Raymond Burr of the "wild stories about Raymond's private life spiced up with quotes from unidentified 'friends' who described his closeted homosexual lifestyle in almost cartoonish terms." Burr bequeathed his estate to Robert Benevides, and excluded all relatives, including a sister, nieces, and nephews. His will was challenged, without success, by the two children of his late brother, James E. Burr. Benevides's attorney said that tabloid reports of an estate worth $32 million were an overestimate. For his work in the TV series "Perry Mason", Burr received the Emmy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Continuing Character) in a Dramatic
Raymond Burr weight, always an issue for him in getting roles, became a public relations problem when Johnny Carson began making jokes about him during his "Tonight Show" monologues. Burr refused to appear as Carson's guest from then on, and told "Us Weekly" years later: "I have been asked a number of times to do his show and I won't do it. Because I like NBC. He's doing an NBC show. If I went on I'd have some things to say, not just about the bad jokes he's done about me, but bad jokes he does about everybody who can't fight back