Raymond Burr 1952, and neither remarried. In 1960, Burr met Robert Benevides (born February 9, 1930, Visalia, California) a young actor and Korean War veteran, on the set of "Perry Mason". According to Benevides, they soon became a couple. Benevides gave up acting in 1963, and later became a production consultant for 21 of the "Perry Mason" TV movies. Together they owned and operated an orchid business and then a vineyard, in California's Dry Creek Valley. They were partners until Burr's death in 1993. Burr bequeathed to Benevides his entire estate, including "all my jewelry, clothing, books, works of art … and
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),