Raymond Burr Movies

Want to know the best Raymond Burr movies?  How about the worst Raymond Burr movies?  Curious about Raymond Burr box office grosses or which Raymond Burr movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Raymond Burr movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences? Well, you have come to the right place….because we have all of that information.

Raymond Burr (1917-1993) was a Candian actor.  Burr was primarily known for his title roles in the television dramas Perry Mason and Ironside.   Despite his television roles overshadowing his movie roles, he, in fact, had a very solid movie career.  His most famous movie role was as the bad guy in 1954’s Rear Window.    His IMDb page shows 145 acting credits from 1946 to 1993.  This page will rank Raymond Burr movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Television shows, movies not released in North American theaters and a few of his low budget 1950s movies were not included in the rankings.  To do well in our overall rankings a movie has to do well at the box office, get good reviews by critics, be liked by audiences and get some award recognition. This comes from a long time request from UMR Hall of Famer, Flora.

Raymond Burr Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews and awards.

1954’s Rear Window

Raymond Burr Movies Can Be Ranked 6 Ways In This Table

The really cool thing about this table is that it is “user-sortable”. Rank the movies anyway you want.

  • Sort Raymond Burr movies by his co-stars
  • Sort Raymond Burr movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
  • Sort Raymond Burr movies by yearly domestic box office rank.
  • Sort Raymond Burr movies by how they were received by critics and audiences.  60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie.
  • Sort by how many Oscar® nominations and how many Oscar® wins each Raymond Burr movie received.
  • Sort Raymond Burr movies by Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score.  UMR puts box office, reviews and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.
Raymond Burr tangled with Godzilla in 1956 and 1984.

Best IMDb Trivia On Raymond Burr

1. Raymond William Stacy Burr was born in New Westminster, British Columbia in 1917.

2. Raymond Burr moved to New York in 1940 and made his first Broadway appearance in Crazy With the Heat.  He started appearing movies in 1946.  Between 1946 and 1957 he appeared in more than 50 movies.  Often cast as the villain, he became a legend in the film noir world.

3. Raymond Burr is commemorated on a 2008 Canadian postage stamp, one of four honoring achievements of Canadians in Hollywood. The other three depict Norma Shearer, Marie Dressler, and Chief Dan George.

4.  Raymond Burr is one of the few stars to headline, not one, but two very successful television shows.  He played Perry Mason on Perry Mason from 1957 to 1966.   He played Michael Ironside on Ironside from 1967 to 1975.   From 1986 till his death he would return to these roles in television movies, making 26
Perry Mason movies and one Ironside movie.

5. Alfred Hitchcock supposedly hired Raymond Burr to play Lars Thorwald in 1954’s Rear Window because he could be easily made to look like his old producer David O. Selznick, who Hitchcock felt interfered too much.

Check out Raymond Burr’s career compared to current and classic actors.  Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.

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29 thoughts on “Raymond Burr Movies”

  2. HI BRUCE: Thanks for the feedback and additional information about the ultimate destination of Raymond’s fortune.

    Raymond’s career gives credence to Bob Dylan’s line in his song The Times they Are a Changin’ that ‘the first one now will later be last’ because many of the top stars that he supported on the big screen later turned up in Perry Mason to support HIM.

    For example Robert Stack was the lead and hero in 1956’s Great Day in the Morning and Burr was the lowly billed villain. Yet in the 1987 TV movie Perry Mason and the Case of the Sinister Spirit Stack had the supporting role of the wrongly accused whom Mason defends in court.

    In this afternoon’s episode of Perry Mason aired in 1959 Fay Wray the heroine of the 1933 King Kong was in support of Raymond. I was reading that in her autobiography she disputed that either Gable or Elvis was “The King” and claimed that that accolade belonged to her own 1933 co-star!!! I wonder whom she would regard as The Cogerson Queen!

    Anyway brave man Raymond: when he learned he was dying of cancer he assembled all his friends and close movie associates for one last round of farewell parties and was quite philosophical about his fate I suppose though that bravery is in the Canuck’s DNA.

    Reply

  3. I have that 30 film set of Perry Mason made for TV movies. I have not seen all 26 Raymond Burr ones and I haven’t got to the Perry Masons that star Hal Holbrook and Paul Sorvino as colleagues of his. Also never saw Ironside and I think he had a short lived show called Kingfisher (that may be wrong) which I’ve not seen either.

    Mr. Burr is no longer on the Oracle of Bacon Top 1000, he was on about 20 years ago. These are the actors on the list he has appeared with..

    19 DENNIS HOPPER Out of the Blue (1980)
    48 JOHN CARRADINE Casanova’s Big Night (1954)
    48 JOHN CARRADINE Thunder Pass (1954)
    57 ORSON WELLES Black Magic (1949)
    75 DONALD PLEASENCE Tomorrow Never Comes (1978)
    90 MARTIN LANDAU The Return (1980)
    102 RIP TORN Airplane II: The Sequel (1982)
    105 ROBERT MITCHUM His Kind of Woman (1951)
    127 BURT LANCASTER Criss Cross (1949)
    137 SHELLEY WINTERS A Place in the Sun (1951)
    137 SHELLEY WINTERS Meet Danny Wilson (1951)
    139 JAMES HONG Godzilla, King of the Monsters! (1956)
    168 ROBERT WAGNER Delirious (1991)
    230 JEFF COREY New Mexico (1951)
    232 ANGELA LANSBURY Please Murder Me (1956)
    241 AKIM TAMIROFF Black Magic (1949)
    250 JOHN VERNON Airplane II: The Sequel (1982)
    269 JOHN WAYNE Without Reservations (1946)
    285 OLIVER REED Tomorrow Never Comes (1978)
    291 ANNE BANCROFT Gorilla at Large (1954)
    360 VINCENT SCHIAVELLI The Return (1980)
    379 JOHN IRELAND I Love Trouble (1948)
    379 JOHN IRELAND Raw Deal (1948)
    379 JOHN IRELAND Tomorrow Never Comes (1978)
    391 LLOYD BRIDGES Airplane II: The Sequel (1982)
    410 WOODY STRODE Bride of the Gorilla (1951)
    412 DAVID PAYMER Airplane II: The Sequel (1982)
    427 WILLIAM SHATNER Airplane II: The Sequel (1982)
    435 ROBERT STACK Great Day in the Morning (1956)
    465 STUART WHITMAN Crime of Passion (1957)
    465 STUART WHITMAN Passion (1954)
    469 VINCENT PRICE Casanova’s Big Night (1954)
    469 VINCENT PRICE His Kind of Woman (1951)
    471 PETER GRAVES Airplane II: The Sequel (1982)
    474 TONY CURTIS Criss Cross (1949)
    479 VIVECA LINDFORS Adventures of Don Juan (1948)
    492 DYLAN BAKER Delirious (1991)
    501 RAY MILLAND A Man Alone (1955)
    504 WILFRID HYDE-WHITE P.J. (1968)
    512 KEYE LUKE Sleep, My Love (1948)
    521 ROYAL DANO Crime of Passion (1957)
    524 JACK ELAM Key to the City (1950)
    537 KATHLEEN FREEMAN A Place in the Sun (1951)
    631 GEORGE COULOURIS Sleep, My Love (1948)
    646 ELIZABETH TAYLOR A Place in the Sun (1951)
    656 CAMERON MITCHELL Gorilla at Large (1954)
    661 ANN DORAN Pitfall (1948)
    661 ANN DORAN The Brass Bottle (1964)
    687 FRANK SINATRA Meet Danny Wilson (1951)
    692 TONY RANDALL The Brass Bottle (1964)
    708 JOHN DEHNER Airplane II: The Sequel (1982)
    708 JOHN DEHNER Fort Algiers (1953)
    708 JOHN DEHNER Please Murder Me (1956)
    715 LEE VAN CLEEF A Man Alone (1955)
    715 LEE VAN CLEEF The Bandits of Corsica (1953)
    717 ROBERT RYAN Horizons West (1952)
    727 VALENTINA CORTESE Black Magic (1949)
    760 LEE MARVIN Gorilla at Large (1954)
    781 EDWARD ANDREWS THE BRASS BOTTLE (1964)
    784 CESAR ROMERO FBI Girl (1951)
    805 CHARLES LANE Borderline (1950)
    808 RICHARD JAECKEL Airplane II: The Sequel (1982)
    817 STEPHEN MCHATTIE TOMORROW NEVER COMES (1978)
    854 PAT O’BRIEN Fighting Father Dunne (1948)
    857 JOHN CRAWFORD Serpent of the Nile (1953)
    857 JOHN CRAWFORD Without Reservations (1946)
    858 GERT FROBE They Were So Young (1954)
    869 RICHARD ANDERSON A Cry in the Night (1956)
    909 JAMES STEWART Rear Window (1954)
    935 STERLING HAYDEN Crime of Passion (1957)
    966 JIM BACKUS His Kind of Woman (1951)
    966 JIM BACKUS M (1951)
    970 YVONNE DE CARLO Criss Cross (1949)
    970 YVONNE DE CARLO Fort Algiers (1953)
    970 YVONNE DE CARLO Passion (1954)
    992 VITO SCOTTI Criss Cross (1949)
    993 NINA FOCH You’re Never Too Young (1955)
    HM (863) EDMOND O’BRIEN A Cry in the Night (1956)

    Ray worked with 23 Oscar winners.

    ANNE BANCROFT Gorilla at Large (1954)
    ANNE BAXTER The Blue Gardenia (1953)
    BURL IVES Station West (1948)
    BURL IVES The Brass Bottle (1964)
    BURT LANCASTER Criss Cross (1949)
    CLAIRE TREVOR Borderline (1950)
    CLAIRE TREVOR Raw Deal (1948)
    CLARK GABLE Key to the City (1950)
    CLAUDETTE COLBERT Sleep, My Love (1948)
    CLAUDETTE COLBERT Without Reservations (1946)
    DON AMECHE Sleep, My Love (1948)
    EDMOND O’BRIEN A Cry in the Night (1956)
    ELIZABETH TAYLOR A Place in the Sun (1951)
    FRANK SINATRA Meet Danny Wilson (1951)
    GIG YOUNG Rear Window (1954)
    GRACE KELLY Rear Window (1954)
    JAMES STEWART Rear Window (1954)
    JOAN FONTAINE Casanova’s Big Night (1954)
    JOANNE WOODWARD Count Three and Pray (1955)
    JOHN WAYNE Without Reservations (1946)
    LEE MARVIN Gorilla at Large (1954)
    LORETTA YOUNG Key to the City (1950)
    MARTIN LANDAU The Return (1980)
    RAY MILLAND A Man Alone (1955)
    SHELLEY WINTERS A Place in the Sun (1951)
    SHELLEY WINTERS Meet Danny Wilson (1951)
    VAN HEFLIN Count Three and Pray (1955)

    Reply

    1. Hey Dan. Thanks as always for these comprehensive list that you provide. Somewhat amazed that he was on the Oracle list at one point. Granted I know he made a ton of movies in one ten year time period. I will put you down as another that’s a big fan of the Perry Mason movies and shows. Looking at the first list, not a ton of legends, granted John Wayne, Burt Lancaster and Orson Welles pop up. Looks like John Ireland is his most frequent oracle costar. I would say his second list is a below average total, but most of his movies are in that 10 year stretch so will probably be hard for him to get a bunch of Oscar winning costars. Good stuff as always. Stay safe hopefully the numbers in New York City will start to get better.

      Reply

  4. I didn’t catch Raymond Burr as Perry Mason but I did watch a few episodes of Ironside in the 1970s. and I remember the theme music too.

    I’ve seen 12 of the 57 films on the chart, less than I thought. Favorites include –
    Rear Window, Adventures of Don Juan, Airplane II, Godzilla King of the Monsters (1956 a re-edit of Gojira (1954), and Godzilla 1985.

    One of my all time favorite Hitchcock films – Rear Window – tops the box office and critics chart but is knocked off the UMR top spot by A Place in the Sun. Over $400m adjusted domestic gross for Rear Window is impressive. Looking at Hitchcock’s chart page, Rear Window is his biggest domestic hit followed by Psycho and Notorious.

    Good stuff Bruce. Vote Up!

    Reply

    1. Hey Steve. We have very similar memories of Ironside. I’m sure I watch many of the episodes but the only thing I really remember is the music. I saw a few episodes of Perry Mason and repeats but was not a huge fan of that show. As for his movies. I have seen 8, to your 12 to Flora’s 16. I have actually seen all of your favorites. So I guess in your mind I have seen the right Ramen for movies. Good stuff as always, enjoy your weekend.

      Reply

  5. As the initial Perry Mason series moved into the 1960s many familiar faces from the 1950s and before appeared in supporting/guest star roles and in one episode Raymond was obviously away on a Cogerson type ‘sabbatical’ and the great Bette Davis stood in for him as a kind of ‘female Perry’ and solved the murder.

    The physical quality of some of the prints of those old episodes is not great today and of the total of 271 that were made made only one towards the very end was in colour; though of course the later 26 TV movies from 1986-1993 series are in colour.

    I never before knew that Raymond was a Canuck but was aware that as a member of the gay community of his day he was a close friend of Brando for a time. Anyway having become belatedly hooked on Raymond as Perry I regard him now as one of my fave TV personalities along with the likes of Dick Van Dyke/Peter Falk/Andy Griffith – though if I owned or served in a grocery store the latter guy would now be dropped from that list!

    On his death in 1993 Raymond had a net worth of 26 million in inflation adjusted dollars and this new page is “Voted up! and highly so because in my opinion Raymond is among the most deserving of a Cogerson page and certainly this one is very topical for me given my current fascination with his charismatic and spellbinding work as Mason

    Reply

    1. Flora and I have been mentioning our current mutual viewing of Perry Mason on television. I don’t know whether she is talking about the 271 run of normal TV episodes from1957 to 1966 or the 26 TV movies from 1986 until 1993 or both; and I cannot know how familiar with the cast lists of those two series views of this site are.

      But in the 271 episodes William Hopper plays Paul Drake who is lawyer Mason’s private investigator and William was the son of Hedda Hopper who along with Louella Parsons were Hollywood two most prestigious and feared gossip columnists of the classic era. Hedda was one of the “skirt brigade” contingent who belonged to the Senator from Wisconsin’s “Reds” crackdown and she was among those along with The Duke who went after Dalton Trumbo’s scalp for being “un-American”.

      Whilst many major stars and critics like Joel Hirschhorn grovelled before the power that the likes of Parsons and Hopper had in Hollywood Brando showed his contempt for Parsons by publicly referring to her as “the one with the hat”; and others who deserve credit for standing up to the pair are The Thin Woman and of course Kirk Douglas. Whilst the Duke shared many of Hedda’s political views and joined her in a lot of her “witch hunting” he turned on her when she tried to push him too far in the matter. Being “THE screen American patriot” he was of course fireproof against her.

      I am not aware of William Hopper’s political views but it is said that he didn’t get on with his mom Hedda “the old battle-axe”. William apparently didn’t like doing the Perry Mason series and was just there for the money; but he was always well dressed and was an impressively built and handsome individual who was usually laid back on screen and I found him relaxing and entertaining to watch. Sadly he died at the relatively young age of 55 of a stroke and subsequent pneumonia. In the movie 2015’s “Trumbo” Hedda was played by Brit Helen Mirren.

      Reply

      1. I am talking about the original Perry Mason series when I say I watch an episode every night on TV. I saw the TV movies when they originally aired.

        Reply

      2. Hey Bob. Good comments on the issues with the blacklist. I think the movie Trumbo would you talk about briefly, was a great look at that era. Helen Mirren was really good in that movie as was Brian Cranston. I see Flora respond to your question. Good stuff is always

        Reply

    2. Hey Bob. Yes indeed Mr. Burr was born in Canada. 18 straight years playing Perry Mason and Ironside on network television helped grow that net worth. He left his fortune to his partner, who eventually named their wine company after Burr. Thanks for all the comments on our latest subject.

      Reply

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