Hiding in Plain Sight: The Secret Life of Raymond Burr | 
| Author: Michael Seth Starr
Publisher: Applause Theatre and Cinema Books
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  11 reviews
Sales Rank: 25923
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 268
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.9
ISBN: 1557836949
Dewey Decimal Number: 790
EAN: 9781557836946
ASIN: 1557836949
Publication Date: April 15, 2008
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Product Description
The complete story of the actor's career, including his secret gay life. Raymond Burr (1917-1993) was an enigma. A film noir star regularly known for his villainous roles in movies like Rear Window, he delighted millions of viewers each week with the top-rated shows Perry Mason and Ironside, which ran virtually uninterrupted for 20 years. But Burr was leading a secret gay life at a time in Hollywood when such a lifestyle was akin to career suicide. He invented a tragic biography for himself in which he was mythologized as a heartbroken husband and father. There was even an invented affair with a teenage Natalie Wood, 21 years his junior. He fought for truth as Perry Mason and Robert T. Ironside, yet he couldn't admit his own deception. Burr met his partner, struggling actor Robert Benevides, on the set of Perry Mason, and they remained together for over 35 years until Burr's death. Together, they built a business empire, traveled the world, and shared their passion for orchids and fine wine - keeping the true nature of their relationship a secret from all but their closest friends - a secret revealed here for the first time in depth.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 6 more reviews...
Good basic biography, but... July 12, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is a good basic biography, and I really should've given it 3 1/2 stars. That is, the author did do quite a bit of research--and all the important invents in Raymond Burr's life are listed (I certainly learned a lot). In short, it does give a good basic chronological outline of Raymond Burr's life.
In addition, call me naive, but I was unaware that Raymond Burr was gay. And the friends & relatives who I talked to were also unaware that he was gay. Indeed, that was quite surprising to me--and it was only after reading this book that I am now starting to realize that he was indeed gay (so this author's book was definitely needed here).
Also, the same applies to the "obesity" issue. Here again, I was unaware as to the size of the problem (no pun intended). Indeed, I am 6--4"--and I weigh 260 lbs--which is way overweight (and I notice it on a daily basis). However, Raymond Burr was 6'-2" and weighed over 300 lbs at times during his life--and so that is indeed "gargantuan." This must've caused HUGE problems for him--both in his personal & professional lives.
Therefore, re the above items, I DO NOT feel that the author overemphasized those two points. Those are both HUGE issues. Indeed, I feel the author did not do enough to fully detail those issues--and to also explain how Raymond Burr overcame those daunting obstacles to success.
Also, it seems that the author did not interview anyone who was really close to Raymond Burr. That is, it seemed that most of the testimonials, descriptions, and opinions were from "3rd party" sources--e.g., people who were of some "distance" from Mr. Burr. This author's book would've been much better had he obtained information and/or descriptions of incidents from a close friend of Mr. Burr--or at least someone who was in Mr. Burr's "inner circle." Certainly, someone from his inner circle could've provided more accurate--as well as more interesting--information.
Also, the book was relatively thin--only 219 pages--with the pages being small & the print somewhat large (and also some blank pages were counted as pages). So, although the author did do a lot of work--and a lot of research--it is nonetheless clear that much more could've been done, if one was truly interested in detailing Mr. Burr's life.
Finally, the author's book does expose some of Raymond Burr's faults. I had always viewed him as a "larger than life" figure, but it is now becoming apparent to me that EVERYONE has faults--even the great ones. I was particularly concerned about the amount of lying that Mr. Burr engaged in. Some of the lies were rather harmless--such as pretending that he stayed in China, as well as falsified university attendances. And some lies were intended to cover up his gayness (e.g., making up non-existent marriages), so that was perhaps understandable as well. However, the lie about the non-existent child & tragic death of that child due to a horrible disease was simply inexcusable. Any parent who has lost a child will tell you that there is absolutely nothing funny about that. And so, trivializing a tragedy like that simply because you want to falsify your past is simply inexcusable. And, the same goes for his non-existent war record & non-existent injuries from that war. WWII was a very serious war--and many people (across the world) lost their lives due to that terrible war. Indeed, I had an uncle who died due to injuires sustained in WWII. So again, fighting for your country in WWII & getting injured because of it is something that should NOT be trivialized. I can only assume here that Mr. Burr thought that this lie would "draw the reporters off his scent" and/or improve his popularity with the public.
To conclude, as the book points out, it is somewhat strange that Raymond Burr played Perry Mason--a lawyer dedicated to extracting the truth from all situations--yet Mr. Burr was such an accomplished liar on the witness stand of his own life. So, if nothing else, I have to give this book credit for introducing REALITY into my view of Raymond Burr.
 Out of Proportion... June 23, 2008
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
Raymond Burr was one of the most distinguished actors in television history. Although his early career was dominated by film work, he became identified with the small screen after playing the title character in Perry Mason. His work did much to bring credibility to a medium which was often seen as inferior to the silver screen.
Raymond Burr's homosexuality was an open secret in Hollywood when he died in 1993, and common knowledge shortly thereafter. There was no "scandal" when this information was revealed, mainly because Burr had led an honorable life which was marked by his generosity to those in need. That he was closeted while in a 35 year relationship with actor Robert Benevides is more a reflection on the era and the Hollywood mentality than on Burr himself. The author, Michael Seth Starr, does not seem interested in reflecting on those subjects, rather than the lengths to which Burr went to conceal his private life.
Starr seems obsessed with Burr's weight, arguably more than Burr or his fans ever were. Hardly a page goes by without mention of Burr's "corpulent girth" or "morbid" obesity. Not all gay men, closeted or otherwise, are body fascists, yet Starr's personal attitudes on the subject seem to pervade the book.
At times, the book is bogged down in irrelevant detail. Starr gives a blow-by-blow account of the plot of Rear Window and several other films. While it expands a slim book, it's not necessary. Really, what film fan, not to mention Burr fan, does not know the plot of Rear Window?
Since his death, Burr's many fans have wanted a definitive telling of his story. Hiding in Plain Sight isn't it.
 Sad but true June 20, 2008
1 out of 4 found this review helpful
This is a very sad story of how things were in the days when Raymond Burr was a Hollywood Star! How unfortunate that he had to pretend to be something he was not to protect his career. Many tid bits of his personal life show just how loving and at the same time tragic Mr. Burr was. If you want to read something that helps you understand what prejudice is all about in the Gay Community.....you must read this book.
A Sad Man June 18, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
Short, with really no new information, HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT is a very easy but ultimately boring read about Raymond Burr.
Very few celebrities managed to be in two hit series, one following the other. Raymond Burr did but yet his entire life seemed totally devoid of any real purpose. Even his interest in food and orchids comes up short.
As Mr. Starr reports it, there does not seem to be anything revealing or in the slightest bit noteworthy in the telling of Raymond Burr's life. Everyone, at least by now, is aware of the secret life he led. But in telling it here, the reader finds it all to be very bland to the point where the wonders of the actors work (A Place In The Sun and Rear Window as well as Ironsides and Perry Mason)seem insignificant.
Although the book is well written and mercifully short, I can't help but wonder why Mr. Starr bothered.
Out, Out! June 8, 2008
8 out of 11 found this review helpful
This is the second star bio of a fat dead celeb I've read in a week: what with the new Chris Farley book maybe there's a new market for "husky guys." Raymond Burr gave a lot to the troops, including taking part in dozens of USO tours overseas. Starr claims that he was as patriotic in this respect as Bob Hope! Funny how neither Burr nor Hope was born in the USA and yet they did far more than some of their native-born counterparts. However the sinister side is that Burr's familiarity with the armed services enabled him to claim two Purple Hearts despite the fact that he never served a day in his life (except for a stint in the CCC, an altogether different affair.) In short, he was a liar as well as a commanding screen and television actor.
Mostly he lied about his sexuality, and butched it up while the cameras were rolling. He constructed an incredible string of lies of women with whom he was involved (and married) and even had a dead son who never existed, for the benefit of the fan magazines. In fact his lies were so obvious that even during his lifetime, skeptics were decrying his fictitious dead wives. He did have one actual wife, an actress he met at the Pasadena Playhouse, while his affair with Natalie Wood was perhaps his one real interest in a girl, but I suppose he could wing it with Natalie, who was after all a teenager at the time, and he far too old for their studios to allow it to continue. So maybe it was safe for him because he knew the studio Montagues and Capulets would tear them apart
Michael Seth Starr writes serviceably, though he sometimes gets tangled up in his own extended metaphors and when that happens, sense srops out of the picture. "If Robert Mitchum, Dick Powell, and Humphrey Bogart were the undisputed kings of noir, then Raymond, Mazurski, et al, were their dark princes." Even a stylist like George Santayana would have found it difficult to correlate the two cliches of "undisputed king" and "dark prince" into the same sentence, though you'd think on the face of it both expressions are dealing with the same sort of thing--yet they're not. And sometimes he identifies his players in awkward or naive ways: the actress Eleanor Parker was a classmate of Mrs. Raymond Burr, but it seems like a discredit to Parker to introduce her by saying that she "would later be featured on the big screen in The Sound of Music." Yes, and about a zillion other pictures of which she was the top billed star!
He haas done a lot of research and interviewed many who knew Burr well, and his back story on Erle Stanley Gardner and the Perry Mason phenomenon brings to light some new material. Over one hundred actors were tested, Starr tells us, including Fred MacMurray, William Holden, Efrem Zimbalist Jr., William Hopper, Richard Egan, Mike Connors, and Richard Carlson. I don't know about the others, but I find it hard to believe that William Holden--at the time the most popular box office star in the world--would have auditioned for Perry Mason (and none of the biographies mention this fact), and if he had, what producers would have passed on him? It would be like if Brad Pitt came in to audition for my courtroom drama and I said, "Oh sorry, Brad Pitt, you're unworthy and we are hiring the King of Queens guy."
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