Lima, Raymond Burr's stories are often contradictory, improbable or virtually impossible. A short list:
Contradictory:
He claimed at various stages that he had been married two or even three times instead of only once, and that wife number two and three died. He also claimed that he had had a son named Michael, who died of leukemia. The year his son died, varies, and so does the age of a his son at the time of his death — once as young as 5, sometimes as old as 12. Paul Picerni testified that "Ray" told him that he had two children, in England. Fact check: Raymond Burr's only marriage that could be verified was to Bella Ward, and it ended in divorce.
He claimed to have served in the Navy before he joined the Pasadena Playhouse. In other versions of his biography, he had joined a European theater troupe at that time because he had fallen in love with a ballerina. Fact check: There are no records that he every served in the Navy.
The circumstances under which he befriended Hedda Hopper. Once he claimed that he was working as a handymen, repairing a floor, and that he snapped at Hedda to lift her feet. She was impressed by his self-confident attitude, they became friends. In another version, he became friends with Hedda after her son had been rejected as Perry Mason. Burr working as a handyman at that time is also a contradiction, because, in another interview, he claimed that he traveled around the world with his dying son in the first part of the 1950s. Working as a handyman to support himself but able to finance a trip around the world for his dying son? Or was "Make a wish" around at that time already?
Improbable:
All claims involving romantic involvements with women. Fact check: He was predominantly or exclusively gay.
He claimed to hold two college degrees, one in English Literature and one in Philosophy, from the University of Montreal and UCLA respectively. Fact check: There is no proof that he ever attended college. Also, at other times, he claimed that he dropped out of middle school to support his single mother and grandmother — this actually sounds much more probable.
In the Charlie Rose interview, which used to be on youtube but has since been taken down, he claimed that he knew Roosevelt. Rose seemed to have trouble believing this. "You KNEW Roosevelt?" Burr affirmed and added that he knew Truman as well. Fact check: Burr was 15 years old when FDR assumed office and still a virtually unknown actor when FDR died.
Impossible:
The death of his (probably fictional) wife Annette Sutherland in a historical plain crash. All people who perished in it were recorded by name, and there was no Annette Sutherland or Annette Burr aboard.
His claim that he "accidentally" walked into East Germany during a movie shoot in Germany. Burr was indeed in a German-made movie, but the Inner-German border was very well protected with self-working artillery and fierce dogs — it is very hard to believe that anyone was able to cross it illegally twice: Once into the East, and then back into the West.
You may cross-examine.
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lima-2
8 years ago
rosarypliers,
Thank you for your detailed reply. I had been vaguely aware of the cover stories circulated when Mr. Burr became more famous than he probably would have liked, but I had no idea of the depth of his prevarication. It almost sounds as if he couldn't keep his cover stories straight, no pun or disrespect intended. I very much enjoy his performances here and elsewhere.
I would like to add though, when you mentioned Burr's interview regarding the green make-up, I was reminded of the rumors surrounding Susan Oliver's appearance in The Cage, the original Star Trek pilot with Jeffrey Hunter. She was filmed with green body make-up to depict her as an alien female. When the dailies were sent to the photo lab, the techs thought their equipment malfunctioned, so they color corrected her green skin to flesh-tone.
No further questions at this time.
I reserve the right of re-call at a later time and on other threads.
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