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Raymond Burr's partner pitches in $25,000 to bursary at New Westminster college

Raymond Burr’s legacy will live on at Douglas College.
Raymond Burr bursary
Folks from Douglas College and the Raymond Burr Performing Arts Society are grateful for a donation to the Raymon Burr bursary by the late actor's partner, Robert Benevides. From left: Leanne Poon, executive director, Douglas College Foundation; and Edward Eddy, Michele Sereda, Maureen Albanese, Karen Kirby of the Raymond Burr Performing Arts Society.

Raymond Burr’s legacy will live on at Douglas College.

The Raymond Burr Performing Arts Society and the Burr 100 committee teamed up with Douglas College to put on events on May 16 and 17 to celebrate the New Westminster-born actor’s 100th birthday and to raise funds for the Raymond Burr Performing Arts Society’s bursary. The committee has announced that Robert Benevides, Burr’s life partner, has helped the groups achieve their fundraising goal by donating US $25,000 to endow the annual bursary.

Benevides was unable to attend the fundraiser at Douglas College, but endorsed the initiative.

“I soundly applaud your concerted efforts on behalf of Raymond’s 100th birthday. Your connection with Douglas College is exactly what Raymond would have done were he still with us,” he said in a press release. “He told me many times about two plays that he starred in at the Pasadena Playhouse that he really felt proud of – in one he played Henry VIII and in the other he was Paul Gaugin.”

The bursary, now in its seventh year, is awarded to a second-year student in the theatre arts program at Douglas College.

Anyone wishing to make tax-deductible donations to the bursary can go to raymondburr.blogspot.com.

The Emmy-winning actor, born in New Westminster on May 21, 1917, died on Sept. 12, 1993 in California and is buried at Fraser Cemetery. He is known for iconic TV roles like Perry Mason (1957 to 1966) and Ironside (1967 to 1975), as well as roles in films like Alfred Hitchcock’s thriller Rear Window.