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| - Although there were other adaptations (in radio, film, and even a 1973 series with a different cast), it was Raymond Burr's portrayal of Perry Mason that became iconic (and moved Burr from character actor status to a major celebrity). A 1985 reunion movie, Perry Mason Returns, aired to high ratings, followed by a semi-regular movie series (similar to Columbo) on NBC for a total of twenty-five installments between 1986 and 1993. Even after Burr's death in 1993, the series continued (retitled A Perry Mason Mystery) with four more movies (with the same supporting cast and a guest lawyer asked by a pre-occupied, off-screen Perry to fill-in) through 1995.
- Perry Mason is an iconic 1957-1966 CBS series descended from the radio drama of the same name and inspired by (and frequently dramatizing) the series of books by Erle Stanley Gardner. Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) is a skilled defense attorney who takes seemingly hopeless cases and turns them into victories. Aided by his secretary Della Street (Barbara Hale) and private investigator Paul Drake (William Hopper), he specializes in discovering the one fact that unravels the case against his client, and often ends up getting the true criminal to confess on the stand.
- Perry Mason is a criminal defense attorney who specializes in defending seemingly indefensible and unwinnable cases. Perry Erle Mason was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. His father was an airline pilot and former U.S. Marine Corps fighter pilot, while his mother was a social worker. A frequently foe in his cases is assistant district attorney Hamilton Burger.
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| abstract
| - Although there were other adaptations (in radio, film, and even a 1973 series with a different cast), it was Raymond Burr's portrayal of Perry Mason that became iconic (and moved Burr from character actor status to a major celebrity). A 1985 reunion movie, Perry Mason Returns, aired to high ratings, followed by a semi-regular movie series (similar to Columbo) on NBC for a total of twenty-five installments between 1986 and 1993. Even after Burr's death in 1993, the series continued (retitled A Perry Mason Mystery) with four more movies (with the same supporting cast and a guest lawyer asked by a pre-occupied, off-screen Perry to fill-in) through 1995.
- Perry Mason is an iconic 1957-1966 CBS series descended from the radio drama of the same name and inspired by (and frequently dramatizing) the series of books by Erle Stanley Gardner. Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) is a skilled defense attorney who takes seemingly hopeless cases and turns them into victories. Aided by his secretary Della Street (Barbara Hale) and private investigator Paul Drake (William Hopper), he specializes in discovering the one fact that unravels the case against his client, and often ends up getting the true criminal to confess on the stand. It got revived in 1973 as The New Perry Mason with a completely different cast, but the series lasted only one season. It was then revived again as Perry Mason Returns in 1985 with the surviving original cast plus William "The Greatest American Hero" Katt as Paul Drake, Jr. The success of this TV movie spurred the production of twenty-nine more Perry Mason TV movies between 1985 and 1994, with the last installment airing after Raymond Burr's death in 1993. (NBC made a few more TV movies without Raymond Burr before calling it quits.) The series is very popular overseas -- a Turkish version (also called Perry Mason) was produced in 1983. In an odd twist, the series made the jump from radio to TV twice -- and this instance was the second. The first time was in 1956, but at the last minute Erle Stanley Gardner withdrew his support for the project, and it was retooled into... the soap opera The Edge of Night. The attorney also inspired a song by Ozzy Osbourne. Many episodes of the 1943-1955 radio series have fallen into the public domain in the United States, and can be downloaded courtesy of the Internet Archive.
- Perry Mason is a criminal defense attorney who specializes in defending seemingly indefensible and unwinnable cases. Perry Erle Mason was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. His father was an airline pilot and former U.S. Marine Corps fighter pilot, while his mother was a social worker. After Mason graduated from high school, he went on to the University of California, Los Angeles. Upon graduating from UCLA with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, he went on to Stanford Law School. In his second year of law school, Mason was accepted into the United States Marine Corps's Platoon Leaders Class and attended a ten-week training session at Officer Candidates School the summer before his third year. Afterwards, he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps and placed on inactive duty status to finish earning his law degree. Upon graduating from Stanford Law and passing the California Bar Examination, Mason attended The Basic School. After The Basic School, he went on to The Naval Justice School in Newport, Rhode Island. Afterwards, Mason was assigned to Marine Corps Air Station Miramar as a legal assistance attorney. He later served as a defense counsel at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton. Mason left the Marine Corps after four years of active duty service following law school. He then returned to Los Angeles, where he found employment with a prestigious downtown law firm as an associate. Mason later left the firm and set up his own solo law practice specializing in criminal defense. Soon after, he hired a young woman named Della Street as his secretary. A little while later, Mason hired a former U.S. Marine Corps Criminal Investigation Division special agent named Paul Drake as his law practice's investigator. He had first met Drake when they were both stationed at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar. As a defense attorney, Mason is specifically known for taking on cases where all the evidence leads to his client, but ones where he believes that the client is innocent in spite of the evidence. The cases that he accepts are also based upon his curiosity regarding the problem that the client is facing. Quite often, the clients and even law enforcement officers regard Mason as a better detective, as he entails every minute detail of the crime so as to get to the bottom and solve the mystery. With the aid of Della Street and Paul Drake, he often finds that by digging deeply into the facts, startling facts can be revealed. Relying on surprise witnesses and his outstanding courtroom skills displayed by his stern cross-examinations, Mason often tricks or traps people into unwittingly admitting their guilt. A frequently foe in his cases is assistant district attorney Hamilton Burger.
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