Raymond Burr producer of the Perry Mason TV films, said in 2006, "I had always assumed that Raymond was gay, because he had a relationship with Robert Benevides for a very long time. Whether or not he had relationships with women, I had no idea. I did know that I had trouble keeping track of whether he was married or not in these stories. Raymond had the ability to mythologize himself, to some extent, and some of his stories about his past … tended to grow as time went by." Burr had many hobbies over the course of his life: cultivating orchids
Raymond Burr "Pat Novak for Hire" (1949), and in "Dragnet" (1949–50) he played Joe Friday's boss, Ed Backstrand, chief of detectives. Burr worked on other Los Angeles-based series including "Suspense", "Screen Directors Playhouse", "Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar", "Family Theater", "Hallmark Playhouse" and "Hallmark Hall of Fame". He performed in five episodes of the experimental dramatic radio anthology series "CBS Radio Workshop", and had what is arguably his best radio role in "The Silent Witness" (1957), in which his is the only voice. In 1956 Burr was the star of CBS Radio's "Fort Laramie", an adult Western drama produced, written and directed by