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Perry Mason Was Gay?

Posted by Bryan Christian

 

Did you guys know that? More importantly: did you gays out there know that? 'Cause we had, like, no idea. No. Idea. Frankly we're a little surprised he had sex at all! See, we grew up watching reruns of Perry Mason every morning during summer break, just before Dick Van Dyke. And frankly that whole time, or in all the years since: never once did we think about Raymond Burr's sexuality. Not once. And then, you know, here we are, years later, chatting with the roomie and drinking our coffee, nice Sunday afternoon, and all of a sudden, there in PageSix:

Michael Starr will discuss his new bio, "Hiding in Plain Sight: The Secret Life of Raymond Burr," on the "Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson"

Which, like, what the heck else could that mean? That he was Mossad or something? Nope. Apparently the unfailingly generous star of Ironside and the American version of Godzilla was so determined to keep his longtime partner Robert Venidedes a secret that he invented wives -- and a son who died in childhood! -- to keep his cover going with the press. Which, now that we think about is, is some Mossad kind of shit, actually.

Woah, hang on - should we be impressed or depressed by this? Again, we have, like, no idea.


Comments

profrobert said:

Yeah, he's been out since shortly after he died in 1993.  I think it's actually much more shocking to learn that he's Canadian.

BTW, the Earle Stanley Gardner's books are much better than the TV series, which inevitably turned on the ridiculous device of having the killer confess.  Gardner hated casting Burr as Mason, who was supposed to be a thin, handsome, ladies man; indeed, he thought Burr would have been better cast as Hamilton Burger.

May 5, 2008 1:56 PM

About Bryan Christian

Bryan Christian has worked as a writer for Epicurious, GenArt and ID magazine; a web producer for WWD and Condé Nast; and a cameraman for his friends. He's married and lives in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn.

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  • about the blogger

    Emily Farris writes about culture and food for numerous publications and websites you've probably never heard of, including her own blog eefers. Her first cookbook, Casserole Crazy: Hot Stuff for Your Oven was published in 2008. Emily recently escaped New York and now lives in a ridiculously large apartment in Kansas City, MO with her cat, but just one... so far.

    Brian Fairbanks is a filmmaker living in the wilds of Brooklyn. He previously wrote for the Hartford Courant and Gawker. He won the Williamsburg Spelling Bee once. He loves cats, women with guns, and burning books.

    Colleen Kane has been an editor at BUST and Playgirl magazines and has written for the endangered species of dead-tree magazines like SPIN and Plenty, as well as Radar Online and other websites. She lives in exile in Baton Rouge with her fiance, two dogs, and her former cat. Read her personal blogs at ColleenKane.com.

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