Raymond Burr of the "wild stories about Raymond's private life spiced up with quotes from unidentified 'friends' who described his closeted homosexual lifestyle in almost cartoonish terms." Burr bequeathed his estate to Robert Benevides, and excluded all relatives, including a sister, nieces, and nephews. His will was challenged, without success, by the two children of his late brother, James E. Burr. Benevides's attorney said that tabloid reports of an estate worth $32 million were an overestimate. For his work in the TV series "Perry Mason", Burr received the Emmy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Continuing Character) in a Dramatic
Raymond Burr Religion. Burr's performance as the loyal friend of the imprisoned protagonist led to a contract with RKO Radio Pictures. Burr appeared in more than 50 feature films between 1946 and 1957, creating an array of villains that established him as an icon of film noir. Film historian Alain Silver concluded that Burr's most significant work in the genre is in these ten films: "Desperate" (1947), "Sleep, My Love" (1948), "Raw Deal" (1948), "Pitfall" (1948), "Abandoned" (1949), "Red Light" (1950), "M" (1951), "His Kind of Woman" (1951), "The Blue Gardenia" (1953) and "Crime of Passion" (1957). Silver described Burr's private detective