Raymond Burr when they began casting the role of Los Angeles district attorney Hamilton Burger in the CBS-TV series "Perry Mason". As a young man Burr weighed more than 300 lbs., which limited his on-screen roles. "But in radio this presented no problems, given the magnificent quality of his voice," reported "The Globe and Mail". "He played romantic leads and menacing villains with equal authority, and he earned a steady and comfortable income." Working steadily in radio since the 1940s, often uncredited, Burr was a leading player on the West Coast. He had a regular role in Jack Webb's first radio show,
Richard Burr minister, said that Burr is a 12th cousin of Aaron Burr, the former Vice President, Senator, lawyer, and Continental Army officer known most for killing Founding Father Alexander Hamilton in an 1804 duel and for being arrested, indicted, and ultimately acquitted for treason. Richard Burr is the first Burr in the Senate since Aaron Burr served as the Senator from New York—and only the second person with his last name to win election to Congress (the first being the presumably unrelated Albert G. Burr)—since Aaron. Sen. Burr himself has stated that there are no longer any direct descendants of Aaron