raymond burr - creep factor high

You really want to see Burr at his most wicked? Watch him in Raw Deal, as he effortlessly tosses a flaming flambeau rod at a girl's face!

As a child watching old movies,on tv, Raymond Burr was always the "bad guy'. To see this actor as I became older, watching reruns of Perry Mason ,as a "good guy" was amazing..I was born in the early 1960';s, Mr. Burr's talent is incredible. Don"t forget Ironside.

The American release of "Godzilla" was the turning point, when he changed from bad guy to good guy. "Perrry Mason" secured it forever.

I think his character in Blue Gardenia is similar to the one he plays here. (But most of all he reminds me of my ex…)
Burr deserved to play a paragon of virtue after 10 years of playing all kinds of villains. Crime boss, kidnapper, white slave trader, drug dealer, ivory poacher, rapist…and some good old-fashioned murderers, of course. And when he got to play the lover (Please Murder Me, Crime of Passion), it was in an adulterous relationship. Time for a break!

You may cross-examine.

I've seen many movies with him as the bad guy, and I think my favorites are his performances in Raw Deal, Pitfall and Red Light. Also pretty good in Desperate. When he played softer villains, Borderline and The Blue Gardenia come in mind, he was funny, too, but I liked him best when he was sadistic, vengeful, scheming and sexually dysfunctional.

You may cross-examine.

In the 50s, he was obviously exploring some new territory. Hitchcock and Godzilla, and some dabbling in playing the lover, like that awful Bride of the Gorilla flick, or Crime of Passion, or Please murder me. — In Please murder me, we already have a Perry Mason prototype. That ear stroking thing, the way he says "No questions."
It is often claimed that it was his part as the D.A. in A Place in the Sun that got him the part of Perry Mason, but I think it also helped that he looked like the Perry Mason of the books — and by analogy, like Erle Stanley Gardener himself. ESG created the character as a fictionalized, glamorized version of himself. It did not bother anybody that Burger and Tragg looked nothing like their counterparts from the books, but I guess ESG wanted an actor who looked a little like him…only better.

You may cross-examine.

I will, eventually. I have seen a quite a number of his movies, some even repeatedly. But A Cry in the Night…not yet. I think it's because I don't like Natalie Wood. I cannot explain it, but to me she is as appealing as a spoonful of castor oil. And I'm a baritone babe, just like Lizabeth Scott, if you know what I mean…

You may cross-examine.



that's intense.



"Hipness is not a state of mind, it's a fact of life!" - Cannonball Adderley