Raymond Burr first Godzilla film. He won two Emmy Awards, in 1959 and 1961, for the role of Perry Mason, which he played for nine seasons (1957–1966) and reprised in a series of 26 television films (1985–1993). His second TV series, "Ironside", earned him six Emmy nominations and two Golden Globe nominations. After Burr's death from cancer in 1993, his personal life came into question, as many details of his known biography appeared to be unverifiable. In 1996, Burr was ranked as number 44 of the 50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time by "TV Guide". Raymond William Stacy Burr was born
Raymond Burr in "Pitfall" as "both reprehensible and pathetic", a characterization also cited by film historian Richard Schickel as a prototype of film noir, in contrast with the appealing television characters for which Burr later became famous. "He tried to make you see the psychosis below the surface, even when the parts weren't huge," said film historian James Ursini. "He was able to bring such complexity and different levels to those characters, and create sympathy for his characters even though they were doing reprehensible things." Other titles in Burr's film noir legacy include "Walk a Crooked Mile" (1948), "Borderline" (1950), "Unmasked" (1950),