Raymond William Stacy Burr, a prominent actor, was born on May 21, 1917, in New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada. He became well-known for his vast and successful Hollywood career, which included multiple films and a few hit television shows.
One thing he regretted 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.”
According to Burr, his first wife passed away in a plane acc:ident in 1943. Burr briefly mentioned that they had had a son together, Michael Burr, but the boy passed away due to leukemia
His second matrimony ended in divorce after only a few months. His third marriage was veiled in mystery, much like his first bride. After his passing, all but his supposed second marriage turned out to be a li:e.
Burr preferred to keep his personal affa:irs out of the limelight and often dismissed questions about his past marriages.
Burr’s family also admitted that they had never met the bride or the boy. Ward confessed:
“No, I never met him. Because there was no son. But I don’t want to talk about that — it isn’t my place to say anything about that. I was Ray’s first wife. If there had been a wife before me, he would have told me.”
In 1993, Burr’s private life started seeing the light.
The actor was diagnosed with severe kidney canc3r, and he knew he wasn’t going to live for long.
Although the actor had been married to Ward for a while, the actress knew that marriage didn’t suit her. Meanwhile, Burr had been using the union to cover up the fact that he was gay. Burr had kept his s3x:uality a secret to avoid being shunned by the rest of Hollywood and keep his career intact.
Burr spent his last days saying goodbye to his closest friends with numerous extravagant parties at his California home, where he lived with his long-time partner, Robert Benevides. Burr and Benevides had been together for 35 years, having met through the infamous Scotty Bowers. They also worked together on “Perry Mason.”
Benevides admitted that Bowers introduced him and Burr in 1959, and the two spent the rest of Burr’s life together.
Rumor has it that the couple married secretly in 1963, with Benevides looking after the house and crocheting Burr sweaters in front of a fire. A close acquaintance of the pair spoke out about their relationship, saying:
“If you went to their house, Raymond would be wearing a frilly pink apron and doing the ironing. He fussed around like the woman of the house. Raymond always called Robert ‘my husband.’ He would knit sweaters for him in front of the fire.”
Finally, after Burr passed away, all his secrets were revealed by several sources. The actor left everything he owned, including a vineyard, to his partner, Benevides.
