attorney who wrote perry mason

by Eric Kunde 9 min read

Erle Stanley Gardner

Who was the main character in Perry Mason?

Erle Stanley Gardner (July 17, 1889 – March 11, 1970) was an American lawyer and author. He is best known for the Perry Mason series of detective stories, but he wrote numerous other novels and shorter pieces and also a series of nonfiction books, mostly narrations of his travels through Baja California….

Who created Perry Mason?

Feb 26, 2022 · Erle Stanley Gardner was an American author and lawyer who wrote nearly 100 detective and mystery novels that sold more than 1,000,000 copies each, making him easily the best-selling American writer of his time.

Who wrote The Hollow Men?

Erle Stanley Gardner, (born July 17, 1889, Malden, Mass., U.S.—died March 11, 1970, Temecula, Calif.), American author and lawyer who wrote nearly 100 detective and mystery novels that sold more than 1,000,000 copies each, making him easily the best-selling American writer of his time. His best-known works centre on the lawyer-detective Perry Mason.

How many seasons did Perry Mason run?

Perry Mason: Created by Erle Stanley Gardner. With Raymond Burr, Barbara Hale, William Hopper, Ray Collins. The cases of a master criminal defense attorney, handling the most difficult of cases in the aid of the innocent.

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Jun 18, 2020 · Erle Stanley Gardner had an idea for a lawyer who liked to brawl on behalf of the little guy. 170 million copies later, he had an icon. June 18, 2020 By Lee Randall. Though I grew up watching Perry Mason on television, I didn’t crack the spine of my first Erle Stanley Gardner novel—The Case of the Rolling Bones (1939)—until two years ago. When I did, what a coup de …

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Who wrote the original Perry Mason?

Erle Stanley GardnerPerry Mason is a fictional character, an American criminal defense lawyer who is the main character in works of detective fiction written by Erle Stanley Gardner.

Did Perry Mason ever sleep with Della?

So, did we ever find out what was really going on between these two? The answer is: no. Some clues didn't pan out, much to the dismay of the romantics. The "smiling face-coffee" statement was uttered not face-to-face in the early morning light but from Perry's office, via the intercom, to Della's desk outside.Nov 4, 2004

Did Perry Mason ever defend a black person?

Mason never defends a black client; on the one occasion when a black actor guest-starred—the Jamaican-born mixed-race actor Frank Silvera—he played a white character. By and large, black men and women appear only in bit parts and uncredited roles.Jun 19, 2020

Was Paul Drake black in the Perry Mason books?

In HBO's 2020 Perry Mason reboot, Paul Drake is African-American, starting the series as a LAPD uniformed police officer. He is portrayed by actor Chris Chalk.

Did Della Street wear wigs on Perry Mason?

DELLA STREET Set in 1931-32, the series wigmaster clearly decided that ALL WOMEN wore fingerwave bobs and therefore all female characters have basically the same wig, with varying levels of success. Della's is not the worst but that is mainly because she is constantly wearing hats.Aug 14, 2020

Did Perry Mason ever kiss Della Street?

At the end of the movie Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) and Della Street (Barbara Hale) share the first on screen kiss between the two characters.

Was Burt Reynolds ever on Perry Mason?

"Perry Mason" The Case of the Counterfeit Crank (TV Episode 1962) - Burt Reynolds as Chuck Blair - IMDb.

Why did Ray Collins leave Perry Mason?

In 1957, Collins joined the cast of the CBS-TV series Perry Mason and gained fame as Los Angeles police homicide detective Lieutenant Arthur Tragg. By 1960, Collins found his physical health declining and his memory waning, problems that in the next few years brought an end to his career.

Why was William Katt replaced on Perry Mason?

A Katt has left to pursue a movie career. He has been replaced by William R. Moses as Ken Malansky, Perry Mason's new assistant. Moses was a client of Mason's in The Case of the Lethal Lesson.Mar 31, 1989

Was William Hopper a Navy SEAL?

William Hopper who served in the OSS Maritime Unit, precursor to the Navy SEALs, was born on this date in 1915. He was the son of famed Hollywood columnist Hedda Hopper. He appeared in more than 80 films including “Rebel Without a Cause.”Jan 26, 2021

What was Perry Mason's secretary's name?

Della StreetBarbara Hale, the Emmy Award-winning actress who typified the ideal mid-20th-century secretary as the beautiful, loyal, confident but soft-spoken Della Street on the television series “Perry Mason,” died on Thursday at her home in Los Angeles.Jan 27, 2017

What was Perry Mason worth?

During his career he had over 140 acting credits to his name. From 1957 to 1966 he starred as Perry Mason in the TV series Perry Mason....Raymond Burr Net Worth.Net Worth:$15 MillionProfession:Actor, Television Director, TeacherNationality:Canada3 more rows

Who played Hamilton Burger in Perry Mason?

In 1957, Perry Mason became a long-running CBS-TV series, starring Raymond Burr in the title role. Burr had auditioned for the role of the district attorney Hamilton Burger, but Gardner reportedly declared he was the embodiment of Perry Mason.

Where is the Harry Ransom Center?

The Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin holds Gardner's manuscripts, art collection, and personal effects. From 1972 to 2010, the Ransom Center featured a full-scale reproduction of Gardner's study that displayed original furnishings, personal memorabilia, and artifacts.

Where was the first National Bank building?

The First National Bank Building in Ventura, where Gardner wrote drafts for first Perry Mason novels. Gardner was born in Malden, Massachusetts, the son of Grace Adelma (Waugh) and Charles Walter Gardner.

Who is Erle Gardner?

Signature. Erle Stanley Gardner (July 17, 1889 – March 11, 1970) was an American lawyer and author. He is best known for the Perry Mason series of detective stories, but he wrote numerous other novels and shorter pieces and also a series of nonfiction books, mostly narrations of his travels through Baja California and other regions in Mexico .

When will Hard Case Crime be released?

Hard Case Crime followed publication of The Knife Slipped with a reissued edition of Turn On the Heat, the book Gardner wrote to replace The Knife Slipped, in 2017 and has announced a new edition of The Count of Nine to appear in October 2018.

Storyline

Perry Mason is an attorney who specializes in defending seemingly indefensible cases. With the aid of his secretary Della Street and investigator Paul Drake, he often finds that by digging deeply into the facts, startling facts can be revealed.

Did you know

When Raymond Burr missed several episodes due to illness, he was replaced by several guest attorneys who were played by Bette Davis, Walter Pidgeon, Hugh O'Brian, Michael Rennie, and Mike Connors.

Who was Erle Stanley Gardner?

Erle Stanley Gardner had an idea for a lawyer who liked to brawl on behalf of the little guy. 170 million copies later, he had an icon. Though I grew up watching Perry Mason on television, I didn’t crack the spine of my first Erle Stanley Gardner novel—The Case of the Rolling Bones (1939)—until two years ago. When I did, what a coup de foudre.

What are the seven virtues of knights?

Consider this article about choosing the right lawyer, by Beverley Lewis, proposing that the seven knightly virtues form a lawyer’s “code of chivalry.”. Those virtues are courage, justice, mercy, generosity, faith, hope, and nobility.

Is Perry Mason Based On A Real Person?

If you're new to the world of Perry Mason, you may be wondering if the famed attorney is based on a real person — he isn't, but he did get his start on the page, not the screen. Perry is the creation of writer Erle Stanley Gardner, who wrote more than 80 novels and short stories about the dogged defense attorney.

What Is The New Perry Mason About?

Fans of the original Perry Mason will be shocked by HBO's incarnation. Despite the numerous books, radio plays, movies, and TV shows about the iconic character, he has no backstory. The new series plans to change that by giving Perry an actual origin story.

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Overview

Novels

Julian Symons noted that Erle Stanley Gardner "had spent more than twenty years practicing law in California, and the knowledge he gained was put to good use in the Perry Mason stories, which hinge on points of law, forensic medicine or science as clever as a watch mechanism … and also the total lack of characterization".
While the Mason novels were largely a form of pulp fictionof the sort that began Gardner's writin…

Character

As a child, Gardner read the magazine Youth's Companion, published by the Perry Mason Company - a name Gardner later borrowed for his fictional attorney. Gardner provided more information about Mason's character in earlier novels while knowledge of his character is largely taken for granted in the later works, the television series and movies. In the first novel (The Case of the Velvet Claws, 1933), Mason describes himself in the following way:

Adaptations

Warner Bros. released a series of six Perry Mason films in the 1930s.
• The Case of the Howling Dog (1934), with Warren William as Perry Mason and Helen Trenholme as Della Street.
• The Case of the Curious Bride (1935), with Warren William and Claire Dodd as Della Street. Notable for the first-released American screen appearance of Errol Flynnas the corpse, who is seen alive but …

Regular characters

Recurring characters in the Perry Mason stories include the following:
• Perry Mason: Los Angeles attorney introduced in the 1933 novel, The Case of the Velvet Claws.
• Della Street: Mason's confidential secretary introduced in the 1933 novel, The Case of the Velvet Claws.

Influence

In her confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee in July 2009, Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor prefaced her remarks on the role of the prosecutor by saying that she was inspired by watching the Perry Mason television series as a child:
I was influenced so greatly by a television show in igniting the passion that I had as being a prosecutor, and it was Perry Mason … In one of the episodes, at the end of the episode … Perry s…

External links

• Perry Mason at the Museum of Broadcast Communications Encyclopedia of Television
• Database and cover gallery for the Dell Comic book based on the TV show
• The Perry Mason TV Show Book by Brian Kelleher and Diana Merrill

Overview

Erle Stanley Gardner (July 17, 1889 – March 11, 1970) was an American lawyer and author. He is best known for the Perry Mason series of detective stories, but he wrote numerous other novels and shorter pieces and also a series of nonfiction books, mostly narrations of his travels through Baja California and other regions in Mexico.

Life and work

Gardner was born in Malden, Massachusetts, the son of Grace Adelma (Waugh) and Charles Walter Gardner. Gardner graduated from Palo Alto High School in California in 1909 and enrolled at Valparaiso University School of Law in Indiana. He was suspended after approximately one month when his interest in boxing became a distraction. He returned to California, pursued his legal education o…

Personal life

In 1912, Gardner wed Natalie Frances Talbert (16 July 1885 – 26 February 1968). Their only child, Natalie Grace Gardner (January 25, 1913 — 29 February 2004), was born in Ventura, California. Gardner and his wife separated in the early 1930s, but did not divorce, and in fact their marriage lasted 56 years, until Natalie's death in 1968. After that, Gardner married his secretary Agnes "Jean" Bethell (néeWalter; 19 May 1902 – 5 December 2002), the daughter of Ida Mary Elizabeth …

Death and legacy

Gardner died of cancer diagnosed in the late 1960s on March 11, 1970, at his ranch in Temecula —the best-selling American writer of the 20th century at the time of his death. His death followed by five days that of William Hopper, who played private detective Paul Drakein the Perry Mason TV series. Gardner was cremated and his ashes scattered over his beloved Baja California peninsula. The ranch, known as Rancho del Paisano at the time, was sold after his death, then resold in 200…

Cultural references

An unspecified article Gardner wrote for True magazine is referenced by William S. Burroughs in his 1959 novel, Naked Lunch.
Gardner's name is well known among avid crossword puzzle solvers, because his first name contains an unusual series of common letters, starting and ending with the most common letter of the English alphabet, and because few other famous people have that name. As of January 201…

Further reading

• Fugate, Francis L. and Roberta B. (1980). Secrets of the World's Best-Selling Writer: The Story Telling Techniques of Erle Stanley Gardner. New York: William Morrow. ISBN 0-688-03701-1.
• Hughes, Dorothy B. (1978). Erle Stanley Gardner: The Case of the Real Perry Mason. New York: William Morrow. ISBN 0-688-03282-6.

External links

• Works by Erle Stanley Gardner at Faded Page (Canada)
• Erle Stanley Gardner Study at the Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas at Austin
• Erle Stanley Gardner at Thrilling Detective
• Essay on Erle Stanley Gardner