My greatest satisfaction in acting on television is to have the opportunity to communicate with the world.
— Raymond Burr
Growing up during the Depression, I worked for the Forest Service and CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps). I tend to work very, very hard. I wouldn't change that for anything.
I don't overeat. I only eat one meal a day... but my body has been one of those that has almost perfect assimilation, so everything I eat is assimilated, not lost.
I am a better cook than I am an actor. If I have any ego, it's about cooking. I'm one of the best cooks... and I cook in any language.
I once had a long relationship with a lady, and wherever I went in the world, if I saw something she would look great in, a gown or gloves or a ring, I always knew what color she liked most. I knew her size, what material she appreciated most, and I spent the whole time buying gifts for her. And I loved her very much.
Seriously - quite seriously - I firmly believe that marriage is to be enjoyed and shared.
Try and live your life the way you wish other people would live theirs.
You know the thing that interests me about 'Unsolved Mysteries?' It's because there are people out there, people who know something, who may have the one final clue.
I grew up near the sea in British Columbia and San Francisco, and lived in Malibu and Fiji for years. I get uncomfortable being too far inland.
When you're a little fat boy in any kind of school, you're just persecuted something awful.
When we started 'Perry Mason,' we thought it might go a year.
People here always said to me, 'Why would you leave civilization to go to a place like Fiji?' Fiji is a far more civilized place than California or New York City.
I am an unmarried man, as opposed to a single man. A bachelor, according to the dictionary, is a man who has never been married. An unmarried man is not married at the moment. Many of these terms have fallen into disuse.
I don't have much of an ego, but I have a great deal of confidence!
Over a period of time, if you have a successful show, then you have a devoted audience. I feel you owe something to them. That goes for everybody - writers, camera operators, actors, studio executives, etc. Sadly, I've realized it's a responsibility that very few people live up to.
I do not agree with Thomas Wolfe... about anything. You can go home again as long as you don't expect home to be what it was when you left it. Or you don't expect yourself to be what you were when you left home.
I love wines, except when I'm dieting.
I'm not very actorish. I don't play actor 24 hours a day. When the job is done, I go on to be myself, whoever that is.
I only hope that I can regain my own identity once I decide that 'Perry Mason' and myself have come to the parting of the road. 'Perry Mason' has become a career for me... all I know is that I work, eat and sleep 'Perry Mason.'
