Raymond Burr the debut episode of "Dragnet". He went on to appear in such programs as "Gruen Playhouse", "Four Star Playhouse", "Ford Theatre", "Lux Video Theatre", "Mr. and Mrs. North", "Schlitz Playhouse of Stars" and "Playhouse 90". In 1956, Burr auditioned for the role of District Attorney Hamilton Burger in "Perry Mason", a new CBS-TV courtroom drama based on the highly successful novels by Erle Stanley Gardner. Impressed with his courtroom performance in the 1951 film "A Place in the Sun", executive producer Gail Patrick Jackson told Burr he was perfect for Perry Mason, but at least overweight. Over the next month,
Burr Steers Burr Steers Burr Gore Steers (born October 8, 1965) is an American actor, screenwriter, and director. His films include "Igby Goes Down" (2002) and "17 Again" (2009). He is also a nephew of writer Gore Vidal. Steers was born in Washington, D.C. His father, Newton Ivan Steers, Jr. (1917–1993), was a Republican congressman from Maryland. Through his mother, Nina Gore Auchincloss (born 1937), he is a grandson of stockbroker and lawyer Hugh D. Auchincloss, a cousin of Louis Auchincloss. Nina is also the stepsister Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and younger half-sister of the writer Gore Vidal. Steers is a relative of