‘Perry Mason’ reruns offer a stroll down memory lane

It’s hard to believe that “Perry Mason” premiered on the CBS television network in 1957. Now, 65 years later, the show lives on through syndication. It’s easy to find, view and enjoy the 271 old black-and-white, one-hour episodes.

 The murder mystery and courtroom drama series ran for nine years (through 1966), and had things worked out a little differently during the auditions, the lead character role of legendary defense attorney Perry Mason might not have gone to William Raymond Stacy Burr. 

Burr actually auditioned for the part of Hamilton Burger, the prosecuting attorney. According to Monica Huntington, a writer at IMDb (Internet Movie Database), the online database for the entertainment industry and a subsidiary of Amazon, “the studio executives liked Burr so much, they offered him the title role instead.” 

“Standing a looming 6 feet 2 inches, Burr was broad-shouldered and had an impressively commanding presence,” Huntington said. However, he weighed about “60 pounds past portly.” A crash diet took off the excess weight. Burr “emerged at 210 pounds” – stocky not pudgy. 

Among the actors who had auditioned to play Perry Mason were William Whitney Talman Jr. and William DeWolf Hopper Jr.

William Tallman

 

William Hopper

Both men were offered other positions in the “Perry Mason” cast – Talman in the role of Hamilton Burger and Hopper to play Paul Drake, the private detective who handled the sleuthing for Perry Mason. Fortunately, for fans of the show, both men accepted those supporting actor parts. 

Talman’s skill as an actor was tested in every episode. Week after week, Hamilton Burger would come up short in his battle of wits with Perry Mason. 

Just when it looked like the prosecutor was about to win a case, Perry Mason would bamboozle him – snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. 

William Talman hailed from Detroit, Mich. All three Talman boys attended Cranbrook Academy in Bloomfield Hills and participated in the drama club, but William stood out. “Bill could read a page once, turn it over, and recite every word by heart,” said brother Jim. 

Detroit author Richard Bak said the young actor with the wavy hair was just starting his Broadway career when World War II broke out. William Talman was drafted into the U.S. Army Signal Corps. After the war, Talman moved to Hollywood, looking to break into films. He was often cast as a villain, appearing in more than 20 feature films. 

Talman shed that “bad guy” image with the “Perry Mason” series. He became known as the “quintessential loser.” Talman even joked that he was “the most unsuccessful prosecuting attorney in the history of the legal profession.”

 

In the final episode of the series in 1966, Hamilton Burger outdid himself by losing two cases that night. 

Talman told the press: “Once again, good old Hamilton Burger picks the wrong man to prosecute in both cases. Mason gets one of them off on a trick, and I get sore about it. I wouldn’t want to hit Ray Burr, but I think Hamilton Burger would like to slug Perry Mason.” 

Surya Nair, a Hamilton Burger fan club member, said her guy was “endlessly frustrated and exasperated by Perry Mason…and his ‘legal tightrope walking.’” 

“Hamilton Burger was correct to call out Perry Mason’s “unorthodox methods, proclaiming them ‘courtroom theatrics,’” Nair said. 

“William Talman talked about the difficult balance of making the character intelligent, yet stupid enough to always end up losing to Perry Mason,” she said. “It is indeed a delicate, and strange, balance.”