Today is the birthday of RAYMOND BURR, (d: 1993); An American actor best known for his “Perry Mason” lawyer roles. Early in his career Burr invented fictional wives and a son (and their fictional deaths) to throw reporters off the scent of his real life. Fortunately for Burr, he found some peace towards the end of his life with his longtime companion Robert Benevides, who not only was credited as production consultant in twenty-one Perry Mason TV movies, but was also Burr’s “long-time companion” for thirty years until the actor’s death. Benevides remains the proprietor of the vineyard they created together in Healdsburg, California.

An interesting factoid about Burr: In the myriad “microgenres” of films on Netflix, Burr is the actor with the most listings. Number two? Bruce Willis.