After he was diagnosed with kidney cancer, he refused to undergo surgery so that he could star in his final 2 TV movies: The Return of Ironside (1993) (TV) and Perry Mason: The Case of the Killer Kiss (1993) (TV).
Appears as lawyer Perry Mason, with William Talman as district attorney Hamilton Burger, on a 44¢ USA commemorative postage stamp in the "Early TV Memories" issue honoring "Perry Mason" (1957), issued 11 August 2009.
Before dying from cancer, he threw some grand parties to say farewell to many of his friends.
Best remembered by the public for his starring roles as the title characters of both series: "Perry Mason" (1957) and "Ironside" (1967).
Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume 3, 1991-1993, pages 84-85. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2001.
Bought his own 3,000-acre island 165 miles northeast of Suva in Fiji in 1965 and named it Naitamba, where he raised cattle and copra.
Burr's official biography stated that he had been previously married, but both his wives and one child had died. However, these details were fabricated in an attempt to hide the fact that Burr was gay. Only one brief marriage which ended in divorce had actually occurred; the other marriage and the child were fiction.
Dropped out of San Raphael Military School at age 17, to join the Civilian Conservation Corps, where he learned to fight forest fires and plant trees.
Featured in "Bad Boys: The Actors of Film Noir" by Karen Burroughs Hannsberry (McFarland, 2003).
Had an art gallery on Beverly Hills' Rodeo Drive in the early '50s.
He attended Stanford, Columbia and Chungking Universities.
He had an interest in, and knowledge of, the cultivation and hybridization of orchids. He and partner of 35 years, Robert Benevides, set up Sea God Nurseries, becoming, in the 20-odd years of its operation, an international presence with ranges in Fiji, Hawaii, the Azores and Southern California. They were responsible for over 1,500 new orchids added to the worldwide catalog. Burr cultivated an orchid that he named after his former "Perry Mason" (1957), co-star, Barbara Hale, as the symbol of friendship.
He 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.
He taught drama at Columbia University.
He was incredibly generous, giving most of his money to charities and sharing it with friends.
He was the director of the Pasadena Community Playhouse before entering the navy in World War II.
He, Michael J. Fox and Jim Carrey head list of top Canadians in U.S. television compiled by Banff Television Festival, June 2002.
His mother, Minerva Burr, died in 1974, at the age of 81 of cancer and father, William Burr, died in 1985, at the age of 96 of old age.
His parents were married in Canada in 1914, after they migrated from Chicago, Illinois.
His parents, Minerva & William Burr, were remarried in 1955, after 33 years of separation, from each other. Burr had been very close to them, during and after this.