It Takes a Thief
1968
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Raymond Burr initially read for the role of district attorney Hamilton Burger, with Tod Andrews standing in as Mason. Burr was more interested in the Perry Mason role and told associate producer Sam White, "If you don't like me as Perry Mason, then I'll go along and play the part of the district attorney, Hamilton Burger."
- 9
- 271 (list of episodes)
- September 21, 1957 –, May 22, 1966
- CBS
In 1960, Burr met Robert Benevides, an actor and Korean War veteran, on the set of Perry Mason. Benevides gave up acting in 1963,: 102–03, 120 and he became a production consultant for 21 of the Perry Mason TV movies. They owned and operated an orchid business and then a vineyard in California's Dry Creek Valley.
- Based on A Book Series
- Crash Diet
- Partners
- Enduring Format
- Never Lost
- Cultural Impact
- Lack of Diversity
- Famous Guest Stars
- 80s Return
- HBO Revival
Perry Mason began life like a lot of television showsthese days do - as a series of books. Erle Stanley Gardner began writing the mystery series in 1933, which included over 80 different novels and short stories. The series ran for decades, up through the run of the television series. Gardner himself made a cameo in the show as a judge. Gardner was...
Perry Mason is synonymous with Raymond Burr, an imposing man with a gentle demeanor. Hundreds of actors auditioned for the role, including William Hopper (who eventually played Paul Drake). Producer Gail Patrick Jackson wanted Raymond Burr for the part, but he was sixty pounds overweight at the time. Burr always battled his weight and was determine...
Though the title of the show was Perry Mason, the series was really an ensemble. The character of Mason often didn't appear much in the first half of the episode - a format that prefigured Law & Order- with the focus instead on his eventual client. His legal team supported him in the investigation and trial that followed in the second half of the e...
Besides the unique format of the investigation followed by the trial, Perry Mason created the DNA of numerous other television shows in the years since. Nearly every single show based around some aspect of the legal profession - not just Law & Order - owes an enormous debt to Perry Mason. RELATED: Law & Order: 5 Things About Criminal Law That The S...
Television shows tend to make their heroes, well, heroic, but Perry Masonwent even further. The erstwhile lawyer never lost a case in the entire run of the series, from 1957 to 1966. He did come close a couple of times. In the episode “The Deadly Verdict,” the client is found guilty but Mason discovers evidence at the end of the episode that saves ...
The show had an impact on culture at large that went far beyond just an hour of diversion each week. Proving that life is stranger than fiction, the show was cited in over 250 different judicial opinions. Beyond that, the show was referenced in almost five hundred legal briefs and nearly a thousand law review articles. In fact, Supreme Court Justic...
One area Perry Mason did not impact much on culture was in its depiction of diversity. In nearly three hundred episodes, Mason never represents an African-American client. African-Americans are only shown in background parts, and rarely. Despite the social and cultural upheaval in the 1960s with regards to race - and cultural touchstone in To Kill ...
Given the enormous popularity of the series, it was a magnet for guest stars. Some of the most notable included screen legend Bette Davis, who filled in as a defense attorney for Perry Mason when Raymond Burr was out for several episodes due to surgery (he phoned in - literally - for a cameo). RELATED: Bette Davis: 10 Most Iconic Roles, Ranked (Acc...
Fans know today that everything old is new again, but it was a relatively new phenomenon in the 1980s for then old shows or films to come back. But Perry Mason did, with a vengeance. Raymond Burr and Barbara Hale returned in a series of made-for-TV movies on NBC (much like The Incredible Hulkat the time) that picked up with the characters twenty ye...
The show is returning again this June with an ambitious reboot of the series, starring Matthew Rhys of The Americansin the title role. This take on the character is a prequel, featuring his time as a private detective before he becomes a lawyer. This seems to be a little bit more of the hardboiled version from the original books by Erle Stanely Gar...
Perry Mason: Created by Erle Stanley Gardner. With Raymond Burr, Barbara Hale, William Hopper, Ray Collins. The trials of a master criminal defense attorney handling the most difficult cases in support of the innocent.
- (11.8K)
- 1 min
- TV-PG
- 89
Jun 6, 2015 · Raymond Burr did not appear in four consecutive episodes in the 1962-63 season and was missing in two more during the 1964-65 season. (Note that some of these episodes included brief scenes of Perry talking with other lawyers from his hospital bed—scenes that Burr filmed before his hiatus.)
- Ed Gorman
Nov 25, 2011 · Canadian-born Raymond Burr, who had spent much of his career playing heavies and lawyers, scored the magic role in 1957. Each week, Mason would win a seemingly impossible case against a...
Sep 14, 1993 · Raymond Burr, the burly, impassive actor who played the defense lawyer Perry Mason and the police detective Robert T. Ironside on television, died on Sunday at his ranch in Dry Creek...
