Raymond Burr died, but Hale's real-life son William Katt played the role of Paul Drake, Jr. The movie was so successful that Burr made a total of 26 Perry Mason television films before his death. Many were filmed in and around Denver, Colorado. By 1993, when Burr signed with NBC for another season of Mason films, he was using a wheelchair full-time because of his failing health. In his final Perry Mason movie, "The Case of the Killer Kiss", he was shown either sitting or standing while leaning on a table, but only once standing unsupported for a few seconds. Twelve more
Raymond Burr could be noticed by directors and producers, and so the men she dated could present themselves in public as heterosexuals. The dates helped to disguise Wood's relationship with Robert Wagner, whom she later married. Burr reportedly resented Warner Bros.' decision to promote her attachment to another gay actor, Tab Hunter, rather than him. Robert Benevides later said, "He was a little bitter about it. He was really in love with her, I guess." Later accounts of Burr's life explain that he hid his gay sexuality to protect his career. "That was a time in Hollywood history when homosexuality was not