American viewership?
BTW, his scenes were good, but unnecessary.
One of his greatest performances was in a made-for-TV movie titled A MAN CALLED JOHN, where he portrayed an Italian cardinal (whose name I forget), who was instrumental in saving a number of Jewish children from the Nazis during WWII.
The story is told through the eyes of one of those children, who, when he grew up, became a news reporter who witnessed the investiture of this cardinal as Pope John XXIII.
IMO, Burr was nothing short of brilliant.
I'd love to see that movie again; I hope it's on DVD.
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Flynn
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Post by Flynn on Nov 9, 2017 23:36:24 GMT
I think I would disagree about his scenes being unnecessary. They are unnecessary for an audience today, but I don't think they would have been unnecessary for a 1950s audience primarily made of teen and pre-teen boys.
The original version is a better film, but somehow I doubt you'd be able to get many people in the 1950s to watch an entire movie with subtitles. Maybe I'm wrong, though. I wasn't around then.
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Post by Doghouse6 on Nov 9, 2017 23:42:05 GMT
I'm a bit puzzled about one thing: he was in the Japanese movie GODZILLA, KING OF THE MONSTERS. His scenes were edited into the original movie for its American release. Was this before or after he achieved stardom as Mason, and if it was the latter, was he added to increase American viewership? BTW, his scenes were good, but unnecessary. premiered in Sept '57. Burr's scenes for Godzilla were shot in late '55 for spring '56 U.S. distribution, in a tiny studio on Vermont Ave, I think it was, where an elementary school now stands. |
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Post by teleadm on Nov 10, 2017 16:59:24 GMT
It might be this one you are recalling snsurone :  Burr on the left, the real one on the right. If so it was called Portrait: A Man Whose Name Was John 1973 About Angelo Roncalli, later to be known as Pope John XXIII |
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Post by snsurone on Nov 10, 2017 17:16:26 GMT
Thank you, tele.
IMHO, this was Burr's greatest performance.
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Post by politicidal on Nov 10, 2017 19:45:28 GMT
I never saw Perry Mason somehow. But I've seen most of his famous 'villain' bits such as in Rear Window and His Kind of Woman.
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Post by Lebowskidoo 🦞 on Nov 11, 2017 15:52:28 GMT
He was a Canadian, of which we are all very proud of up here. Loved his Perry Mason TV movies from the 80's and 90's, although I've never seen the original show. Of his theatrical releases I've only ever seen him in:
Airplane II: The Sequel
Rear Window
Delirious
Godzilla, King of the Monsters
Godzilla 1985
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Post by neurosturgeon on Nov 11, 2017 19:55:41 GMT
If Raymond Burr where still acting today, he would probably be having his name dragged into the sexual scandals. He approached a friend on The Beach at Laguna before his days of Perry Mason.
He made up a story about a son dying of leukemia to cover his lifestyle choices. His longtime partner was a producer of his "Ironsides" TV show.
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Post by snsurone on Nov 11, 2017 20:39:28 GMT
Why would his name even be mentioned regarding today's Hollywood sex scandals?
Because he was gay?
His lifestyle would be much more readily accepted today than in his lifetime, but as far as I know, he never groped or propositioned people.
And I doubt that he would, even if he had to power to do so.
Besides being a great actor, he was a good human being.
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Post by neurosturgeon on Nov 11, 2017 22:18:26 GMT
I brought it up because I wonder how far back they are going to go with the revelations of sexual abuses in Hollywood. By the time they are finished, there won't be a single Hollywood film that can be shown that doesn't have someone with accusations against them.
Hollywood has seemed so willing to forgive Roman Polanski and Woody Allen, but will that tide turn? It is like it is a new McCarthy age. I am not saying that the guilty should not be punished, but what is there to protect the innocent?
Bing Crosby had sex with many of his leading women. Louis B. Mayer fired singer Johnny Johnston because he married Kathryn Grayson, for whom he had the hots for. Mayer went as far as to have Johnston totally removed from "Till the Clouds Roll By" just to be spiteful. Mayer also had Keenan Wynn divorce his wife so Van Johnson could marry her to cover his homosexuality. For that Wynn found himself in many an MGM picture.
The powerful of Hollywood have been bullies and abusers for over 100 yesrs.
And my friend who was the unwanted recipient of Raymond Burr's attentions is still alive, but this is one of his lesser annoyances during a time he was pursuing he movie career. He said the only way to be a success was to go both ways, and he said it wasn't worth it.
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Post by nutsberryfarm 🏜 on Jun 12, 2018 2:22:41 GMT
was great in a cool little western noir flick called 'station west'.  |
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Post by nutsberryfarm 🏜 on Aug 1, 2018 10:27:44 GMT
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Post by Lebowskidoo 🦞 on Aug 1, 2018 11:26:05 GMT
Since my last post, I've also seen him in A Place In The Sun. I now realize he had a steady film career long before Perry Mason came along. I really want to see Pitfall, a realitively popular film noir.
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Post by snsurone on Apr 27, 2019 13:58:50 GMT
Yesterday, I saw on MeTV an episode of PERRY MASON called "The Case of the Dead Ringer", which I never saw before.
Here, Raymond Burr played two roles: Mason and an old Cockney sea-dog.
The script wasn't very good (it was the series' last season), but Burr's over-the-top performance as the sailor was in sharp contrast to his taciturn Mason, and, IMHO, proves what a great actor he was.
I do like the epilogue, though, because it allowed Hamilton Burger to share laughs with the others in Clay's restaurant.
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Post by marianne48 on Apr 27, 2019 18:14:17 GMT
There's an episode of The Jack Benny Show that shows Burr's lighter side--watching him perform a silly Jackie Gleason-style dance is the highlight of the episode.
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Post by teleadm on Apr 27, 2019 19:07:10 GMT
There's an episode of The Jack Benny Show that shows Burr's lighter side--watching him perform a silly Jackie Gleason-style dance is the highlight of the episode. Yes! something about a dog Barfing, and silencing it
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Post by teleadm on Apr 27, 2019 19:14:19 GMT
found the episode:
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Post by Lebowskidoo 🦞 on Apr 30, 2019 16:53:46 GMT
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