Raymond Burr Lied about Wife & Son to Hide Gay Romance for 35 Years – At 93 His Lover Lives on Actor’s Vineyards
Raymond Burr was an iconic actor. Yet, how many people could say they knew the person behind the famous name? After all, his whole life was shrouded in a veil of falsehoods that he invented to hide his great and forbidden love.
The famous actor Raymond William Stacy Burr was born in New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada, on May 21, 1917. He became famous for his extensive and prodigious Hollywood career, which spanned numerous movies and a few hit television shows. The most famous of these was his role in the drama “Perry Mason.”
The show took a heavy toll on Burr. Every weekly episode was an astonishing hour-long installment, and its filming constantly required Burr to be on set early morning. The actor worked continually, often spending 15-hour days working on the next episode and sleeping in a little bungalow on set.
Raymond Burr, circa 1975, in Los Angeles, California | Source: Getty Images
The actor spent nine years of his life starring in “Perry Mason” as the leading lad. Looking back at the years he spent devoted to making the TV drama a success, the actor admitted that he wasted a large portion of his life that he could have spent differently. One thing he lacked in his life was a family. He mentioned:
“The only thing I regret in my life — I’m sorry I spent nine years of my life tying myself down. I couldn’t be married, have a family, even have friends.”
That’s not to say that Burr didn’t try to have a family. Throughout his life, the actor insisted that he had been married three times, each union ending in tragedy. According to Burr, his first wife died in a plane crash in 1943. Burr briefly mentioned that they had had a son together, Michael Burr, but the boy passed away due to leukemia.
Natalie Wood with Raymond Burr in Los Angeles, California, 1956 | Source: Getty Images
His second matrimony ended in divorce after only a few months. His third marriage was veiled in mystery, much like his first bride. According to Burr, his third wife, Laura Andrina Morgan, succumbed to cancer before the couple could go on their honeymoon. After his death, all but his supposed second marriage turned out to be a lie.
After years of confusion surrounding his past wives and persistent silence...